How ACTION-FAKING cost me $6,543.21, TWO YEARS and TWO MONTHS.

[OutofPoverty]

It started on May 25, 2016. I remember I was finished with my high school finals and was glad it was over. Since I had nothing to do, I spent that time playing Black Ops 3 zombies ($59.97) on Der Eisendrache ($14.95). While I was playing BO3, I went to my laptop to search up different guides on how to get the bows by round three and I discovered this YouTube ad from Tai Lopez:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VZInkr3x4


"Do you know what I like more than flying on a private jet like this...my books" When I first heard that statement, it confused me because it did not make sense to me but it got my attention (Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff explains why by mentioning the three parts of the brain.). Once the ad was over, I pondered on what he said and thought "man I've never thought about books like that. Minutes later, I saw another video from Tai Lopez (Title: Tai Lopez: The 67 Steps to Finding the Good Life)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LTVf99dM_k


As soon as I saw the video, I ran to my backpack to get my notebook and pen to take notes. I remembered I took notes on the "10 breakthrough tips" on the good life (health, wealth, love and happiness) such as if you want to change your bank account, you must understand science ( the 25 cognitive biases), the pyramid of wealth, removing the educational brainwashing, the law of 33% (You want to spend 33% of your time with people below you, same level, and higher than you such as mentors.). In hindsight, this two hour video was a long upsell to his 67 steps program that you "need" to change your life.

The reasons I was hooked into the video was the knowledge (I never knew anything about the 25 cognitive biases such as the reward bias, liking/loving tendency, or authority mis influence tendency.) and my perception of books changed because I thought they were boring due to school and planted the seed of how of my self-help journey.

The next day, I went to the public library to find "The Definitive book of Body Language" along with other books I saw in the video to check out. Once I found the book, I took a seat and decided to skim through the book to see what it was about. In six minutes, I learned about the ten different hands, how your mind points to where your body wants to go, thirteen signs a female use to show interest, and much more. I was hooked and got a HUGE dopamine rush in my brain. This made me go to Barnes & Noble and buy the book ($19.97).

Ever since I had this dopamine rush, I was an insight junkie by going to Barnes & Noble like a library and spent hours (11:00am - 4:00pm or 5:00pm - 9:00pm) there. I had to attend a summer program for the college I attended on June 27, 2016 from August 5, 2016. If was not hanging out with friends or doing my homework, I would spend that time watching his videos and taking notes such as "ten secrets only millionaires know, seven ways to find your destiny and more I can't remember." Most were upsells to his programs such as 67 steps, accelerator (his "money" program), and real estate. Even in his courses, he was trying to upsell me into his persuasion program.

67 Steps​

I purchased this on 10/25/16 for $37 because it was half off. While I do not have the screenshots, there was an upsell to his mini MBA program with two down sell offers. I was excited and ready to learn. I would spend time listening to this during class (Bio), waking up early in the morning, during my lunch breaks, and going to the library on the weekends to complete it as fast as possible.

Lessons that were more than an hour long such as "Blue-footed booby birds, ess & the 500 year old" would take me four days to complete because I took notes on each video and Tai recommended that you should. I never finished the program that year because it was long, boring, he kept talking in circles, and my college work was getting in the way so I took a break until the semester was over.

Once the semester was over, I decided to explore his other videos such as his productivity apps, wealth tips in the premium book summaries and VIP Program (VIP Lifestyle Training and his once a month "live" VIP coaching) section. While there are some helpful videos such as Enhance your creativity with Dr. German Gracia-Fresco and How to turn your problems into profit with Jay Summit. Most of the videos are full with information you can find on YouTube for free.

Examples are Saving, Investing, & Building with Nicholas Stanley, How to double/triple/quadruple your money with Adam Torres, and FLEXIBILITY, FAST LEARNING, & FORMING NEW HABITS. I watched 72 out of 178 (40.48%) of the videos and did not feel any closer to goals. Fast forward to January 29, 2017

I decided to go through the course again because I was tired of struggling with my porn addiction (Side note - I found it easier to quit when I decided to stop identifying myself as a "porn addict trying to quit" thanks to the identity cataclysms).

From January 29, 2017 to May 2017, I went to my college library after work study hours (5:00pm) and got up early in the early morning to complete the course. In hindsight, I was still in the same position and nothing changed but my time being wasted being an action faker. It was the same sh*t different day. Also, I had a subscription to his VIP Program.

When you try to cancel your subscription, a video of Tai appears in a red shirt and he starts of saying "wow... before you cancel let's think about it before you go. I know you're afraid because you don't know what you're getting into...blah...blah." The most important that stood out was when he asked the question "what else are you going to do with that money?" then he proceeded to talk about how most people would spend that money on junk food, extra pairs of jeans and you know what...that's an ROD (return on depreciation). Image if you spent that money on this and learned something to earn you an extra $80, $95, $100 from your initial investment."

I thought to myself "he's right because I did not have anything else better to do with that money, so why not invest in myself."

Tai's Social Media Marketing Agency Training (the bulk of this post)​

I purchased this on 12/1/16 at $997. Ironically, I had no intention on buying this course until those email campaigns got to me. Here is the copy and paste version:

Email Subject Line: Do you hate your freedom?

Body: Daniel,

Be honest.

