Home Business Academy Review 2026: Mike Hobbs' and Paul Hutchings' Affiliate Marketing Funnel + An Alternative

Home Business Academy Pros and Cons

Price: Home Business Academy costs $125 monthly plus upsells.

Refund Policy: HBA offers a 3-day money-back guarantee (refund is forfeited after 72 hours). There's no refund on trial memberships.

Origin: Home Businesses Academy was founded in June 2016.

What is Home Business Academy?

Home Business Academy is an online platform that offers self-paced modules where the students learn how to create funnels, use blogging for traffic, and use funnels for network marketing and affiliate marketing. HBA Funnel Builder, the flagship product of the company, lets users create lead capture pages, sales pages, websites, calendar pages, and membership sites. It also teaches how to create a digital product that you can sell. Besides these features, the course also teaches SEO, Facebook, and YouTube marketing.

The Home Business Academy Product Line and Business Model

• HBA Funnel Builder teaches aspiring digital marketers how to capture leads, and set up sales pages, checkout pages, membership sites, and thank you pages. In this course, students will also learn about the different digital products they can explore to make money online. This program is recommended for affiliate marketers and MLM.
  Subscription to the HBA Funnel Builder Plan gives you access to the Funnel Builder Academy, a digital course on lead generation using funnels.

  What's Inside HBA Funnel Builder?

  • Step-by-step instructions on how you can build successful funnels.
  • Pages are easy to load and edit, and the URLs can be customized.
  • Complete with done-for-you templates that you can edit with your brand, info, name, and photos.
  • Create thank you pages, terms and privacy pages, links pages, about us, product pages, webinars and events, courses, link trees, coming soon, and digital products, and set up an online payment page.

  The course price is $25 monthly with a 14-day free trial.

• HBA Premium (Traffic and Conversions Academy) is an online membership platform designed for small businesses. Lessons in this program include how to generate leads and traffic online, how to find quality customers, and how to convert leads into sales. Members also get live daily and weekly coaching with Mike, Paul, and other community leaders.

  What’s Inside HBA Premium (Traffic and Conversions Academy)?

  • 11 different masterminds weekly, including Monday Night Market Mastermind (every 8pm EST), Daily Grow Rich Call (9 am EST), T&C Action Mastermind (11 am EST)
  • Setting up bookmarks and browser
  • Target marketing and lead magnet
  • Getting free traffic (irresistible invitations, YouTube ranking, basics of Podcasting, private blog network, Facebook Ads, and Facebook Live mastery course)
  • Getting sales through conversions and the 13-point conversion formula
  • Closing online deals and conversion secrets
  • Membership Recruitment

  The course price is $25 monthly with a 1-week free trial.

• Financial Literacy Academy is co-created with world-famous attorney and CPA Mark J Kohler. Financial literacy academy includes courses on debt elimination, tax strategies for US business owners, record keeping and bookkeeping with QuickBooks, and business entity setup and maintenance. The course also covers strategies for retirement planning, property management, and asset protection.

• What's in the Financial Literacy Academy?

• • Retirement Planning Strategies
  • Truth About Money- Lessons on common money myths and half-truths, wealth priorities, why money is important, savings & investments, and truths about financial freedom.
  • Why the Rich Get Richer?- Lessons on understanding profit and loss, balance sheet, assets and liabilities, wealth trampoline, poverty toilet, financial literacy on taxes, and the real-life "golden eggs".
  • Priceless Distinctions for Freedom Crusaders- Lessons on tax deduction illusion, sell at a profit illusion, identifying financial toilets, financial plumbing blocks, money machines, and having the right money mindset.
  • How to Buy Your Way to Freedom- Golden question for purchase decisions, two definitions of wealth, what is net worth, and integrity lessons in making money.
  • Illusions of Wealth- The high-income illusion, big homes & nice cars, the millionaire discovery, the 3Fs of financial freedom, an abundance of thinking, savers are not losers, and how to avoid theft through inflation.
  • Words from the Wise- Lessons include the 50% rule, freedom philosophy, module review, simple 36% return, strategies for a prime financial position, and your 2 biggest expenses.

  The course price is a $1,000, onetime payment.

Who is Home Business Academy For?

This online learning and funnel builder platform is for online entrepreneurs, business owners, new and experienced digital marketers, and home business professionals. The tools, training, and learning resources are designed for someone who wants to start a digital marketing business, affiliate marketing, and others.

