Are all online coaches scammers?

[Anon79341]

What is your view on all of this "online coaching" thing?

I think they may or may not be scammers. IMO, the "legit ones" are only aiming to fulfill the need of those people who need a guide in order to start their own process.

If you consider the probabilities it is practically impossible to guarantee any success in this field, but it doesn't mean that they are unable to help you and give a kickstart to your entrepreneurship journey. The only thing I'd consider a bit shady is the price, it could be benefitial that someone gives you some valuable tips in a field at a reasonable price, i don't see the harm on it. It's up to your criteria if the value is worth the price. That said, it wouldn't be a scam if they give what they've promised you.

Finally, any "secret" that anyone gives you will work as long as you do. So you cannot blame it on them if it didn't.

 

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[Antti]

Bruh...I saw the course was like $8k. Price alone is a scam. With that money, especially with the low barrier to entry product strategy. You can try at least 8-10 products with that money. Far more valuable to do that than a course or better yet pay for infrastructure to make your own products.

You fell for the inbound marketing and drank the Kool-aid

I'm not a student or former student of Biophase but I think you are dead wrong here. I have never come across anyone who gives as much valuable information related to selling physical products as Biophase and he asks nothing in return. I can see being personally coached by him being easily worth much more than $8k, assuming you put to use what you learn.

You say that you can try 8-10 products with $8k. That probably means the good old "throw spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks" strategy i.e. ordering random products from Alibaba and hoping that they sell. The odds of finding a successful product that way are really low nowadays and I don't think you even learn all that much in the process..

 

[Lex DeVille]

But...

View attachment 33399

So which is it - some people can be good at business and like teaching others?

Or they are all scams?

FML...

 

[James Klymus]

Of course there are some jerks who happen to be "coaches" that suck. Just like in any industry, there's crappy people.

But I'd like to believe (because I and others on this forum are this type of person) that there are people out there that are smart, and have dedicated a lot of time to a particular craft/trade, and are therefore qualified to speak and guide others. AND they also WANT to help people, not just make a buck any way they can.

If I just wanted to make a buck, I could sell widgets on amazon. I want to help people and improve lives through teaching people how to get in amazing shape.

You can't paint people with a broad brush, there's people like me and others on this forum that want to help because it feels good, and you can just so happen to make a good living doing it.

There are also people who see an easy opportunity to pull people's strings and manipulate them into buying a course or coaching program, because they know how their customers brains tick. So they can over promise and make an amazing offer that they wont deliver on.

 

[Anon79341]

So, if the mentor is not chasing money, they should put a very clear message in their marketing and filter out people who are not able to get results. The problem is most of the mentors do not want to cut their profit, so they let anyone in, and LAZY / STUPID / WHATEVER people not satisfied with results cannot get their many back.

Most producers are not willing to cut their profit.

I think at the end of the day they are offering a product, they are probably concerned about providing real value and also making money. I'd say mentoring is a different thing because is long-term process and mostly altruistic, while these offerings are often standarized courses (with a bit of interaction) which are almost the same for everyone . That doesn't mean it can't help, they could be offering valuable information to develop a business in a specific area such as real state, dropshipping, ecommerce, etcetera. Things that someone could find useful instead of having to research it from scratch. Also they may be available to talk with you once in a while to offer some tips and track your progress (which is not a bad thing considering they have some decent expertise in the field you want to enter)

As most products it won't put a huge filter for people who want to buy it, and if they say anyone can do it is actually true, if its supposed that if someone is spending a decent amount of money on it they will put the proper effort in order to achieve the results they want. Likewise universities, virtually anyone can put money on a career and expect brilliant results in the end but it ultimately depends on one's efforts. There are many opportunities in life wich can give or not give results but that doesn't make it a scam, it is up to the consumer if the value perceived is worth the price.

 

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[CoolNerd]

Definitely not ALL, but I would say a LOT. I paid well into 5 figures for different coachings. Some of them were total scams, some were OK, and some of them were amazing and changed my life.

This article is pretty on-point. I wish I've read it sooner: 12 Warning Signs Of A Coaching & Mentoring Service To Avoid

 

[Walter Hay]

Edit: reading what Bio said, maybe there are coaches that actually do know what they talk about. Yet, they might be like needle in a haystack.

Leave out the "maybe" and your post will have more credibility.

Walter

 

[biophase]

for example if I know how to make gold in my kitchen... would it make sense to teach others how to make gold?

I think this is where you are getting it wrong. I would not teach you how to make gold, I would teach you how to make silver.