At the end of the day, are you truly embracing your freedom, or slaving away at doing something you don’t enjoy?

The following quote from Wayne Dyer sums up my thoughts:

“Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.”

You can unlock more freedom in your life than you think. We’re living in a time unlike any other in history.

Not only is it possible to work from anywhere in the world, it’s now possible to start a business that funds your lifestyle in a very short amount of time.

It used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a business. Today, it’s nowhere near that amount. All you need is a smartphone and an internet connection to live a life where you’re truly free.

Within my past few emails, I’ve made it even easier. I’ve shown you how to get started with a step-by-step template for starting a social media agency, even if you’ve never started a business before.

The reason why I’m sending you this email is because you still haven’t taken the opportunity I’ve presented to you on a silver platter. An opportunity that paves a path toward freedom.

I can’t imagine why you haven’t yet pursued this, but I’m thinking it may be because something happen in your life that got in the way. Maybe you got sick. Perhaps there was a glitch with your internet, and you weren’t able to watch the webinar.

Whatever your reason is, I want to avoid a flood of calls hitting my customer service rep by offering you yet another chance to watch the webinar.

This time, let’s not let situations beyond your control get in the way. Let’s make today the day where you unlock the freedom you desire, so you can finally start living the life you want (instead of just thinking about it.)

Visit the link below to watch an encore presentation of this webinar, so I can show you how you can get small businesses to pay you thousands of dollars every month.

The internet and social media isn’t going away. By simply learning the principles of social media once, and you’ll have a skill that’ll pay you for the rest of your life.

Register now for my encore webinar by clicking here.

Freedom is useless, unless you use it.

Stay Strong,

Tai




Unfortunately, I deleted the other email campaigns selling his social media program. The four elements that compelled me to buy was the scarcity (I'm going to close this program and you will be missing out on all the business owners that will pay you $1,000-10,000), social proof (Jaiden Gross's $20,000 check and other case studies), appealing to self-interest (the freedom) and selling the event. Also, this video made me think he was "sincere" about changing people's lives (late December 2016) however; months later, I discovered that he was more concerned about making money than helping people (I'll get into this later).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQtkdSX5hLw


Anyway, I justified the purchase because my scholarships and grant money were cancelled due to my family "earning too much money ($1000 over the limit)" . The thought of earning an extra $1,000 a month while going to school was compelling to me.

The start of action faking (still under social media marketing)​

• · I tried to go through the course before finals but couldn’t finish it, so I decided to finish throughout my winter semester. I went through the course twice because I wanted to know EVERYTHING, from getting clients to Facebook and SEO, I needed to know before I started to get clients
• I went to a small business resource center at my university for three days.

• 5/17/18 was the day I filled the LLC .

• · I spent weeks at Tailor Brands (Tailor Brands | Design a Logo & Create Your Brand) trying to design the “perfect” by spending hours going through different logo designs

• · I spent hours watching this video (Link) to get excited about entrepreneurship (The video was showing off their luxury lifestyle in California which include the yachts, women, fancy cars, the tiger, name brand clothes, the luxury homes). I wanted the lifestyle because I was broke

• · It was the same shit different day for months (watching motivational videos/ videos from the course

• · I went to my first networking event August 15, 2017 at a restaurant from 11:30am-1:00pm. I was nervous because I had a limiting belief that no one wanted to get to know me.

• · I allowed this event to stop me from taking action for three months. Here is my old action faking equation: Wake up + brush teeth + eat + shower+ watch course videos + scroll through the Facebook group + watch lifestyle videos + eat + PUBG + Block City Wars + watch YouTube videos + dream about the laptop lifestyle + sleep

• · September 15, 2017 was the day I attended my first networking event at the City Chamber. It was a CEO roundtable. I was nervous because I never felt as if I had an actually business and thought people would not take me seriously (limiting belief )

• · The day after, a person named Adam sent me an email asking me what services do I provide

• · I was discouraged because he never replied to my email which left me upset for days and did not leave the house for months

• · December 16, 2017 I attended another networking event

• · December 30, 2017 I attended another networking event… it was a MLM for selling financial services. I declined to join because I remembered in TMF

• Lesson Learned: The common theme I noticed in hindsight was the lack of effort. I was operating with the wrong micro-process because I was focusing on Marco-events to get clients.

2018​

• I started to network aggressively to get agency clients from going to events that Meetup and City Chamber had offered

Here’s the timeline​

· 1/3/18-2/22/18 PRE morning breakfast (similar to BNI) (7:45am- 9:00 every Wednesday)

· 1/3/18 – I attended an afternoon lunch event (BNI)

· 1/12/18 – 1/14/18 – a Mastermind Event ($97)

· 1/22/18 – My first discovery meeting with my dentist (From

· 1/24/18 – Business Professional Mastermind & Session (Late night at a restaurant. I got three leads)

· 1/25/18 – Over the phone discovery meeting with an author (1:00pm – 2:00pm)

· 1/26/18 – Another over the phone discovery meeting

· 1/29/18 –Second meeting with my dentist about social media marketing

· 1/31/18 – Second meeting with the author

· 1/31/18 – I attended a late night networking event

· 2/3/18 – A phone call with a chef to discuss social media marketing

· 2/14/18 – 4/18/18 QRG (similar to BNI)

· From 4/18/18 to 5/23/18 Equation: Wake up + brush teeth + shower + listen to music + play PUBG + PLAY Block City Wars + Watch and Listen to course videos + dream about having a better life + get excited + eat + lose hope due to recounting on past failures + watch YouTube videos (reaction channels) + listen to music + sleep = my current situation

I spent thousands of dollars on marketing courses and got zero clients from it. There are more than 300 agencies in my state and I know I can't be exceptional with that many competitors.

