- in The Good by Caroline So
Is SkillShare A Scam? – Legit Way To Learn New Skills And Make Money Online Or Just Another Sneaky Website?
Welcome to My Skillshare Review!
Learning never stops after school, and we all know that. There’s always a room for improvement even if you’re a top-rated professional, a well-known influencer, or a successful entrepreneur. Even in the digital world, despite all the available resources over the Internet, it won’t hurt to learn a little more using an online platform.
Skillshare Review Summary
Name: Skillshare
Website: www.skillshare.com
Founders: Malcolm Ong and Michael Karnjanaprakorn
Product Type: Online Platform That Offers Different Courses
Price: Free (limited access); $15 a month / $99 per year
Quick Summary: Skillshare is an online platform that offers free and paid courses to enhance student’s creativity, passion, and curiosity. With over 5 million users and more than a thousand teachers worldwide, Skillshare has made itself more accessible to iOS and Android users.
But, as promising as it sounds, will this really help you thrive into the online world?
Overall Rating: 6/10
Recommended: No
So, if you’re someone like me who’s always in the search of lucrative courses that requires only a small amount begin with, chances are you’ve heard of Skillshare, too. At the time of this writing, it’s one of the most recommended course online that will help anyone not only develop their skills, but also make money out of it.
But is the claim true enough? Or is Skillshare a scam to get rid off?
Although you can start learning for free, it pays to read Skillshare reviews first before actually signing up, and this post will surely help you decide.
What Is Skillshare About?
Skillshare is an online platform that offers a 30-Day Free Trial and a monthly subscription to students worldwide. It offers a variety of courses that sparks the curiosity, passion, and creative of each individual, such as photography, content writing, marketing, web design, finance, entrepreneurship -- to name some -- which are taught by teachers
Founded in 2012, the New-York based company is known for providing teachers who are well-known in their chosen industries. As of now, there are over 20,000 courses to choose from and you can surely find a curriculum that will enhance your skills. Basically, it won’t directly teach you how to make money but the learnings you can get from it are bankable enough.
However, if you’re only looking for a course that will teach and motivate you to make money online, you may consider Billy Gene Is Marketing, Legendary Marketer, and the like. Or you can do paid survey websites, which, by the way, only offers a very small amount.
But if you want to have the best of both worlds -- learn and earn at the same time, you can check out this program that helps me make money online.
Learn more about Skillshare by watching the video below:
How Skillshare Works?
If you’re a student, you can simply browse their website for courses that interest you or you can sign up for free; however, like other free programs, you have limited access and benefits. If you want full access to their courses, you have to pay a decent amount per month or a discounted price if you pay per year.
I tried one class, without signing up, and the intro is pretty interesting enough to make me click for more. However, it prompted me to sign up for a free trial.
Going back to being a member, you have over 20,000 courses to choose from, which gives you the advantage to learn and enhance whatever skill you want. Every video provides a clear and easy to follow instructions and the 30-Day Free Trial is long enough to try each and every course before you decide whether you need to upgrade your membership or not.
Should you decide to become a premium member, you’ll not only have full access to all the courses,but you can also earn as a teacher. This means you can start earning as an instructor and create your own classroom. As for the salary, it depends on the number of students that come to your class. Meanwhile, Skillshare claims you can earn $40,000 a year if you are a top teacher.
Is Skillshare A Scam?
Apparently, Skillshare is not a scam and it’s been stable online for quite some time. However, there are a number of complaints that you can’t just shrug off, especially since money is involved.
While it’s true that teachers earn a decent amount out of teaching their skills, some students (or even those who have only tried their free account), are upset. Most complaints involved customers being charged more than once in one day or even after they have cancelled their membership. For a company claiming to be a legit one, this is very alarming.
Another drawback is their poor customer which is taking a lot of time to respond to their concerns. If this won’t stop you from signing up even for their free account, I don’t know what else will.
You see, their courses are very interesting and full of information but the way they swipe their customer’s credit card account without consent makes them look like nothing but a fraud.
Check out more Skillshare reviews and complaints here.
Price
Skillshare offers a 30-Day Free Trial which gives you limited access to their courses. In case you want full access and enjoy more benefits, you can upgrade your membership to a premium account and pay $15 every month or avail a discounted price when you pay $99 per year (or $8.25/month).
Just be sure to think twice, thrice, or many times before sharing your credit card details and learn from the experiences of customers who have signed up with Skillshare only to end up being charged with a hefty amount.
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Pros/Cons
PROS
30-Day Free Trial
It’s good to know that they offer a 30-Day Free Trial. It’s one of the best marketing strategies, for me, if you want your market to see the rest of your products and to know whether your company is the real deal or not.