Let's say I know how to make every element on earth, so I make platinum, then gold and then silver. Then I would launch a course on how to make copper.

If someone gets a personal trainer, this trainer is not paid to magically give them six-pack... but to go to the gym with them and show them how to use a machine or make them a personalized diet plan. If they follow a diet and work out... they will get results for sure!

Exactly, but what if they don't follow the diet or work out. Then what happens? How do you structure a money back guarantee if you are a trainer?

Somebody can say that this is the same for all coaches... for example, someone provides coaching services about e-commerce... they can help people to set the store... show them some tricks about how to choose a product, etc... but if a student is doing 100% what coach is telling them (and I mean 100%), would you say that they will surely get results? I would argue that in this particular case a student might not achieve results even if they are doing everything correctly and hustle hard. Because this is not science, there are a lot of factors that can have an impact on student's success.

Correct, someone can follow all the exact steps are not be successful. Alot of stuff can happen. A competitor can launch a better product before you do. Corona virus can happen and your awesome suitcase is just not needed.

Back to false advertising... (extreme example again) let's say someone is teaching about how to be a farmer - they will put something like this in an advertisement:

"I will teach you how to be an amazing framer - how to grow crops, how to take care of cattle and everything... it is simple, everybody can do it and it is a sure way how to be self-sufficient about your food and also you will get rich by selling your goods."

So in your opinion, this ad would have been great if they didn't put in the last 10 words, "and also you will get rich by selling your goods"?

You as a mentor can guarantee only money-back, not results.
1 But if a mentor sells the product and the student will not work - the student will not get results (receive value).
2 If the student works but not get results (the student will not receive value).
3 If the student works and gets results (the student will receive value).
In all three cases, the mentor already received value (money).

In all 3 cases, the mentor receives money (value) as you put it. But why should I not receive value (give a refund) in case #2 if I have already given the student my knowledge? I think this is because you are assuming that the information was wrong, which is why the student put in the work and did not receive results.

 

[biophase]

The problem is... wast majority of coaching out there is advertised as a sure way to success for EVERYBODY... and only the mentor's knowledge, teaching and supervising is required.

Ok, so your main issue is that the advertisements say that anyone can do it and make it sound easy.

I would say that easy is subjective, what I think is easy, you might think is hard. Personally, I think ecommerce is easy. So would that be false advertising then?

What is ironic is that if I said it was super hard and that I would only take clients that passed a rigorous test, I might actually get more sign ups.

 

[drahz]

The philosophy of "I need you to guarantee me" is not the philosophy of success. I'm not thinking of guarantees, I'm thinking "alright if I get one thing out of this that makes me money, then I'll be happy."

I've gone back and forth on this over the last few years. I don't make offers to every person I talk to anymore. If they are looking for an out at the beginning of a program, I know they are going to be a pain in the a$$ to me down the road.

Just to be clear, I have nothing against coaching at all. If some coach tells upfront I WILL NOT COACH ANYONE WHO DOES NOT HAVE BUSINESS ALREADY that is perfectly clear and OK.

My point is if someone is talking to the audience where there are people with no businesses at all, and they try to coach people to START FROM $0 to $1000, then they should EITHER GUARANTEE SOMETHING (as I said only if the mentees proof their work) OR TRY TO FOCUS ON ANOTHER AUDIENCE.

But you're talking about 2 very different things. You're trying to find someone who will help you make $1,000 a month... that's a different beast than "I have a hundred-million dollar company and I need to raise more capital to acquire my competition... what VC's do I know that I could pay to consult and give me some connections?"

Agree, but then there should not be a coach, who is coaching everyone from homeless to someone earning $100 000 000 per year. And there is a better chance that someone not earning anything at all, not even $1000, is gonna be more desperate and falling for a scam than someone earning $100+ mil a year. And someone with $100+ mil is not gonna really feel the loss of $10k for a course as much as someone with no income.

I used to do all kinds of stuff. 200% money back guarantees, take all the stuff and still get your money back guarantees -- now I'm just so damn busy I don't do it at all.

Do it or don't do it. Personal responsibility. If someone asks me what the guarantee is, I simply ask "is that important to you?" -- if they say yes, I refer them to somebody else. I just don't want to deal with it.

As I said, there should not be ONE COACH for all levels out there.

I hear your frustration through this post my man but let me maybe shine some light:

• Taking a class to learn something is different than "hiring a coach"
  
  
• If your goal is to make $1,000 a month... that's $12,000 a year... you can make that working at McDonalds. It's not worth the pain, struggle, and insanity of building a business if your goal is to make 12k/year.
  
