As the internet grows and more people are looking for ways to make money online, you get to see more and more internet millionaires that discovered THE way to get rich with the internet.
Did they? What is their background? Where do they come from? How long have they been doing it? Are they other people making money with the same strategy?
Can you find a much cheaper course on Udemy or Teachable that will reveal all those secrets?
It can be hard to know if you are dealing with a fake guru when you know nothing about the internet and how you can make money on the internet.
By the way, there are different ways you can earn money on the internet. There is not only one right way to do it. Do some research and choose one you like.
Building an online business takes time. Earning money from a blog takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. You have skills to learn. There is no easy way to make money unless you just keep investing in ETFs so you can live on the dividends you receive. Even that takes a lot of time.
Let’s dive in the fake guru industry.
*May contain affiliate links. Clicking on the affiliate links will most likely result in the same price you would pay elsewhere or you may get a special offer using those links.
What is a Fake Guru?
A fake guru is someone who seems to be a millionaire and is selling the secret he discovered to make tons of money online.
Did you know you can buy and rent virtually everything these days? You know the huge amount of followers on social media? You can buy them and it’s not that expensive. Same with the comments.
You can also rent luxury cars and houses for a day and shoot all the footage you need to create a few hours of videos that you will release in the next months.
You can buy fake fame, fake social proof, fake reports, fake everything.
Fake gurus are usually young, most of them are under 40 years old. You can’t find anything related to them before they make their big appearance on your Facebook feed.
If you are looking them up, you can’t find any business related to them that would be proof that they are actually doing what they are telling you to do in their course.
Oh yes, they sell online courses to help you become a millionaire. That’s super important. They have created an amazing course that will reveal the secret to make tons of money online.
Sometimes, that course isn’t so pricey. Yet, you won’t learn what you need to in the course and that’s where they have upsells waiting for you.
Read until the end, I have a bonus for you.
What Do They Have in Common?
1-They almost all claim to have had a mentor who taught them everything, but we don’t know who that was. And they tell you that you absolutely need a mentor to succeed.
I agree that getting a REAL mentor, someone that has done what you want to do and making money from it, is a good way to fasttrack your success.
You want someone who’s been there done that. The problem is that the fake gurus tell you that they have been there and done that.
They really insist that you get a mentor. As if their course wasn’t good enough. That you really need more help and guidance than the $1000 course you just bought.
Okay….
2-Another thing they have in common is that they all found THE secret to make you rich and they make it seem easy and quit, but then they claim it’s not a get rich quick scheme…
That you have to put in the work. And if you don’t achieve your goals, you can join the mentorship program that will help you understand why you are not making money yet.
3-They make more money selling their “secret” than by applying it. Like I said earlier, you can buy everything online. So they can buy fake ads accounts, fake earning reports, etc.
So they tell you what to do, but they have never made any money from it. If they did, it wasn’t enough to make them millionaires.
4-They all grew up poor and miserable or were extremely poor at some point in their life and that’s when the “secret” appeared to them.
I understand that they are using the pain points. They are trying to be relatable. But all the big names out there had really BIG struggles at some point in their life. Just think about Tony Robbins and Grant Cardone.
It’s probably the part that makes them more human. At least they have big businesses to back them up. Unlike the fake gurus who have nothing else than their online course and fake followers.
Oh don’t get me wrong, they end up having a real fan base. People who only preach by what they are being taught in the course.
5-Most of them like to be seen with very expensive things, like big brand cars, big brand watches, super big mansions, etc.
I feel like they haven’t even read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. In the book, Robert Kiyosaki explains that wealthy people don’t waste their money on big expenses. They invest it so they have money working for them.
Warren Buffet, the richest stock market investor has been living in the same house for decades. He loves it, why would he buy a more expensive one?
6-They offer over priced course, training or mentoring weekend that will boost your sales and make you super rich.
And they really insist on the mentoring because this is where they are making the most of their money.
I mean, most of the richest people, at some point in their lives, had a mentor. Some of the most proactive leaders are part of a mastermind group.