Very Accessible
Their platform is available on iOS and Android devices. This means that you can still continue learning anytime, anywhere, as long as you have your smartphone and a stable Internet connection.
Popular Instructors
Some of the instructors are well-known influencers and entrepreneurs who have really excelled in their chosen careers, and it’s quite fulfilling to learn from them knowing that they are talking from their own experience. These instructors, for instance, have created a name in their specific industry.
Author of the Bad Feminist (The New York Times’ best-selling essay), Roxanne Gay is also known as a professor, commentator, and an American writer.
Born in Michigan, Aaron James Draplin is the founder and graphic designer of Draplin Design Co.
Matt Bellassai, the host of Unhappy Hour, is a well-known American writer and comedian. He’s also known for being the B
If you’re a reader of DC Comics, chances are you’ve read Yuko Shimizu’s name on it. If not, well, she’s just a top-rated illustrator of it, working for the biggest brands of today such as GQ, Apple, Rolling Stone, and Microsoft.
A motivational speaker, American author, and a leadership guru, Simon Sinek is also known for writing books such as Start With Why.
CONS
Instructors Are Not Evaluated
They do not screen their instructors. Yes, there are those who are the masters or experts in their chosen subject but if you’re a premium member, you can easily set up a classroom and start teaching. This means ANYONE can start their own course even if they don’t know what they are doing.
Limited Premium Access
Another drawback, for me, is that you lose access to all the courses once your subscription ends. Unlike Udemy that gives you lifetime access to the course you’ve purchased, you have to pay for another month or year so you can view the training or videos they have on their platform.
Difficult To Earn, Unless You Have A Solid Fan Base
If you want to be an instructor, you have to spend a lot of time creating a fanbase or marketing your courses just so you can stand out of the other 20,000 curricula available in that platform alone.
Charging Clients Without Notice
As mentioned above, there are a lot of clients who have been charged with an amount equals to a one-year membership, which is $99, without their own consent. And the refund is another issue. Whether they have poor customer service or they have a slow refund system, it looks like the company is using this strategy to steal money from their clients.
Even Teachers Get "Scammed" Too!
Some teachers who are supposed to earn from this program end up being “scammed”, too. I know "scam" is a big word but with a strategy like this, I don't what other term to use. Apparently, they are promised to get paid after they reach the maximum number of students attending their course but after doing so, they didn’t know that they have to refer more people just to get the payment they deserve.
Check out this review and see for yourself.
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Who Is It For?
Skillshare is created for entrepreneurs, freelancers, or basically any individuals who want to learn a new skill or enhance existing ones. They can take advantage of their free membership or upgrade to a premium account for full access, and grow their knowledge and capabilities which they can use to market their products, services, and themselves. They can also acquire new skills, apart from entrepreneurship, such as web design, web development, etc.
If you are skilled enough and you can produce valuable video content, you can also use Skillshare as your money-making platform as a teacher. Let’s say you’re a digital marketing expert, rather than taking a job online, you can teach your skills to other people. Not only will you give yourself a chance to earn, but you are also helping other people. But then again, the amount you will earn depends on how long your video course is watched.
Training Tools/Support
Skillshare offers a variety of training video that will help enhance your skills. You can also gain access to a community that allows you to connect with your instructors; however, you are only allowed to talk to them through comments.
Should you have any concerns or questions, it is somehow challenging to reach their customer support. You cannot simply find “Contact Us” on their homepage unless you click “Help”. This will lead you to their “Help Center” where you can use the search tab for questions or the drop-down button under “What can we help you with?”
Even if there’s an option saying: “Contact Skillshare Support”, it will still lead you to the same “Help Center Page”.
Final Opinion/Verdict
If you look at Skillshare on a bigger picture, you’ll think of it as something very promising. Indeed, popular instructors in the platform and a 30-Day Free Trial is convincing enough. However, the sketchy way of taking people’s money without their consent and the difficulty to reach their customer support are red flags that you should take note off.
Also, if you’re looking for ways on how to earn online without investment, I don’t recommend this site at all. If you’re not a premium member, your access is very limited and you’ll have no other options to earn unless you become an instructor.
What's Next
If you want to earn money online and learn at the same time, I do have a method that I highly recommend. I use this to make my online business a successful one and so far, everything is working really well. Unlike other programs that provide a free membership, the one I am with gives a lot of access to their training, community, and other perks, including:
- Training resources
- Webinars to help you start your business online
- One-on-one coaching
- Comprehensive guide
- And many more!
Try this even once and I tell you, you’ll never go back to your old program again. I bet you won’t ever look at another method. Just make sure that you understand each and every training and apply to your online business so you can thrive. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop it down below and I’ll do my best to respond in the soonest possible time.