  
• Stop looking at Udemy courses to try and get rich.
  
  
• 99.99% of all coaches ("online" or "offline") suck.
  
  
• One of the best "coaches" you'll see is MJ. Read the books. He put all of his advice in there.

Agree, books are wonderful coaches. Actually I am not really frustrated about it and not looking for UDEMY courses about how to get rich ... Anyway, my referring was only to someone claiming to JUST FOLLOW THIS PROCESS AND YOU CAN GET $100k A YEAR.

Clearly, the audience for the person stating things above is not audience where there are entrepreneurs earning millions upon millions bucks per year, but people earning little to nothing.

 

[Deleted78083]

Getting a coach to develop a skill is a quick fix shortcut usually ending up being a waste of time and money, partly because of the fact that indeed, most people suck at their jobs as said in the thread. The other reason is that you develop a skill THROUGH EFFORTS AND FAILURES, not by walking someone's else path.
I don't believe you need a coach to learn the basics of anything in life. All is online and free, the coach is the easy way, it is the anti-initiative way, it is for lazy people that believe that if they pay a fitness coach, they ll look like Shwarzy in 3 weeks. I have a friend that spent 5000€ + on dating coach, fitness coach and boxing coach, and he said the same thing every time: "it wasn't as good as i thought". That guy happens also to be one of the laziest folk around. Btw his gym coach never even told him about nutrition LOL

That being said, I still think a professor can be interesting if you want to master a skill such as singing, acting, or painting, but a business/lifestyle/get rich quick coach?? There is no written path to millions, that is why the fastlane is difficult, cuz you gotta figure it out entirely by yourself.

One interesting thing i learnt in my international relations courses was that during time of uncertainty, people get afraid and turn to strong men (dictators) to protect them and that tell them what to do, what to think. We all know how it usually ends. A coach is to an individual what a dictator is to a country: it takes control of some parts of your life in exchange for money. F*CK THAT. Embrace freedom, don't trust nor rely on anyone but yourself and never trust only one source of information.

As i was reading i dont remember where, the secret to all things is that there is no secret, but only work. And people that pay coaches are people that don't want to work nor cant take any intiatives and need to be told what to do.

So yeah, most coaches are a scam hahaha

 

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[sparechange]

Those that do, do. Those that cant, teach?

In the poker world alot of former pros started getting into coaching for quick cash, I feel it's similar in the business coaching world. Are people that really know what they are doing bundling it up and selling courses?

There is far to much FREE information out there that's very good, even MJ has a YT channel that's worth more $ than any paid courses out there. The core principle of entrepreneurship is providing value or skewed value to another human being on the planet. I think that principle alone is good enough to carry you along the way to your first value voucher, the rest is on you to scale it up. If you can make one value voucher, why not 100? Or 10,000? A million and so on.

If you go and look at most courses for a few thousand bucks, it's mostly regurgitated guru baloney of buy these facebook ads, target these people and sell them some crap. You could train a monkey to train other monkeys on buying & building facebook ads!

Your best book to actually learn from others would be books, Unscripted , TMF , Lori Greniers book, Mark Cubans, Felix Dennis, and so on, the people that have actually done it are far more trustworthy than someone making courses online. (Anyone can make courses online)

 

[DeletedUser0287]

Yah gotta think of it like this:

The people that are actually successful never ever think about selling a course. They are too busy or making too much money with their real venture or building a legacy.

Do you think Bezos or Elon has ever thought about stopping what they are doing to teach business?

When people teach especially in terms of business, it is a sign of failure or their current business isn’t doing well so they need an extra income source. Is this the type of person you want to learn from?

That isn’t the best part though. Since business has a gazillion variables, none of them can guarantee success. Or worse, they always and I mean always blame the customer for being lazy if they don’t make it. I don’t care how authentic they act, they just aren’t doing well in business.

TLDR;
You don’t need a mentor or business course EVER. Don’t let guys on here fool you.

 

[Ritchie.]

Avoid Bro-Marketers. This is a part of the unscripted on bro marketers;

 

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[Andy Black]

Man, I think nobody said anything like that... you take too much personally... I was not referring to anyone when I created this post.

I was talking about measuring the progress of the mentee... let's put it this way... if someone pay someone else for the SEO... and the person providing SEO will not be able to make the website to rank better in 1 year... then is there still value for them here?

Depends about what is in the contract... if there is something like this... we will try our best to make you website rank, we are not guarantee ANYTHING, ONLY THAT WE TRY OUR BEST. You have to pay upfront $50k... and if it will not rank... we are sorry.

