I have personally heard a lot of negative things about his IG skills. He is a great salesman, but does not possess the skills he claims. Among the things I have heard, is that he uses other people to grow accounts and takes the credit for it, gets his clients blocked/disabled, and falsely claims to have worked with certain clients (like gary vee). These things are from people well established in the community and that has worked with him (or know people that have).
Like a lot of training salesman unfortunately … the most gullible buy
Everything is not to throw, but it is very expensive for information!
The weak feeding off the weaker.
At the end of the day if you end up being swindled by these guys it’s your fault for wanting to believe you can turn nothing into a $10M business without even getting out of your couch.
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Because he’s a YouTube “guru” specifically focused on Instagram growth. Others either do FaceBook Ads/Paid Traffic, or DropShipping.
The first complaint I don’t hold against him, assuming he uses the agency model where work flow gets distributed amongst any contractors/employees he has.
The other complaints definitely seem like faling it to make it.
Though I think he loves our forum.
Page 1 for KWs “Josue Pena Instagram” - “Josue Pena Instagram Course”
Page 2 for KWs “Josue Pena”
Lol.
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It’s so sad to see less skilled people succeeding by selling haha training!
Which just shows you how important selling skills are.
You can literally have some basic knowledge mixed with being a good bs artist and make a killing selling well edited and turned into videos articles from 1st page of google after doing “how to grow instagram account” search
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This
And this
Instead of laughing about him, we can take our piece out of it. From every person we can learn something even when it doesn’t seem so in the beginning.
Just imagine how much someone would sell when he combines really decent skills in social media marketing with branding.
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Well this is interesting 
Someone on my instagram sent me this thread and before I say anything, I want to say that I value everyone’s opinion, feedback and constructive criticism even though some here do have wrong info on some things.
First,
My main business model is an Instagram Agency. That is where Ive done Millions. Managing, growing, consulting and helping monetize Instagram accounts for other businesses, brands and entrepreneurs. Here you can see some of the testimonials we have (and NO, not a single one of them is bought lol)
igboss (dot) com/testimonials (cant post links to defend my cause or prove my point apparently lol)
(here you’ll see a mix between clients testimonials and student success stories)
The course teaches people what I do with clients and the agency I do it for them (a Done For You model - hence why the reason DFY - Instagram Marketing)
We have helped clients grow to hundreds of thousands of followers, and make 6-figs and even 7 figures with their Instagram account.
(this doesnt include students that we have shown how to do it. Like Wendy, as a mother and being a having to work a job as a nurse, she went from $0 to $20k/month in just 60 days with her Agency.
Or this one…
Just last week in EDC I randomly met a student for the first time, his name is Hancel. He made $11k in 1 day from 1 instagram story done in the way we show and teach inside of our IGboss program.
Like him there are hundreds of others and the biggest one is a student who made $1.2 MILLION from instagram with less than 30k followers - so again, what I say is true, which is that even though I show you exactly how to build an audience FAST on instagram, reality is that you DONT need a big following on Instagram in order to make more than a full time income and build a real business)
So the results we have are really unparallel to anyone else on growth & monetization.
Now…
Some people say that they grew but then I handed it off to someone else, etc, etc.
That is what a CEO does. The owner of the company is not the one doing the manual work.
Steve jobs wasnt coding and building the computers or the iphone, but he was the one with the vision and the one selling it more than anyone else.
Jeff Bezos isnt the one delivering the packages in UPS to his customers, but he is the one driving the vision of the company.
Same thing here…
After a certain point when you are building your business you realize that it is impossible for you to keep growing it if you dont delegate and build a team to help you deliver results & push forward.
Before I did everything myself. Built millions of followers on Instagram and made multi 6 figures on instagram, but I wanted to keep pushing & get to the next level, so i had to build a team (both sub contractors & in house)
I am the one who closes the client, the one who handles the client relationship and then I hand off the work to a team of people (either sub contracting it, or doing it in house - right now we have over 16 employees, an office in Miami and an office in Dominican Republic.)
I have never claimed to have work with someone, or to have had them as a client if it wasnt true. I can prove every single one of the claims I have made and it will always be like that.
Trying to fake it until you make it is not my cup of tea tbh.
I never said I had done 6 figures, until I did them. I never said I had done 7 figure, until I did it.
Also, sometimes i forget, but I always try to make sure I say “we” have helped XYZ, “we” have hundreds of success stories & testimonials, etc.
Because it is not just me. It is an entire team of amazing people who are running the business with me, while I lead the vision of the company of where I want to be headed.
Now some say… but why are your services so expensive, why do you sell high ticket like that?
Is simple.
First is supply vs demand. I cant serve everyone under the sun, so I prefer trying to serve a smaller group of clients, that are higher quality and pay more.
Second, any business owner would pay $4.5k/month in order to make $10k from that investment. Every single one would pay $25k if I made you $350k 90 days later from that investment, right?