Home Business Academy VS. Wealthy Affiliate

Some articles say that Home Business Academy has a similar structure to Wealthy Affiliate. We'll compare the two courses in the table below.

Who Are the Founders?

Mike Hobbs and Paul Hutchings are the founders of the home business academy. Both have been engaged in online business for over 10 years. Mike Hobbs is a certified funnel builder instructor, while Paul is active in HBA’s marketing and other social engagements.

Paul Hutchings is an affiliate marketer from Idaho, U.S.A. An expert in network marketing and owner of Hutchings Marketing, LLC, who graduated Summa Cum Laude from DeVry University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (2003). His first job was as a regional sales manager for Melaleuca, a wellness company that manufactures and distributes nutritional and pharmaceutical products. After that, he briefly worked as a sales executive for East Idaho Auto Auction, and then started Hutchings Marketing LLC in Feb 2009.

Mike Hobbs is a digital marketer, social media marketer, affiliate marketer, and proud co-founder of Home Business Academy LLC. He graduated from Dixie State University in 2007 and worked briefly as a loan officer for Affordable Mortgage Solutions. In 2007, he took a huge leap and quit his Walmart job to start his own business. Unlike many internet hustlers, Mike’s success story was not a “get-rich-quick” one. He worked his way up a 100K debt, and after 5 years of hard work, he finally earned his first 6-figure income. From this, he retired from the military early, after 13 long years of service. In 2016, he co-founded Home Business Academy with Paul and the rest is history.

What Is the Home Business Academy Affiliate Program?

Home Business Academy gives up to 80% commissions to qualified affiliate marketers. Exclusive affiliates get the privilege to promote the program and earn weekly commissions paid every Friday. The best part is, the HBA's affiliate program is 1-tier structure, so you are not required to recruit more members to qualify for commissions.

Potential Earnings From HBA Affiliate Program

Sample computation:

Course price $125 x 80%= $100

Qualified affiliate marketers can earn $100 for every successful referral to the HBA Funnel Builder and HBA Premium programs.

Affiliate marketer Donovan Spear shows his earnings in a video he posted on YouTube.

How To Start As A Home Business Academy Affiliate?

To start as an HBA affiliate, get your link in SamCart, start earning through the Quick Launch strategy, set up your funnel, get traffic, and apply the Freedom Four daily.

Step 1- Set Up Your Affiliate Log-In

All the affiliate log-ins are through SamCart (get your affiliate link here).

Step 2- Quick Launch Strategy

Sell the products and start earning even before you complete setting up your affiliate account. Log in to the SamCart back office, copy the link, and send people your affiliate links.

Step 3- Set Up Your Funnel

Done-for-you funnel (especially the All in One Business) is recommended for new affiliates.

All in One Business is the newest one with the highest converting potential, 3x more than the other funnels. Give your funnel a custom domain name and your home business academy autoresponder.

Step 4- Getting Traffic To Your Funnel

With HBA, you get access to all traffic and conversion training.

Step 5- The Freedom Four

The Freedom Four are the core values of HBA for building the business.

4 daily activities for growing your online business:

• Building your audience- drive traffic, get leads, build a network, etc
• Build knowledge and skills
• Build your business- converting traffic and leads to sales
• Building your community

HBA Affiliate Log-In Page

What is a Funnel Builder?

A funnel builder is a software or tool that lets users design funnel pages to generate free leads for the business. Funnels are chains of web pages strategically set up so traffic can flow from the unawareness/awareness stage to the action stage. The goal of a funnel is to generate free traffic that triggers favorable customer actions, like a purchase, download, or subscription.

A funnel builder can also be a person who creates a series of interrelated web pages. They strategically design touch points for every stage of the funnel to optimize the customer’s experience. Funnel builders write catchy copies and design the pages to make them look attractive.

5 Advantages of Using Funnels for Affiliate Marketing

The 5 advantages of using funnels for affiliate marketing are wider reach, increased repeat purchases, buyer list building, better conversions, and higher affiliate commissions.

