If I get one more email from a guru…
There I was. It was March 20th, 2011 and I was putting in a late night shift at my computer (a fairly typical occurrence) when I received an email that pissed me off, triggering me to react.
The information in the email gave me very little hope that companies have any incentive to be good citizens, and instead, view all people as a potential profit.
The first email was from one of the online GURU’s (yes I subscribe to some of them). I will paraphrase it because it was long winded…it basically said:
The Internet is DEAD. There is no longer money to be made on the Internet. Google is gone, affiliate marketing is gone, and so are the conventional ways to build a business.
Then they went on to promote their typical scammy looking product. Big house, fancy cars, and an even bigger sales pitch on their SECRET loophole technique. All you had to do is push a button, flip a coin, and eat a big dinner and you would earn a million bucks.
Yeah freakin’ right…
BUT…believe it or not, this was not the email that really ‘irked’ me.
This email was followed by 6 or 7 other GURU’s promoting the same product, claiming the same end results, and they all argued that their promotion was the most original thing they have ever seen. Some of them even claimed to have earned a boat load of money using the promoted techniques.
This is pretty typical within the Internet marketing industry, but I think this was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.
Being in the industry, I know how these people work. The problem is:
- These people are called JV (joint ventures) marketers, yet they typically don’t know what the product they are promoting even is.
- These people are given incentives to promote the product. They may not only earn money when you purchase their product, but the particular GURU that launches the product also has to reciprocate the next time GURU B launches their product.
- These products are typically written by ghost writers and/or are simply rehashed information. It is very rare that the person launching the product created it or ever EARNED money using the techniques they teach.
- They don’t support their product in an ongoing fashion, rather they launch 2-3 products per year and they don’t care if the hype lasts more than a month. Usually these products have a shelf-life of weeks, not months.
- The claims are lies. They are ridiculous and ludicrous.
Point #5 got me thinking…
“How many people actually get sucked into these push-button, get rich quick schemes?”
We own Wealthy Affiliate (an Internet Marketing community), and if you are a member you know that we promote hard work and proven techniques to achieve success. One thing we have never done is promote someone or something else, in particular another guru or another guru’s “producut.” You will only see us promoting our service because we believe in our offer, we support our offering, and we offer a service superior to anything else online.
How could we ethically promote another GURU’s $2,000 product, when someone could be a member at WA for 4 years for the same price?! How could we even ethically promote a $97 e-book when we offer a full suite of services, free websites & hosting, training, live videos, a full fledged community, and our 1-on-1 support for $47?
We can’t.
As I sat there looking at all of these emails, my eyes glossed over and I wondered, how many people actually fall for unbelievable claims like this?
I could have easily created a survey, but that may or may not have gotten the truth. Instead I wanted to base my proof on how subjective people are to these offers by running a test.
I had a plan…
It was March 20th and I knew April Fool’s day was just around the corner. Often when April Fool’s Day comes around people are too caught up in their busy lives to remember to watch out for surprises, so if you don’t have a prank planned, you are vulnerable to being pranked.
I had a good idea for a prank - to create a product offering that promised people the world without having to work for it… reminiscent of what many of the gurus are pushing.
In fact, I wanted to guarantee something that was beyond belief. One Million Dollars in one week.
Here is the site if you want to take a look for yourself.
The website I created
http://millionbucksperweek.com/
Guess what happened?
A good chunk of people thought the offer was real.
- In less than 24 hours 10,000’s (tens of thousands) of people clicked the BUY NOW button.
- Over 140 people were kind enough to leave feedback on the FAKE Order page about experiences they had or simply said “I knew you guys wouldn’t promote something like this”.
- People got Fooled!
This proved to me that people are falling for these scams all over the place. People are being scared into buying things. People are being mislead into buying things. People are getting scammed!
I hate to see this, but I guess this is the world we live in. People fall for these scams over and over again (which I personally find crazy). It happens because it is the “dream” that people are buying into. Success takes hard work and if you are not willing to work towards it, then you won’t find it.
And that is what we preach and will continue to teach.
Remember what your parents always told you. Don’t talk to strangers AND if it is too good to be true, it probably is.
Trust your instincts, not GURU’s.
Kyle
A Member & Owner of WealthyAffiliate.com, NOT A GURU
PS. Instead of offering your typical comments on this post, it would be great to hear your stories about how you have been ripped off in the past.
What I have find is you want to make sure you do your RESEARCH. The research you do will help you make the right decision.
@Fabio
There are lots of scams like this out there. Just think, you could have been a member of Wealthy Affiliate for over 3 years for this same amount of money! I can tell people whatever I want about the fact that most programs are illegitimate, however I can only lead a horse to water. Be careful and if you want to come to a safehaven, consider Wealthy Affiliate. We are real and we are helping people every day!