· That equation led me to taking a job as a janitor which caused me to join the FLF INTRO - How I went from a College Student to Janitor In One Year

• Purchased Programs​
  
  · $37 – 67 Steps , 10/25/16
  
  · $997 – SMMA, 12/1/16
  
  · $597 – Tai’s Real Estate Program 12/17/16
  
  · $69.99 Monthly Subscription (November 8, 2016 – June 2017. Eight Months) Total: $599.92
  
  · $997 Tai’s Accelerator Program aka “money program”,
  
  · $224.25 GC Playbook to Millions 5/31/17 *I bought this only because I purchased the Millionaire Booklet. $5
  
  · $997 IG Domination May 2017
  
  · $997 Joe’s Course Jun e 7, 2017
  
  · 49.00 Mastering Objection’s June 10, 2017
  
  · $59.97 GC’S Audiobooks
  
  · $51.99 “Cold Prospecting eBook and Millions on the Phone” June 13, 2017
  
  · $997 GC’S Cold Calling 6/15/17
  
  · $97 – Mastermind Event
  
  · $197 – Video Recording of the Mastermind Event
  
  · $200 City Chamber
  
  · $997 – Another social media course June 8, 2017
• The rest of my money went to buying books from Tai's website (his top 150 books to read)
• 
  My end goal is to get this post gold because I know people will benefit from a real life example of action-faking. I want to make sure I upload documentation of proof which is on my laptop and I am at the public library right now. Also, I want to edit grammar errors I made and add more information. I am open to answering any questions you have for me in the meantime. I will have this completed before 9/20/18

CONTINUED

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[BrooklynHustle]

It started on May 25, 2016. I remember I was finished with my high school finals and was glad it was over. Since I had nothing to do, I spent that time playing Black Ops 3 zombies ($59.97) on Der Eisendrache ($14.95). While I was playing BO3, I went to my laptop to search up different guides on how to get the bows by round three and I discovered this YouTube ad from Tai Lopez:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VZInkr3x4


"Do you know what I like more than flying on a private jet like this...my books" When I first heard that statement, it confused me because it did not make sense to me but it got my attention (Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff explains why by mentioning the three parts of the brain.). Once the ad was over, I pondered on what he said and thought "man I've never thought about books like that. Minutes later, I saw another video from Tai Lopez (Title: Tai Lopez: The 67 Steps to Finding the Good Life)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LTVf99dM_k


As soon as I saw the video, I ran to my backpack to get my notebook and pen to take notes. I remembered I took notes on the "10 breakthrough tips" on the good life (health, wealth, love and happiness) such as if you want to change your bank account, you must understand science ( the 25 cognitive biases), the pyramid of wealth, removing the educational brainwashing, the law of 33% (You want to spend 33% of your time with people below you, same level, and higher than you such as mentors.). In hindsight, this two hour video was a long upsell to his 67 steps program that you "need" to change your life.

The reasons I was hooked into the video was the knowledge (I never knew anything about the 25 cognitive biases such as the reward bias, liking/loving tendency, or authority mis influence tendency.) and my perception of books changed because I thought they were boring due to school and planted the seed of how of my self-help journey.

The next day, I went to the public library to find "The Definitive book of Body Language" along with other books I saw in the video to check out. Once I found the book, I took a seat and decided to skim through the book to see what it was about. In six minutes, I learned about the ten different hands, how your mind points to where your body wants to go, thirteen signs a female use to show interest, and much more. I was hooked and got a HUGE dopamine rush in my brain. This made me go to Barnes & Noble and buy the book ($19.97).

Ever since I had this dopamine rush, I was an insight junkie by going to Barnes & Noble like a library and spent hours (11:00am - 4:00pm or 5:00pm - 9:00pm) there. I had to attend a summer program for the college I attended on June 27, 2016 from August 5, 2016. If was not hanging out with friends or doing my homework, I would spend that time watching his videos and taking notes such as "ten secrets only millionaires know, seven ways to find your destiny and more I can't remember." Most were upsells to his programs such as 67 steps, accelerator (his "money" program), and real estate. Even in his courses, he was trying to upsell me into his persuasion program.

67 Steps​

I purchased this on 10/25/16 for $37 because it was half off. While I do not have the screenshots, there was an upsell to his mini MBA program with two down sell offers. I was excited and ready to learn. I would spend time listening to this during class (Bio), waking up early in the morning, during my lunch breaks, and going to the library on the weekends to complete it as fast as possible.

Lessons that were more than an hour long such as "Blue-footed booby birds, ess & the 500 year old" would take me four days to complete because I took notes on each video and Tai recommended that you should. I never finished the program that year because it was long, boring, he kept talking in circles, and my college work was getting in the way so I took a break until the semester was over.