• Wider Reach- Google processes over 8.5B searches every day, and studies show that 72% of buyers turn to Google for answers. By creating informative free content online through your links to blog posts and tutorials, you generate more leads through organic Google searches.
• Encourage Repeat Purchases- Through funnels, you can build stronger customer loyalty by showing you are a trusted source of information. Customers that go through excellent funnels are likely to trust brands associated with them.
• Build a Buyer’s List- Another advantage of using funnels for affiliate marketing is that you can build an optimized list of potential customers who have shown interest in your product. So, you can focus your marketing efforts on nurturing these leads in your buyer's list and push them through your affiliate links.
• Increase Conversion Rates- Using funnels in affiliate marketing increases conversion. A funnel creates a customer journey that aims to educate customers about your product and service offerings. This process of nurturing leads proves to yield better conversion.
• Earn Higher Commissions- Affiliate marketers who consistently deliver quality leads are often eligible for higher commissions. Many businesses will pay higher commissions for great leads with lower return/refund rates.

How to Make Money with Funnels?

To make money with funnels, create enough brand awareness, stimulate customer interest with your offerings, develop a desire to purchase through free training and tutorials, have a strong call to action to encourage favorable responses, and guide leads through the funnel through enticing promotions. Profitable funnels repeat the same process until it reaches the highest conversion possible.

Marketing strategies for each level of the funnel:

• Awareness is the exploratory stage of the customer. This stage aims to increase brand awareness and get the customer to trust you.
• Interest is the next stage of the funnel. In this stage, your goal is to qualify leads. Only those that fit the profile of your ideal customer will be nurtured to develop a healthy and converting sales pipeline.
• Desire is the third stage of the funnel and the most crucial one. At this stage, you put your best foot forward by giving your customers your best offerings. Negotiation also happens at this stage.
• Action is the final stage of the sales funnel. At this stage, the buyer either buys from you or ignores you entirely.

What is the Funnel Success Rate?

A good funnel has a success rate of 3% to 8%. Anything over 2% is generally a good number across all industries. The funnel's success rate can be further improved by using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Use Google Analytics to see what your target customers are asking and what products/services they are looking for. The success rate can also be improved by capitalizing on social proof, using data-driven funnels, creating real-time engagements, and conducting split testing. Alternatively, beginners can try done-for-you funnel and traffic like the Easiest System Ever .

Why Do Funnels Fail?

Funnels fail because the marketing strategies are not aligned with the goals of the target customers, bad SEO practices, offers are not catchy enough, and the copywriting is not convincing. Funnels only work if the marketing materials are targeted to address the needs/pain points and you bring in enough traffic.

To improve traffic, maximize your use of SEO tools that increase the visibility of your content. Use social media marketing to promote your blogs on Facebook groups, Instagram, and other platforms. Ensure you address the needs and goals of your target audience by conducting surveys and identifying the profile of your ideal customers by creating a customer avatar. Know what customer needs you are addressing with your offers and maintain consistent messaging throughout your campaign.

Are Funnels and Affiliate Marketing the Best Way to Make Passive Income?

Building funnels for sales or for affiliate links offers excellent opportunities for making money online. But, income from funnels and affiliate marketing is not passive. You need constant work and effort to grow the business.

If you think about it, affiliate marketing does not differ much from a 9 to 5 job. All you do is drive traffic for companies and sell other people's products/services. When you run out of ways to generate traffic, they can fire you anytime. Driving people to your website is the hardest soft skill to master. Learning funnels is just one method of generating traffic. A lead gen training will teach you more ways of sourcing leads like how to build lead gen websites, fundamentals of local SEO, and how to maximize the use of local paid advertising.

A client of mine is Orange County Granite Quartz Marble Countertops, 2644 Dupont Drive, Irvine, California 92612, 949-326-0023, https://ocgranitemarble.com/. I delivered 6 leads for projects amounting to $66,750 in a month and earned $6,675 from 10% commissions.

Comparing affiliate marketing to local SEO lead generation is like being a street performer at Venice Beach versus installing traffic lights with the Department of Transportation. As a street performer, you only make money while you’re out performing, just like in affiliate marketing where commissions stop the second you stop driving traffic. Traffic lights take work to set up but guide cars every day with little ongoing maintenance. Similarly, local SEO lead generation sites keep producing leads steadily without the nonstop hustle. Mike Michalowicz reminds us that "profit is not an event, it’s a habit," which mirrors local SEO lead generation's consistently in generating income.

Learn my top recommendation for making passive income online in this local SEO lead generation training. This business model is #1 for me because it has better opportunities for earning and scaling. Once your website is on top of Google, you'll own valuable digital properties where you earn passively from.