Its the same thing here. They see the value of what I bring to the table, and they realize that Im not just some random kid that ONLY knows how to grow instagram accounts, and tries to hide behind something in order for people not to know who he is and scam people.
They see someone willing to put their money where they mouth is, who backs up their claims and who have the proven track record, testimonials & success stories.
Now finally…
Lets address the whole info product course thing. The course so far has done about $600-700k (so not that much in comparison to the agency).
If you read until this point you have realized that I have made majority of my money has come, and still comes, from the Instagram agency because I believe in leading by example. In walking the way and not just talking to talk.
The people who just teach without having it done it themselves, I dont respect them that much because they dont really know the struggles. They dont really know and have experienced what it is to build something in that specific niche.
It would be like me trying to teach people how to trade stocks… I dont have a single flying clue HOW THE Freak to trade stocks XD lol
So it makes zero sense to me to try to teach it, even though there might be a lot of money teaching it.
I would first become an expert in that field, make sure I master it completely and then afterwards I would.
Some people dont realize that I have been in this social media, marketing, instagram/youtube game since 2011-2012. (i was in the soccer & fitness niche back then). I spent 4-5 years trying to figure it out without having any results whatsoever and in 2016 it clicked and I started having success, but it wasnt until 2018 when things completely exploded for me.
I would give anything to get back those 4-5 years and invest in a mentor & a course sooner who would teach me about business, how to build a following online and sales. But i didnt have that luxury back then and it took me forever to figure it out.
Just watch the video on my youtube channel where I talk about my entire story and all of that if you want to (just search Josue Pena Online CEOs on youtube)
or on my podcast -> onlineceos (dot) com/podcast
Now the question is… why the heck do I teach in the first place?
First off…
I believe that impact is more important than income. If you focus on making an impact your income will grow.
I come from Dominican Republic. Born and raised there. I didnt have much growing up, and i was forced to go to college and do a bunch of other stuff that I didnt want (probably like many here), but my dream was to become a professional soccer player and do what I wanted NOT work endlessly as an engineer (which is my degree).
Funny enough I did actually make it and got the chance to play pro because of social media and what I had built but I said no to it because I saw more potential in building a business with instagram and because I also saw the life of a pro… it sucks tbh 
(anyways… if you want to know more about that just hear my first 2 episodes of my podcast Success Tank)
Because we focus on IMPACT and not just making a quick buck, is why our success stories seem too good to be true and just fairy tales. Because I actually give a damn about every single student, client and anyone who watches my content (even the free one). My youtube channel has more gold and actionable stuff that you can implement and grow extremely quickly & make $$$ than most courses out there.
How do I know this? because of the testimonials and messages I get from people.
Ive gotten people saying that they made $15k in 24hrs from 1 youtube video (where I break down the Instagram story + DM strategy). Others saying that they have grown hundreds of thousands of followers from it too.
What other youtube channel that teaches people about Instagram do you know has that credibility and those success stories?
For me the agency makes a lot of money, and will make even more this year. For me selling 1 more course for $997 or whatever, makes no difference to my financial situation and life. Like… ZERO.
It doesnt change my life at all, but it does change the life of the people who buy it. (again, watch the hundreds of testimonials and success stories we have -> igboss (dot) com/proof
There are very few things more fullfilling that getting a message from someone who tells you that he was going to get evicted from his apartment and that your program saved his family from that & now he doesnt have to work a job he hates.
Or getting messages from students who quit college to pursue something they love doing while using instagram to fuel their passion & make money.
Or meeting clients & students in person (like Hancel in vegas) who the moment they meet me in person tell me that I have changed their lives and that they made $11k in just 1 day from 1 simple little strategy (from the many we have) that I told him to do in our program.
You would understand how this feels if this has happened to you or if you have done any sort of charity work in third world countries (like Dominican Republic or Haiti).
The feeling of being able to help someone else and give back, and see them super grateful for it is something that you cant really describe or put into words. (and I have done both. Impacted people in person with non profits, charity, churches, etc, and online with business)
So as you can see it would be a dis-service to everyone if I didnt put my very best effort to try to have people join the program and change their lives, business and everything else in between.
so thats the first reason…
Now the second reason why I do sell courses and will scale that up this year even more is for $$$.
I AM NOT MOTHER TERESA and I AM NOT RUNNING A NON PROFIT
But is not because the course makes $$$ but because I want my agency to keep growing bigger and bigger.
How does selling the course help me accomplish that?
simple… when I know more people who have big pages, who have other instagram businesses, who do a great job, what do I do? We partner up, and I close clients and sub contract the work with many other them.
I believe in giving back and rewarding people who are crushing it, and I like making money.
There is nothing better than making money together with someone who already is grateful for the impact you have done in their lives, and that is your friend.
Because that is what its all about. Building real meaningful relationships. With every single student, client and everyone who watches my stuff (this includes everyone in this thread even the ones hating and saying negative things) I would love to meet you in person and collaborate in some way.