Once the semester was over, I decided to explore his other videos such as his productivity apps, wealth tips in the premium book summaries and VIP Program (VIP Lifestyle Training and his once a month "live" VIP coaching) section. While there are some helpful videos such as Enhance your creativity with Dr. German Gracia-Fresco and How to turn your problems into profit with Jay Summit. Most of the videos are full with information you can find on YouTube for free.

Examples are Saving, Investing, & Building with Nicholas Stanley, How to double/triple/quadruple your money with Adam Torres, and FLEXIBILITY, FAST LEARNING, & FORMING NEW HABITS. I watched 72 out of 178 (40.48%) of the videos and did not feel any closer to goals. Fast forward to January 29, 2017

I decided to go through the course again because I was tired of struggling with my porn addiction (Side note - I found it easier to quit when I decided to stop identifying myself as a "porn addict trying to quit" thanks to the identity cataclysms).

From January 29, 2017 to May 2017, I went to my college library after work study hours (5:00pm) and got up early in the early morning to complete the course. In hindsight, I was still in the same position and nothing changed but my time being wasted being an action faker. It was the same sh*t different day. Also, I had a subscription to his VIP Program.

When you try to cancel your subscription, a video of Tai appears in a red shirt and he starts of saying "wow... before you cancel let's think about it before you go. I know you're afraid because you don't know what you're getting into...blah...blah." The most important that stood out was when he asked the question "what else are you going to do with that money?" then he proceeded to talk about how most people would spend that money on junk food, extra pairs of jeans and you know what...that's an ROD (return on depreciation). Image if you spent that money on this and learned something to earn you an extra $80, $95, $100 from your initial investment."

I thought to myself "he's right because I did not have anything else better to do with that money, so why not invest in myself."

Tai's Social Media Marketing Agency Training (the bulk of this post)​

I purchased this on 12/1/16 at $997. Ironically, I had no intention on buying this course until those email campaigns got to me. Here is the copy and paste version:

Email Subject Line: Do you hate your freedom?

Body: Daniel,

Be honest.

At the end of the day, are you truly embracing your freedom, or slaving away at doing something you don’t enjoy?

The following quote from Wayne Dyer sums up my thoughts:

“Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.”

You can unlock more freedom in your life than you think. We’re living in a time unlike any other in history.

Not only is it possible to work from anywhere in the world, it’s now possible to start a business that funds your lifestyle in a very short amount of time.

It used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a business. Today, it’s nowhere near that amount. All you need is a smartphone and an internet connection to live a life where you’re truly free.

Within my past few emails, I’ve made it even easier. I’ve shown you how to get started with a step-by-step template for starting a social media agency, even if you’ve never started a business before.

The reason why I’m sending you this email is because you still haven’t taken the opportunity I’ve presented to you on a silver platter. An opportunity that paves a path toward freedom.

I can’t imagine why you haven’t yet pursued this, but I’m thinking it may be because something happen in your life that got in the way. Maybe you got sick. Perhaps there was a glitch with your internet, and you weren’t able to watch the webinar.

Whatever your reason is, I want to avoid a flood of calls hitting my customer service rep by offering you yet another chance to watch the webinar.

This time, let’s not let situations beyond your control get in the way. Let’s make today the day where you unlock the freedom you desire, so you can finally start living the life you want (instead of just thinking about it.)

Visit the link below to watch an encore presentation of this webinar, so I can show you how you can get small businesses to pay you thousands of dollars every month.

The internet and social media isn’t going away. By simply learning the principles of social media once, and you’ll have a skill that’ll pay you for the rest of your life.

Register now for my encore webinar by clicking here.

Freedom is useless, unless you use it.

Stay Strong,

Tai

View attachment 21660


Unfortunately, I deleted the other email campaigns selling his social media program. The four elements that compelled me to buy was the scarcity (I'm going to close this program and you will be missing out on all the business owners that will pay you $1,000-10,000), social proof (Jaiden Gross's $20,000 check and other case studies), appealing to self-interest (the freedom) and selling the event. Also, this video made me think he was "sincere" about changing people's lives (late December 2016) however; months later, I discovered that he was more concerned about making money than helping people (I'll get into this later).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQtkdSX5hLw


Anyway, I justified the purchase because my scholarships and grant money were cancelled due to my family "earning too much money ($1000 over the limit)" . The thought of earning an extra $1,000 a month while going to school was compelling to me.

The start of action faking (still under social media marketing)​

• · I tried to go through the course before finals but couldn’t finish it, so I decided to finish throughout my winter semester. I went through the course twice because I wanted to know EVERYTHING, from getting clients to Facebook and SEO, I needed to know before I started to get clients
• I went to a small business resource center at my university for three days.

• 5/17/18 was the day I filled the LLC .

• · I spent weeks at Tailor Brands (Tailor Brands | Design a Logo & Create Your Brand) trying to design the “perfect” by spending hours going through different logo designs

• · I spent hours watching this video (Link) to get excited about entrepreneurship (The video was showing off their luxury lifestyle in California which include the yachts, women, fancy cars, the tiger, name brand clothes, the luxury homes). I wanted the lifestyle because I was broke

• · It was the same sh*t different day for months (watching motivational videos/ videos from the course

• · I went to my first networking event August 15, 2017 at a restaurant from 11:30am-1:00pm. I was nervous because I had a limiting belief that no one wanted to get to know me.