Compare to this one... We are good and we know it... You pay us $1000 every month... but if we can get you to the FIRST PAGE... you will pay us another $50k... WE CAN MEASURE THIS THING HERE. And also, we do the research upfront to see if there is a chance for us to rank your website (our experience)... and if there is a lot of AMAZING COMPANIES with AUTHORITY in the space... YOU ARE NOT OUR CUSTOMER.

I was just talking about... why many coaches are not CLEAR WITH THERE VALUE PROPOSITION... AND YET THEY STILL FOCUS ON A DESPERATE AUDIENCE PROMISING A LOT, GUARANTEE NOTHING.

I am not saying anybody can guarantee success... that is utter non-sense... but you will never see "landing page" talking clearly about this... only something like WE HAVE 1000s of HAPPY CLIENTS... 80% earn money in the first 4 moths... IF IT IS THAT GOOD... PUT GUARANTEE ON THAT AND YOU WILL SCALE YOUR COACHING THROUGH THE ROOF.

Are people even allowed to guarantee results in their sales pages?

 

[Kak]

Mentoring should be about providing value first.

If a mentor is about PROVIDING VALUE (not chasing money) for the RIGHT audience (audience which is able to receive the value), then this mentor should be very careful about who can get in as a mentee.

The mentor should be EXTREMELY REPULSIVE IN THEIR MARKETING to people who do not possess something crucial for attaining success. And if someone passed the very strict filter by accident, they can get a refund, after all, it is a mentor's fault to let them in knowing they will not get anything out of it.

But for a mentor who is proactively searching for mentees by running ads, hardy filter anyone out. Promising money even without ANY SKILL, stating that ABSOLUTELY ANYONE can do it, ONLY THING WHICH IS REQUIRED IS HUNGER TO BE SUCCESSFUL... With a statement like this, anyone can get in and most of the people will not get results, and unfortunately, there is also NO REFUND policy (compared to majority products on the market).

If the mentor put a statement like this in their marketing:

I can personally mentor you and show you my way to success, but let me be clear first... If you are not willing to work as hard as I did (read 12+ hours a day including weekends)... and even if you do, there are certain conditions outside your control and you might not get successful as fast as I did... ONLY THING I CAN PROMISE TO YOU IS YOU WILL GET SOME GEMS HERE AND THERE from my course BECAUSE THERE IS NOT A TEMPLATE FOR SUCCESS... All just for $2497.

The mentor will get many more people (and money) on board with a first statement, but the majority will not get success. With the second statement, only very few can get on board, but none of them would even think about refund.

So, if the mentor is not chasing money, they should put a very clear message in their marketing and filter out people who are not able to get results. The problem is most of the mentors do not want to cut their profit, so they let anyone in, and LAZY / STUPID / WHATEVER people not satisfied with results cannot get their many back.

This about sums it up in my opinion. Repulsive in marketing... I think that makes the offer more real.

There are people that make empty promises and there are people that ultimately let the results speak for themselves.

 

[DeletedUser0287]

We purge scammers from the forum. He’s not one of them. Someday you are going to say something to somebody that will then end up teaching you a lesson you will never forget.

Well that is good that you purge scammers.

But...your last sentence. What do you specifically mean by your last statement? Sounds like a threat to be honest.

 

[James Klymus]

3 years in... I was getting pulled over by every other cop that saw me... Draw your own conclusions on that.

Hahaha 300's are popular targets for police. I had 2 chargers, fun and fast, but made like crap

Now I have an S class that is going to make people think they should bill me more and an OLD Suburban that will make people think I am broke.

Ah yes, balance

 

[Lex DeVille]

Are there any unbiased reviews I can get though?

There's a gold thread on how to identify different types of gurus.

 

[Andy Black]

There's a gold thread on how to identify different types of gurus.

Can you link to that please @Lex DeVille? I may need to check through it and make sure I don’t have any of those signatures when I start running ads.

 

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[Kak]

Side note...

It's not often I get an email that states "Delete my account" which I don't question.

And can't do fast enough.

I wish him *luck* which I'm guessing he believes, most of success is.

And just like that he leaves? LOL Wow!

 

[drahz]

I think I have some clue about digital marketing, affiliate marketing, SEO and CRO. I think many businesses need help in said spaces. They are struggling and IMHO can use help, or specifically my help.

Why not do it through coaching, courses, and consulting?

Are these not legit methods to help other businesses?