I have purchased Choose Income (www.chooseincome.com) and, the least I can say, is that I am quite disappointed.
The product is advertised with these silver bullets:
NO building websites
NO cost seriously, this is 100% FREE
NO selling stuff
NO worries about getting visitors to sites
NO special knowledge or software required
NO extra skills; if you’re on this page, you’ve got all the skill you need
NO wasting months of your time on stuff that doesn’t work
NO complicated stuff to confuse everything – i’s moron simple, and given to you in plain English – wouldn’t you rather spend your time earning, instead of learning?
You can then deduce it’s a good product for newbies and unexperienced people about IM, like myself, and that’s exactly why I decided to purchase it.
However, I discovered the whole system is built around the (false and wrong) assumption that CPA networks will easily accept subscriptions, thanks to three “magic tricks” explained in ChooseIncome e-book:
1 – you are STRONGLY suggested to submit your application to CPA networks using a non-existent domain name.
2 – you then explain in the application form that the domain is temporarily out of service due to a generic “glitch” with your credit card company, it will soon be resolved and your domain will be back online in a matter of days
3 – after you have submitted your application online, you must follow up with a phone call to CPA networks to reinforce your request.
The phone call particularly is described as the “Magic Formula” and “it will work 99,0% of the time”.
Setting aside the fact that it’s not explained at all what you should say to stress your application (which for a product meant for newbies is a major lack) , I have tried myself with some 15 CPA networks at now, just to find out they invariably deny applications.
Guess the reason for rejections? “Unfortunately we do not feel your site compliments our offers”
Well, no wonder, given that the domain DOESN’T ACTUALLY EXIST!
15 out of 15 applications is 100% of failures, where it was supposed to be a sure thing 99,9%.
So the turning key of the whole ChooseIncome system, signing up to CPA networks, not only reveals itself not as easy as it is described, but rather impossible.
Trying to solve this obstacle, I then took the chance to have a Free Consultancy from ChooseIncome support staff by calling their toll free number, as they advertise on their sales page.
The Free Consultancy, far from being any sort of support to my issue, turned out to be a nagging proposal by a salesperson to make me purchasing a subscription to choosefocusnow.
Please have a look at the website to see there’s no mention about prices and how to actually get in touch with them; about the content, it’s the usual “we’ll take you step by step to success in making money online”. But how to and at what cost is not mentioned in details………….
Last but not least, I received a mail from Hana & Cindy (ChooseIncome masterminds…..) where they invited me to attend a webinar as described :
The mystery guest was, surprise surprise, a typical 21 years old guy who does the good life living in Thailand and other exotic locations around the world, thanks to his magic IM program that requires him only 12 minutes a day of hard work!
Only, once again no wonder, to be able to implement his method you have to buy a special software that he kindly wishes to share with only a few lucky ChooseIncome members for the modest price of 1.500$!!!!!!.
At the end, what to say?
I’ll let you judge……
These gurus have really been bothering me lately. It seems like the current technique is to criticize the gurus for promising $144,023.21 per day just for pushing a button. They then go on to say that making money takes hard work, but don’t worry, because they’ve done all the work for you, and now you can make $144,023.21 per day just by pushing a button. And lets not forget, this is completely different than what all the gurus are pushing.
Thanks for letting me rant.
In fact this is one of the reason I have resisted entering the world of internet marketing as a business for myself. I have looked at one of the easiest strategy that includes being an affiliate for a Clickbank product. However based on the quality (or lack of thereof) and the dishonesty I found around, I decided to stay away from these affiliate programs.
Pretty much disgusted by what is being sold and how I cannot trust most of the IM products and reviews available online and I don’t want to be associated with an industry where there is so much mistrust lack of honesty.
I am still looking at what I can do to earn money on line in an honest and ethical way, where the products or services offered provide real value and solutions. I don’t care to learn about all these strategies to make money online when all they sell is another strategy to make money online. This makes no sense at all.
Agos
@Don
Agree. It seems as though the principles have shifted away from the exchange of money for a the equivalent value in a service or product TO people just trying to make money at any cost. It is my hopes that the consumer will smarten up to as you said, the slick copywriting that is out there just to get the sale. There really is no meat behind many of the offers out there. That is not our way of business (we offer far more value than we charge), but I know it is a commonality.
Thanks for your feedback.
Kyle
Hi Kyle….
Even when you attend meetings and hear guru speakers, there is NO guarantee that
your money will be well spent. The finest promoters share in the revenue which makes
it hard for them to make refunds when true integrity would demand it.