• · I allowed this event to stop me from taking action for three months. Here is my old action faking equation: Wake up + brush teeth + eat + shower+ watch course videos + scroll through the Facebook group + watch lifestyle videos + eat + PUBG + Block City Wars + watch YouTube videos + dream about the laptop lifestyle + sleep

• · September 15, 2017 was the day I attended my first networking event at the City Chamber. It was a CEO roundtable. I was nervous because I never felt as if I had an actually business and thought people would not take me seriously (limiting belief )

• · The day after, a person named Adam sent me an email asking me what services do I provide

• · I was discouraged because he never replied to my email which left me upset for days and did not leave the house for months

• · December 16, 2017 I attended another networking event

• · December 30, 2017 I attended another networking event… it was a MLM for selling financial services. I declined to join because I remembered in TMF

• Lesson Learned: The common theme I noticed in hindsight was the lack of effort. I was operating with the wrong micro-process because I was focusing on Marco-events to get clients.

2018​

• I started to network aggressively to get agency clients from going to events that Meetup and City Chamber had offered

Here’s the timeline​

· 1/3/18-2/22/18 PRE morning breakfast (similar to BNI) (7:45am- 9:00 every Wednesday)

· 1/3/18 – I attended an afternoon lunch event (BNI)

· 1/12/18 – 1/14/18 – a Mastermind Event ($97)

· 1/22/18 – My first discovery meeting with my dentist (From

· 1/24/18 – Business Professional Mastermind & Session (Late night at a restaurant. I got three leads)

· 1/25/18 – Over the phone discovery meeting with an author (1:00pm – 2:00pm)

· 1/26/18 – Another over the phone discovery meeting

· 1/29/18 –Second meeting with my dentist about social media marketing

· 1/31/18 – Second meeting with the author

· 1/31/18 – I attended a late night networking event

· 2/3/18 – A phone call with a chef to discuss social media marketing

· 2/14/18 – 4/18/18 QRG (similar to BNI)

· From 4/18/18 to 5/23/18 Equation: Wake up + brush teeth + shower + listen to music + play PUBG + PLAY Block City Wars + Watch and Listen to course videos + dream about having a better life + get excited + eat + lose hope due to recounting on past failures + watch YouTube videos (reaction channels) + listen to music + sleep = my current situation

I spent thousands of dollars on marketing courses and got zero clients from it. There are more than 300 agencies in my state and I know I can't be exceptional with that many competitors.

· That equation led me to taking a job as a janitor which caused me to join the FLF INTRO - How I went from a College Student to Janitor In One Year

• Purchased Programs​
  
  · $37 – 67 Steps , 10/25/16
  
  · $997 – SMMA, 12/1/16
  
  · $597 – Tai’s Real Estate Program 12/17/16
  
  · $69.99 Monthly Subscription (November 8, 2016 – June 2017. Eight Months) Total: $599.92
  
  · $997 Tai’s Accelerator Program aka “money program”,
  
  · $224.25 GC Playbook to Millions 5/31/17 *I bought this only because I purchased the Millionaire Booklet. $5
  
  · $997 IG Domination May 2017
  
  · $997 Joe’s Course Jun e 7, 2017
  
  · 49.00 Mastering Objection’s June 10, 2017
  
  · $59.97 GC’S Audiobooks
  
  · $51.99 “Cold Prospecting eBook and Millions on the Phone” June 13, 2017
  
  · $997 GC’S Cold Calling 6/15/17
  
  · $97 – Mastermind Event
  
  · $197 – Video Recording of the Mastermind Event
  
  · $200 City Chamber
  
  · $997 – Another social media course June 8, 2017
  
  My end goal is to get this post gold because I know people will benefit from a real life example of action-faking. I want to make sure I upload documentation of proof which is on my laptop and I am at the public library right now. Also, I want to edit grammar errors I made and add more information. I am open to answering any questions you have for me in the meantime. I will have this completed before 9/20/18

CONTINUED

I don't think you need to prove it or document it any further. We believe you.

And glad you realized before things got worse.

Now what are you going to do next?

 

[OutofPoverty]

I don't think you need to prove it or document it any further. We believe you.

And glad you realized before things got worse.

Now what are you going to do next?

My first objective is to get a $30,000 job in the construction field to acquire domain experience because Real Deal Denver told me I can't live on my current salary ($10,367.52) despite any plans I have for business.

Then I plan on finding life problems that need to be solve and provide relative value to people.

 

[BrooklynHustle]

My first objective is to get a $30,000 job in the construction field to acquire domain experience because Real Deal Denver told me I can't live on my current salary ($10,367.52) despite any plans I have for business.

Then I plan on finding life problems that need to be solve and provide relative value to people.

Sounds very actionable. I like it. Best of luck!

 

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[Ayanle Farah]

Your story is very similar to my own but alot more extreme, I never bought a Tai Lopez course but I was infected by his thinking when I first started watching him 2014.

"Learn from the experience of others to save time" which encourages you to be lazy and "invest in yourself" which is another word for "Trust in empty promises that you will indeed be rich if you buy this program" were some of the statements which followed me for years afterwards. I stopped watching Tai Lopez a few months later.