To put everyone who offers these in the scam category is doing a disservice to themselves and others.

I'm certainly not in the camp of 'faking till I make it' and don't care if you think I'm a scammer. I've achieved much in my life and not interested in trying to change your view of the world. You are long gone but there are people that DO want to help and see the value I can add to their business.

I've been doing this type of work for over 25 years now. I'm at a point financially and life where I'm doing it more to leave a legacy to help others. I like helping other businesses succeed, I want to see other business owners achieve success. Especially now where business owners have been shit on. Either because of local municipalities blocking them because of COVID or because of riots destroying their business.

Is that a bad thing I want to help entrepreneurs?

Should I do it for free? I say no for a number of reasons.

One is if you offer something for free people don't respect it, plus I've spent years developing my craft and should get paid for the time and research spent doing this. You are paying for a shortcut to avoid mistakes in your business.

I would never call you or anyone else a scammer who is clearly communicating value through marketing.

You DO NOT HAVE TO (and you should not actually) do anything for free if you have expertise to really help people. To be honest I know that I put very "clickbaity" type of headline for this topic, and yes not everyone is a scammer obviously.

I have nothing against courses (I bought couple of them and NEVER REFUND any of them) which are clearly communicating what you get.

For example someone's marketing... (1) I have 20 million followers on Instagram and for $10k I can give you shout-out.

Second one... (2) I have 20 million followers on Instagram and for $10k I can MAKE YOU FAMOUS by shouting out your account.

They seems very similar but (1) is promising only shout out (they can put guarantee on that even 200% back). On the other hand (2) is promising to MAKE SOMEONE FAMOUS (well they will be careful about guarantees this time)

(2) is a SCAM for someone who will not become famous... because for someone to be famous on Instagram in the end is about THEM, their content, how likeable they are, etc. Unfortunately (2) is taking advantage of some people out there.

Actually I was not even looking for a course to get... I just find about Coffeezilla channel... and got quite disgusted about some "gurus" out there.

 

[YoungPadawan]

Well that is good that you purge scammers.

But...your last sentence. What do you specifically mean by your last statement? Sounds like a threat to be honest.

It's not a threat... It's a promise.

 

[johnmgr]

Hi there,

Recently I was watching videos on Coffeezilla youtube channel and it got me thinking... are all "online gurus" scammers? Actually, it was nothing new to me that there are many online "entrepreneurs" coaching and mentoring people for money, promising the results which X% of people can easiliy achieve, if and only if they do the hard work and follow the process to the point.

The problem is that their value proposition is a bit weird... they will sell you the HIGH TICKET course (couple of thousand bucks) and they will promise you, actually they do not really guarantee anything, that you can get let's say $1000 M.R.R. in 6-9 months if you follow their process.

The problem is... if the coaches out there really stand for what they are teaching their value proposition should be... I will personally mentor you for 1 year and I know my stats -> 75% of people following my teachings can get at least $1000 / month in 6 months -> If you follow my process (and YOU CAN PROVE IT by giving me reports every week or month or something) and you will not achieve the results I am saying you will achieve, then I will give you all your money back - that is my guarantee.

There are countless times said... if you are selling your service or product you should at least 10x your value for the customer (compared to a product already in the market) to cut through the noise and get noticed. So if someone puts value proposition above with a money-back guarantee and they will refund only 25% customers (because their success rate is 75%) they still can get a very profitable business (and more clients as well).

What I think is very shady about many coaches and mentors out there:

* If they have profitable business themself, why they want to bring others to space, teach them a "secret" and make a competition for themself... For example, someone teaching about how to make 6 figures e-commerce, instead of building another one for themself (they can outsource almost everything).
...Or for example, someone teaching how to sell websites to the companies charging 20k per website... while they can build a software company, scale it, make a brand, hire people and step out of the process and still get a lot of money (Fastlane).
...Why to put the effort into building a course, mentoring people instead of scaling a company? - and this mentoring thing is more like a job because a mentor has to spend time with mentees and once the mentees know a thing they are gone and do it by themself - no money for the coach anymore.

* I think a successful mentor actively searching for mentees is quite a weird thing...did you ever see any executive from fortune 500 company begging for a mentee?... I was once watching an interview with some very successful Silicon Valley CEOs talking about getting business partners and mentors... and they said it starts as a common interest and friendship, it is not based on business transactions like give me money and I will coach you how to be successful (those successful people do not need to waste their precious time for getting scrape money).

