Credit: Danté Crichlow/BFA.com
Amanda Frances has made a living off her online money-making courses, but not all of her customers have good things to say.
After months of facing backlash over what Bozoma “Boz” Saint John, 49, referred to as a “woo-woo” business, the 41-year-old “Money Queen” of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is clapping back, explaining the premise of her company yet again as some former participants speak out about their experiences after spending thousands.
“It’s really hard to run a business if you believe you’re taking people’s money,” Amanda told The Cut on April 30. “I believe that there’s a value exchange. People who value my work pay for it again and again and again. And if they didn’t like it, we wouldn’t have repeat buyers.”
After finding herself in a cult at a young age and ultimately running away from the organization that she believed to be Bible-based, Amanda admittedly struggled to get back on track.
“The less contact you have with the outside world, the less it makes sense to you,” she explained. And when you leave, “you almost don’t have the language to be normal anymore … I felt like I was losing God. I felt like I was losing my family, my people.”
Though she initially struggled to navigate the outside world, Amanda went on to study psychology at Oral Roberts University and came across the idea of life coaching, saying that she felt she “had something to say and something to give.”
Around that time, Amanda wrote a prayer that said, “Teach me how to earn and receive money, and I promise to teach women everywhere to do the same,” and 15 years later, she has over 21,000 clients in 100 countries.
She also moved from Oklahoma to Los Angeles, previously landing in Malibu, where she fulfilled her childhood dream of living like Barbie in her dream home.
According to Amanda, 95% of her customers are happy with what they received, and many are repeat buyers.
“Just because people don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s a scam,” Carley Greiner, 29, noted.
Carley, who first discovered Amanda years ago, went from a fifth-grade teacher to the owner of her own online hypnotherapy business, which she uses to make “women rich through rewiring and regulation.”
Someone else pointed out that Amanda being cast on RHOBH “teaches us you can turn your coaching business into literally f*cking anything.”
Another woman, who launched a law firm in 2020, said Amanda’s courses “teach you to brainwash yourself into believing in yourself.”
Others pointed out that Amanda’s courses weren’t like “buying a product,” which immediately produces a result, and suggested that the ideas prey on those who are vulnerable.
“When you’re vulnerable, you find things you wouldn’t ever normally look at and think, Maybe this will help,” a woman named Jenna said. “I just kind of followed her. I was like, I just won’t think about money, I’ll spend and spend and spend.”
After spending $2,000 on Amanda’s courses, Jenna said she found herself $10,000 in debt.
“I funded her lifestyle for no reason,” she complained.
A 45-year-old California nurse named Jessica was equally upset with the lack of results she attained.
“I was like, I can take this course and make a sh*t-ton of money, and achieve more of my vision-board goals, like living in a bigger house or on the beach,” she recalled.
But after spending six figures on Amanda’s courses in total, including $40,000 in credit card charges and $40,000 from her retirement savings, Jessica felt like she’d entered a “black hole.”
In response, Amanda pointed out that customers shouldn’t be using her courses “as an excuse” to rack up debt.
“I can’t stop them, but that’s never been my advice,” she explained.
Someone else alleged online that they spent thousands of dollars on “Law-of-Attraction recycled garbage in pink-and-gold 2016 font” before receiving a cease-and-desist from Amanda’s business manager demanding that she take down the social media post since it contained Amanda’s exclusive content.
Despite the drama, Amanda has leaned in to her newfound fame, for better or worse, and even started selling a $37 iced-coffee glass that says “Scam Artist + Cult Leader.”
“I’ve learned through my career that you have to take your power back around things,” she reasoned.
Amanda also felt that the business criticism she’d received wasn’t all that bad in the long run.
“Now that nothing crazy has come out about me, and nothing wild is being said by my actual students, I think people are kind of like, Oh, maybe this was just a ridiculous storyline,” she concluded.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 15 reunion concludes on Thursday, May 7, at 8/7c on Bravo.