In 2016, after being scammed by a few freelance copywriting courses, I made a promise to myself that I would never buy another course on anything period. I started to put less emphasis on reading and more emphasis on what I'm doing.

Recently I decided I've had enough following others advice completely and wanted to go into Amazon FBA only learning through trial and error.

Many came through and told me I was better off doing research and succeeded in convincing me to not jump in.

So I took their advice and right now doing research on the different areas involved with FBA. I don't know if that was the right choice or not, the trend for me over the years seems to be the more you listen to yourself the closer you get to success.

 

[rpeck90]

It started on May 25, 2016. I remember I was finished with my high school finals and was glad it was over. Since I had nothing to do, I spent that time playing Black Ops 3 zombies ($59.97) on Der Eisendrache ($14.95). While I was playing BO3, I went to my laptop to search up different guides on how to get the bows by round three and I discovered this YouTube ad from Tai Lopez:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VZInkr3x4


"Do you know what I like more than flying on a private jet like this...my books" When I first heard that statement, it confused me because it did not make sense to me but it got my attention (Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff explains why by mentioning the three parts of the brain.). Once the ad was over, I pondered on what he said and thought "man I've never thought about books like that. Minutes later, I saw another video from Tai Lopez (Title: Tai Lopez: The 67 Steps to Finding the Good Life)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LTVf99dM_k


As soon as I saw the video, I ran to my backpack to get my notebook and pen to take notes. I remembered I took notes on the "10 breakthrough tips" on the good life (health, wealth, love and happiness) such as if you want to change your bank account, you must understand science ( the 25 cognitive biases), the pyramid of wealth, removing the educational brainwashing, the law of 33% (You want to spend 33% of your time with people below you, same level, and higher than you such as mentors.). In hindsight, this two hour video was a long upsell to his 67 steps program that you "need" to change your life.

The reasons I was hooked into the video was the knowledge (I never knew anything about the 25 cognitive biases such as the reward bias, liking/loving tendency, or authority mis influence tendency.) and my perception of books changed because I thought they were boring due to school and planted the seed of how of my self-help journey.

The next day, I went to the public library to find "The Definitive book of Body Language" along with other books I saw in the video to check out. Once I found the book, I took a seat and decided to skim through the book to see what it was about. In six minutes, I learned about the ten different hands, how your mind points to where your body wants to go, thirteen signs a female use to show interest, and much more. I was hooked and got a HUGE dopamine rush in my brain. This made me go to Barnes & Noble and buy the book ($19.97).

Ever since I had this dopamine rush, I was an insight junkie by going to Barnes & Noble like a library and spent hours (11:00am - 4:00pm or 5:00pm - 9:00pm) there. I had to attend a summer program for the college I attended on June 27, 2016 from August 5, 2016. If was not hanging out with friends or doing my homework, I would spend that time watching his videos and taking notes such as "ten secrets only millionaires know, seven ways to find your destiny and more I can't remember." Most were upsells to his programs such as 67 steps, accelerator (his "money" program), and real estate. Even in his courses, he was trying to upsell me into his persuasion program.

67 Steps​

I purchased this on 10/25/16 for $37 because it was half off. While I do not have the screenshots, there was an upsell to his mini MBA program with two down sell offers. I was excited and ready to learn. I would spend time listening to this during class (Bio), waking up early in the morning, during my lunch breaks, and going to the library on the weekends to complete it as fast as possible.

Lessons that were more than an hour long such as "Blue-footed booby birds, ess & the 500 year old" would take me four days to complete because I took notes on each video and Tai recommended that you should. I never finished the program that year because it was long, boring, he kept talking in circles, and my college work was getting in the way so I took a break until the semester was over.

Once the semester was over, I decided to explore his other videos such as his productivity apps, wealth tips in the premium book summaries and VIP Program (VIP Lifestyle Training and his once a month "live" VIP coaching) section. While there are some helpful videos such as Enhance your creativity with Dr. German Gracia-Fresco and How to turn your problems into profit with Jay Summit. Most of the videos are full with information you can find on YouTube for free.

Examples are Saving, Investing, & Building with Nicholas Stanley, How to double/triple/quadruple your money with Adam Torres, and FLEXIBILITY, FAST LEARNING, & FORMING NEW HABITS. I watched 72 out of 178 (40.48%) of the videos and did not feel any closer to goals. Fast forward to January 29, 2017

I decided to go through the course again because I was tired of struggling with my porn addiction (Side note - I found it easier to quit when I decided to stop identifying myself as a "porn addict trying to quit" thanks to the identity cataclysms).

From January 29, 2017 to May 2017, I went to my college library after work study hours (5:00pm) and got up early in the early morning to complete the course. In hindsight, I was still in the same position and nothing changed but my time being wasted being an action faker. It was the same sh*t different day. Also, I had a subscription to his VIP Program.

When you try to cancel your subscription, a video of Tai appears in a red shirt and he starts of saying "wow... before you cancel let's think about it before you go. I know you're afraid because you don't know what you're getting into...blah...blah." The most important that stood out was when he asked the question "what else are you going to do with that money?" then he proceeded to talk about how most people would spend that money on junk food, extra pairs of jeans and you know what...that's an ROD (return on depreciation). Image if you spent that money on this and learned something to earn you an extra $80, $95, $100 from your initial investment."