But the real mentors are different from the fake ones. The fake ones will only talk about how to get rich quickly and will regurgitate what the rich people already told everyone for free (or for a low fee in their books, if you buy the book.)
Yes being an entrepreneur means learning new things at least every year. You want to make sure the techniques you are using are still up-to-date and are still working.
Be careful with what you see online. Take the time to do some research. Oh but maybe you don’t have time to do some research because you have only 30 minutes to get in the course or it will be too late!
7-They use fake scarcity. It’s everywhere. Because people are lazy and they can’t make a decision promptly. You know, procrastination? That’s why fake scarcity is everywhere. To help people make a decision.
There’s only 10 spots left! You better hurry! Yeah…. Most of the webinars are pre-recorded and evergreen. Just take a look at my Webinar section.
They all use scarcity but really, evergreen webinars with evergreen bonuses. Just buy from the link and you get everything they talked about in the webinar.
I feel it could also be a tactic they use so people don’t do some research on the internet to find reviews and complaints on the course they are being sold.
The worst thing is that there are so many affiliates for these products and they want to earn their commissions so badly that all they do is praise all the good in the courses. Really? Nothing negative about them?
And sometimes the negative points are meaningless. Like it seems like the affiliate tried very hard to write something that wouldn’t prevent people from buying from his link.
So you need to dig deeper and it takes more time to find real reviews. You can always verify with the Better Business Bureau if there are any complaints with that business or course.
Sometimes there are only a few, sometimes there are tons and it’s not pretty.
And don’t worry, you are most likely to receive an encore presentation or the webinar replay in your email and you will still have access to all the bonuses.
Please do some research before you buy anything.
I invite you to check this video
It’s a series on YouTube. It’s eye opening.
What’s Coming up Next?
Well now there is a new trend, well it may not be so new, but it’s taking more space online. It’s all the big name endorsing online courses to help you earn money online.
The first one that does it is Robert Kiyosaki. He is an affiliate and he is just promoting someone else’s course. He doesn’t care if it’s good or not, he is going to earn money from it.
Oh, but he is not the only one doing the same. Bob Proctor, Anik Singal, Robby Blanchard and even Justain Altan(ClickBank, Autopilot events) are sellouts affiliates for any programs that will pay them big bucks when people buy from their links.
How do I know? I subscribed to all their email lists, you know, to stay informed on what’s going on in the affiliate marketing business, and I received an email for Kibo Code from Robbie, Justin and Anik.
I also got one from another affiliate that hasn’t sent me emails in months. I thought I wasn’t on her list anymore.
Why the hype for that product? Well, it was a $4,997 course. How 50% in commission sounds? Anik Singal said on a live event training one or 2 weeks after the Kibo Code was closed forever that he recently earned millions of dollars using his email list.
I sure knew where those came from.
So they use the trust their followers have in them to promote and sell them anything, for the sake of earning more money.
In Conclusion
Know that there are always other options available then paying a super high price to learn how to make money online.
There are tons of people sharing what they know on their YouTube channel, in their blog posts and on their podcast.
There are affordable and well done courses available at a good price on learning platforms like Udemy and Teachables.
I took some overpriced course and I feel like I didn’t learn enough to really be able to really earn money online. There was always a piece of the puzzle missing, and that piece was just another course I had to take….
No thanks, I’ve already spent enough and I didn’t get the information I wanted.
Be selective. Do your research. There are good programs out there with people that really care about their business.
How do you know? Well, they update their online course frequently so it stays up-to-date to keep teaching you what really works.
Here is my bonus: https://socialblade.com/
On that website, you can take a look at the growth and the views people get on different social media platforms, and of course, from YouTube.
There are a lot of suspicious accounts out there. I have taken a look at the people I mentioned in my article….yikes!
To really understand how the website work and how to spot fake gurus, here’s a video that will show you exactly what to look for:
Please use the Social Blade tool . It’s really helpful and it will show you how people manipulate everything.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section.
Cynthia