I’ve known one who offered to co-write an ebook and then bombed but kept the money.
Others say for the 1st 5 we’ll “do it for you” which is another lie. Normally, we trust the
promoter but he has bills to pay and shuts his eyes to the fraud.
Unfortunately, integrity and honest dealings are different today. You used to be able
to say it and the agreement was done without question. Today, it’s more about the
money and slick copywritiing with buyers beware mentality.
Best regards,
Don
@Grant
The reason we don’t offer money back on our service is because it is exactly that. We provide everything that we state on our page including our personal time supporting people at WA, therefore there is not reason for us to offer a guarantee. If our system completely broke and people could not log into WA, then we would offer a guarantee. The one thing WE personally cannot guarantee is that someone will actually take action, hence the reason we cannot guarantee earnings.
Different people succeed at different levels and it is a result based on their action. You can’t read and earn. You need to learn, apply, fail perhaps, apply, continue to learn, succeed. I believe there is no better opportunity than the Internet as it is become more and more of a success based for regular people.
One thing that has saved my bacon, recently, is I do not have a Credit Card. That situation has more advantages than most would admit.
When i still had Credit Cards, that is another story. It is not so much the get rich quick as the good copy-writing. Then, because we secretly wish the writing was the truth, we sometimes fall for things. My weakness was investing using software. not exactly promotion on the web, but hooked just the same.
I was at SBI before joining WA. I looked at and bought other products, most with genuine money back guarantees. So when I looked at WA with no money back, I needed to make sure. the Mrs. does NOT allow me much room for mistakes. thus being here was very well researched. no complaints; just the learning curve, but that is okay.
I don’t exactly feel comfortable telling my story, but…. all I can say is it changed my life forever. I know that instead of being bitter about it, I do my best to remain positive and keep things in perspective. There are many people that will do anything for a dollar, but it doesn’t have to be the standard or the rule.
@Robert
I agree, the money can be the root of evil. What we teach members at Wealthy Affiliate is that your first and foremost intention should be to HELP someone. If your secondary is money you will be far more successful and you will be in business a lot longer (and you will have a solid brand).
Kyle,
This is in response to your email that I got re: your WA post titled “If I get one more email from a guru…” . I could relate to that post very much. Fortunately, I hooked up with our dear Pot Pie Girl early in my affiliate marketing career (which started about 1 1/2 years ago.
Since then, I must shamefully admit, against her advice I might add, I fell for the “shiney things” more than once. In this mistaken endeavor I have found that these “gurus” have little ethical substance and a great hunger for money. The problem is, the Bible says “The LOVE of MONEY is the ROOT of EVIL.”. Yup, they are spreading their roots out for anyone to be tapped from that is enough of a sucker.
Thanks,
Rob
Luckily, I haven’t been ripped off with stuff like this before, ’cause I have always had a good sense about me with the ‘buyer beware’ and all. But great IDEA to run a marketing campaign like that to inform others about scams, and to use it to promote WA.
@ David
LOL…special deal only for you! There is some great information out there I do agree, but there is also a lot of poor information. How do you distinguish the two? Our goal at WA is to provide a safehaven for people.
I couldn’t agree more Kyle. I am subb’ed to about 5 willingly and it seems these folks DO trade lists as I have now ended up on over 19 different “guru” lists. Sure, I read their content, and have watched and down loaded a number of their videos. Though, unlike some, early on I did buy a few packages, usually at that $49 special deal “just for me” so maybe I’ve sent in total about $250 out the door. Granted some of it was informative when I knew absolutely nothing about IM, but some of the recent content I’ve seen is old hat. As you know, their pages are in sections and some of these guys have *very* convincing squeeze pages that if you didn’t know anything about IM, would make one want to pull out their credit card to chase that dream! I let them all go but as I said, I like to think I’ve read enough and will be trying to un-sub from a lot of these “guaranteed” programs. That said, I am following your current plan with modest goals. Thanks for posting this!
@Julie
Thanks for your feedback and congrats on your writing success. Keep it up!
@Eric
It is pretty easy to get a refund with Clickbank, sometimes too easy if you are an ethical business owner. The reason they made it so easy (simply email reply to your receipt), is because they have been infamous for housing scam products, many of which are plagiarized. If they didn’t, their chargeback rate would be through the roof and the would not have the ability to control the payment processor. Their latest changes to their guidelines (in regards to gregarious claims) was a long time comin’.
Hi Kyle
Nice post! as always…
I always receive a lot of spam emails about the “next thing” and been honest they are really good to convince you about buying their products…
Something we should learn about this spam/scam emails is how they spread the word about their products, maybe would be a good idea to spread the word using that “metothod” to promote a good product and make some money…
-Marco