I thought to myself "he's right because I did not have anything else better to do with that money, so why not invest in myself."

Tai's Social Media Marketing Agency Training (the bulk of this post)​

I purchased this on 12/1/16 at $997. Ironically, I had no intention on buying this course until those email campaigns got to me. Here is the copy and paste version:

Email Subject Line: Do you hate your freedom?

Body: Daniel,

Be honest.

At the end of the day, are you truly embracing your freedom, or slaving away at doing something you don’t enjoy?

The following quote from Wayne Dyer sums up my thoughts:

“Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.”

You can unlock more freedom in your life than you think. We’re living in a time unlike any other in history.

Not only is it possible to work from anywhere in the world, it’s now possible to start a business that funds your lifestyle in a very short amount of time.

It used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a business. Today, it’s nowhere near that amount. All you need is a smartphone and an internet connection to live a life where you’re truly free.

Within my past few emails, I’ve made it even easier. I’ve shown you how to get started with a step-by-step template for starting a social media agency, even if you’ve never started a business before.

The reason why I’m sending you this email is because you still haven’t taken the opportunity I’ve presented to you on a silver platter. An opportunity that paves a path toward freedom.

I can’t imagine why you haven’t yet pursued this, but I’m thinking it may be because something happen in your life that got in the way. Maybe you got sick. Perhaps there was a glitch with your internet, and you weren’t able to watch the webinar.

Whatever your reason is, I want to avoid a flood of calls hitting my customer service rep by offering you yet another chance to watch the webinar.

This time, let’s not let situations beyond your control get in the way. Let’s make today the day where you unlock the freedom you desire, so you can finally start living the life you want (instead of just thinking about it.)

Visit the link below to watch an encore presentation of this webinar, so I can show you how you can get small businesses to pay you thousands of dollars every month.

The internet and social media isn’t going away. By simply learning the principles of social media once, and you’ll have a skill that’ll pay you for the rest of your life.

Register now for my encore webinar by clicking here.

Freedom is useless, unless you use it.

Stay Strong,

Tai

View attachment 21660


Unfortunately, I deleted the other email campaigns selling his social media program. The four elements that compelled me to buy was the scarcity (I'm going to close this program and you will be missing out on all the business owners that will pay you $1,000-10,000), social proof (Jaiden Gross's $20,000 check and other case studies), appealing to self-interest (the freedom) and selling the event. Also, this video made me think he was "sincere" about changing people's lives (late December 2016) however; months later, I discovered that he was more concerned about making money than helping people (I'll get into this later).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQtkdSX5hLw


Anyway, I justified the purchase because my scholarships and grant money were cancelled due to my family "earning too much money ($1000 over the limit)" . The thought of earning an extra $1,000 a month while going to school was compelling to me.

The start of action faking (still under social media marketing)​

• · I tried to go through the course before finals but couldn’t finish it, so I decided to finish throughout my winter semester. I went through the course twice because I wanted to know EVERYTHING, from getting clients to Facebook and SEO, I needed to know before I started to get clients
• I went to a small business resource center at my university for three days.

• 5/17/18 was the day I filled the LLC .

• · I spent weeks at Tailor Brands (Tailor Brands | Design a Logo & Create Your Brand) trying to design the “perfect” by spending hours going through different logo designs

• · I spent hours watching this video (Link) to get excited about entrepreneurship (The video was showing off their luxury lifestyle in California which include the yachts, women, fancy cars, the tiger, name brand clothes, the luxury homes). I wanted the lifestyle because I was broke

• · It was the same sh*t different day for months (watching motivational videos/ videos from the course

• · I went to my first networking event August 15, 2017 at a restaurant from 11:30am-1:00pm. I was nervous because I had a limiting belief that no one wanted to get to know me.

• · I allowed this event to stop me from taking action for three months. Here is my old action faking equation: Wake up + brush teeth + eat + shower+ watch course videos + scroll through the Facebook group + watch lifestyle videos + eat + PUBG + Block City Wars + watch YouTube videos + dream about the laptop lifestyle + sleep

• · September 15, 2017 was the day I attended my first networking event at the City Chamber. It was a CEO roundtable. I was nervous because I never felt as if I had an actually business and thought people would not take me seriously (limiting belief )

• · The day after, a person named Adam sent me an email asking me what services do I provide

• · I was discouraged because he never replied to my email which left me upset for days and did not leave the house for months

• · December 16, 2017 I attended another networking event

• · December 30, 2017 I attended another networking event… it was a MLM for selling financial services. I declined to join because I remembered in TMF

• Lesson Learned: The common theme I noticed in hindsight was the lack of effort. I was operating with the wrong micro-process because I was focusing on Marco-events to get clients.