Just last month one of our students Sunny (who owns 100k+ followers in the entrepreneurship space), we partner up with a client who is really really big. I sent him $3k from the $ the client paid and we worked together on getting results for him. Sunny killed it and we killed it with him.
Last year one of my friends and sub contractors/managers, Maarten. I paid him over $120k from my own pocket and we partnered up on a lot of clients!
So tell me… would you pay me $997 today if in return I will pay you directly $120k in the first year? (without counting all the other clients he has on his own that we dont partner up in)
Now you tell me that that is not cool?
You buy the course, learn a valuable high income skill that you WILL make a lot of $$$ with AND build a massive audience PLUS then we partner up and we make $$$ together as well!! 
Also, some people buy the course to see was up and if Im legit and then they go and hire us on the agency side.
So the course is basically just a beginning stage in our funnel to up sell people to higher packages where we can help & serve them at a higher level and get them even better results. So again, every leads to the agency 
Hopefully that answered everyone’s questions and comments 
Again, I appreciate the constructive cristicism and I actually do like being put on the spot to make sure I prove my worth.
I never want people to follow me blindly like sheep. I want people to analyze what I say and do. See if it is true. Ask meaningful questions and even be skeptical until a certain extent, because it gives me a chance to prove it to them PLUS it keeps me on my toes to make sure that I am truthful, sincere and not a sleazy snake like sadly there is a LOT of in the Instagram community.
Now one thing is doing your due diligence, investigating, seeing if someone is legit and asking smart questions. Another one is just being straight up moronically stupid & skeptical beyond reason. Thats different
In that last case I just ignore it because there is no point in trying to argue with someone who doesnt listen to logic.
But i think that here on this thread most have just provided constructive criticism, asked smart questions and are trying to find it if Im legit or not.
After this comment most of your questions and concerns about that should be answered. After all, who in their right mind if he wasnt legit, would spent 30min writing this response, addressing the questions here, and presenting ONLY facts NOT opinions?
Anyways,
Hope everyone has a great day. If you have any other questions or need anything, just hit me up on instagram @Pena would be happy to help & serve you in any way I can
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I gotta give you some pretty massive credit and say you responded like a respectful G.
Kudos mate.
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thank you hahah feels super weird being here since ive never been in a forum before
gotta create that forum hacking course bruh!!! <3 XD jk not going to do that. someone else can take that one though and i’ll probably buy it too to train my team with it
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I can’t believe I have the king himself commenting on my thread!
But really though, you have amazing skills in order to sell Instagram Growth for $4.5K, most social media management sells I’ve seen would go no higher than $100, maybe $150. Perhaps because you specifically target those that seek to monetize online (rather than, say, established businesses)?
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hahah thank you for that <3 appreciate it
and it is not though once you follow a proven system that works. Anyone can really do it, and you dont have to be a “personal brand” or in front of the camera if you dont want to. You can run everything behind the scenes without people knowing you if you are more introverted.
Regarding pricing, its all about positioning, communicating your value, being confident and overcoming your own mental barrier.
Trust me, when I started I would even think people would pay me $100/hr for it. For me $100 was 25% of my entire monthly salary as an engineer in dominican republic. So it was A LOT OF MONEY for me and I never though people would pay that.
So i just started at the bottom. Little by little. and little by little i started increasing my prices more and more. Then I realized that price is just 2ndary. Whats primary is what i mentioned before. Today what we do starts at $4.5k/month and goes all the way up to $100k/month. Now we are working on closing some deals even bigger than that.
Again, I know that might seem super crazy big. But just remember that I have only been doing this successfully for a few years and I have made a lot of mistakes because I had to figure it out on my own. Mistakes you dont have to make because I already made them for you, and you simply need to learn from my failures so you dont have to go through that pain.
Best of luck to you and most importantly, go out there and take action on everything (both free & paid info). Reading this alone wont save you. You gotta go out there and follow the path outlined for ya
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Thanks for the value!
Oddly enough, I’ve had quite some luck landing ecommerce clients…meanwhile, the local businesses still feel that their 90s infomercial-looking operations are perfectly fine.
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you can land any type of client really local, online, doesnt matter
I mainly focus on online clients, but physical businesses are so easy to kill it for too
Been following you for a while now. The way you convey message and let your audience know about the work you do is truly remarkable. Your positioning is super awesome. It really takes an art to do something like this.
Your experience because of trials & errors and experimenting has helped you become the person you are right now and have given you with an opportunity to serve your clients and students in the best way possible.
I wish you more success.
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<3 thank you!!!
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I understand, but I actually do think it is bad as well. This is because a huge part of his brand is teaching his skills to others online. Therefore, the claims he makes about his accomplishments (the ones that are twisted or false), is manipulating people to his own benefits. People follow him and buy his courses because he is the “IG expert”, not the businessman that uses real experts to do the work. Once again, this is just from stuff I have heard.