2018​

• I started to network aggressively to get agency clients from going to events that Meetup and City Chamber had offered

Here’s the timeline​

· 1/3/18-2/22/18 PRE morning breakfast (similar to BNI) (7:45am- 9:00 every Wednesday)

· 1/3/18 – I attended an afternoon lunch event (BNI)

· 1/12/18 – 1/14/18 – a Mastermind Event ($97)

· 1/22/18 – My first discovery meeting with my dentist (From

· 1/24/18 – Business Professional Mastermind & Session (Late night at a restaurant. I got three leads)

· 1/25/18 – Over the phone discovery meeting with an author (1:00pm – 2:00pm)

· 1/26/18 – Another over the phone discovery meeting

· 1/29/18 –Second meeting with my dentist about social media marketing

· 1/31/18 – Second meeting with the author

· 1/31/18 – I attended a late night networking event

· 2/3/18 – A phone call with a chef to discuss social media marketing

· 2/14/18 – 4/18/18 QRG (similar to BNI)

· From 4/18/18 to 5/23/18 Equation: Wake up + brush teeth + shower + listen to music + play PUBG + PLAY Block City Wars + Watch and Listen to course videos + dream about having a better life + get excited + eat + lose hope due to recounting on past failures + watch YouTube videos (reaction channels) + listen to music + sleep = my current situation

I spent thousands of dollars on marketing courses and got zero clients from it. There are more than 300 agencies in my state and I know I can't be exceptional with that many competitors.

· That equation led me to taking a job as a janitor which caused me to join the FLF INTRO - How I went from a College Student to Janitor In One Year

• Purchased Programs​
  
  · $37 – 67 Steps , 10/25/16
  
  · $997 – SMMA, 12/1/16
  
  · $597 – Tai’s Real Estate Program 12/17/16
  
  · $69.99 Monthly Subscription (November 8, 2016 – June 2017. Eight Months) Total: $599.92
  
  · $997 Tai’s Accelerator Program aka “money program”,
  
  · $224.25 GC Playbook to Millions 5/31/17 *I bought this only because I purchased the Millionaire Booklet. $5
  
  · $997 IG Domination May 2017
  
  · $997 Joe’s Course Jun e 7, 2017
  
  · 49.00 Mastering Objection’s June 10, 2017
  
  · $59.97 GC’S Audiobooks
  
  · $51.99 “Cold Prospecting eBook and Millions on the Phone” June 13, 2017
  
  · $997 GC’S Cold Calling 6/15/17
  
  · $97 – Mastermind Event
  
  · $197 – Video Recording of the Mastermind Event
  
  · $200 City Chamber
  
  · $997 – Another social media course June 8, 2017
• The rest of my money went to buying books from Tai's website (his top 150 books to read)
• 
  My end goal is to get this post gold because I know people will benefit from a real life example of action-faking. I want to make sure I upload documentation of proof which is on my laptop and I am at the public library right now. Also, I want to edit grammar errors I made and add more information. I am open to answering any questions you have for me in the meantime. I will have this completed before 9/20/18

CONTINUED

I'm going to be honest, your post isn't bad.

You spent some money (which isn't a lot in the big picture), took action and saw negligible results. You got pissed off and quit because you didn't see any money. This is natural; I've done it many times.

The big thing I would recommend (and this is only as a third party) is to take your approach and apply it to something you actually know how to do. I've tried "local social media management" before and it sucks. There are likely some companies who do it really well, but I wasn't cut out to build one.

I would suggest is the following:

• If you've had to take a job to pay the bills, use the job to your advantage; namely to position (locate) yourself in a better place. Do your best to show up and "network" with the higher-ups, not in a creepy way - just make sure you give them special attention.
  
  
• All of the analytical stuff you applied to the books / courses - use in some *other* endeavour. Start a progress blog (ONLY write about progress on it & use your real name); get accounts on Fiverr + UpWork to get some capital to invest (put ALL that money into your LLC and don't touch it) (use your job to live off).
  
  
• Once you have enough investment money ($500 - $5k), put it into something you can leverage for further growth (product or service). This is where your mind/brain is at (and why you likely didn't see many results - Tai's stuff helped you "shortcut" your way to a decent mindset, but didn't give you the tools/experience/expertise to pull it off). In reality, Tai is offering a "business plan" to people who have the skills / track record to pull it off. They're going to be a fraction of those who enroll in the course.
  
  
• The product/service can be anything. I'm sure there's a ton of ideas in the INSIDERS forum to pursue. The key - again - is not the actual product/service, but what you learn & implement to pull it off. This is where the best people shine; they focus on the underlying skill they develop by way of a challenging situation, allowing them to apply said skill elsewhere.
  
  
• One of the best (whilst I remember) is to make a "review" website for popular eCommerce products. If you use your own face, name and make legitimate reviews (on stuff like fragrances or some other in-demand product that you've used **cough Tai Lopez marketing course reviews cough**), you should start to see search engine & YouTube/social traffic coming to your site. If you do this with a "price tracker" feature, you'll start to attract people by virtue of having the widest selection of products. XDays on Twitter is a strong proponent of this.
  
  
• Depending on how your product/service goes will determine which steps you're able to take next. The best would be to make enough *PROFIT* to live off, allowing you to focus full time on the business; if you don't make enough with that product, use the same process (UpWork/Fiverr money) to build another.
  
  
• Write all of the ups-and-downs on your blog (no bullshit about book reviews, how to pickup girls or anything - JUST progress/results) and you'll soon start to grow.

The notion that you need to be spending 23 hrs a day on your business, after taking a cold shower at 4:30am in your custom suit is bullshit proliferated by the majority of self-appointed gurus on Twitter. Take it easy and apply your own skills to the process. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.