* If somebody compares this mentoring thing to a let's say UDEMY course than it is not the same thing... If someone teaches you about copywriting or marketing and sales but they will only guarantee you knowledge but they will not be promising you any money as result... then I think they will not be able to get desperate people on board (wanting results more than knowledge) and also I do not think they will be able to sell it for a couple of thousands... SO IF THEY MARKET THEIR COACHING SERVICE AS A WAY TO GET MONEY... THEY SHOULD GUARANTEE THE MONEY AT THE END OF THE COURSE... THE SAME WAY AS UDEMY COURSE ABOUT PHOTOSHOP WILL GUARANTEE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW TO WORK WITH LAYERS. If there is a bit of luck involved in the process, then they should market their product as such and see if they still can get so many people on board.

So, to make a summary... why if some couch out there which does not want to be perceived as a scammer, will not put an amazing value proposition with a money-back guarantee for their mentees. And as I said above, you can always find a way how to track the progress of people, IT IS A MENTORING AFTER ALL... think about the milestones similar to UPWORK, there is a way for sure to filter out people who do not want to work (no money back guarantee for them).

...BUT if there is not a money-back guarantee, actually not guarantee at all, then I think it screams a SCAM. They should sell the CRASH COURSE TO COPYWRITING or SALES 101 instead... not mentioning any money at all.

What is your view on all of this "online coaching" thing?

I also follow Cofizilla, and most of those gurus don't actually have a "return policy" they say they'll give you your money back, but they always have an excuse and keep the money.

In this case, everyone and their mother are trying to make money fast, and thanks to a psychological phenomenon known as vicarious experience, when people see these gurus, and what they're showing, they think "I can also get the Lamborgini or that mansion. He did it, and now he's going to tell me what to do" and that's actually their pitch.

They're not in the business they say they are, they're in the business of selling a lifestyle, and the course or whatever they sell is the way to have that lifestyle. "buy my s#!@% and you'll live like me"

I think the answer can be found in UNSCRIPTED . Is like the example of that city full of restaurants. Everyone is trying to open a restaurant (being an entrepreneur) but instead of selling restaurant supplies or real estate, these fake gurus are selling a PDF on how to open a restaurant with only ten dishes that sell like crazy, and if you want more money from the restaurant you don't have, buy this other course

And since people are desperate, and want proven formulas, they're willing to pay the fake gurus.

I also think this distinction is important, I believe there are real "gurus", people that walked the road and see the potential in the training industry; is just that there are way more fake gurus than real ones. At least that's what I believe.

 

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[John Clancy]

Definitely not ALL, but I would say a LOT. I paid well into 5 figures for different coachings. Some of them were total scams, some were OK, and some of them were amazing and changed my life.

This article is pretty on-point. I wish I've read it sooner: 12 Warning Signs Of A Coaching & Mentoring Service To Avoid

Just an idea - if you're up for it, why not write a thread where you dissect the best and worst course purchases you made, what made them so good or bad, and what you've learned from the process?

Could be a valuable learning experience for you - and be very helpful for other people at a crossroads too.

 

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[Raoul Duke]

I’m curious.

I provide Google Ads consulting for clients. I do the coal-face work, the sales chats, and the client management.

I’m happy with the revenue coming in from that and have no desire to hire in people to do the coal-face work (aka grow an agency). I don’t want to 2x never mind 10x my number of clients.

If I sell a course on how to run Google Ads campaigns, and add modules on how to acquire and manage Google Ads consulting clients, does that mean I no longer have the ability to manage my consulting clients? I mean, those that can’t do the work are those that teach right?

Should I also keep the revenue I make from selling courses lower than my consulting revenue?

Damn you scammer! Wannabe GURU.

 

[Kid]

Do you know why gurus sell high price ticket courses?
Those one-on-one for $6-14k?

Because those $40 ebooks stopped selling.
Some time ago you might pull 7 figures with enough hype
just by pushing those.

People got disillusioned and very little people believe you can become
millionaire by buying book for a price of two coffees.

So what those poor gurus do? Yep, they found another market to scam:
Someone who has $10k and believes it can turn him into millionaire over weekend.

P.S. Didn't read whole thread, maybe someone mentioned it already.

Edit: reading what Bio said, maybe there are coaches that actually do know what they talk about. Yet, they might be like needle in a haystack.

 

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[Andy Black]

It also puts paid to the often repeated but totally false statement: "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach."

I don’t like that statement either. It smacks of sour grapes on the part of those that can’t teach, or at least an ignorance of how difficult teaching is. Teaching is a whole other skill, and I have the greatest respect for those that can teach others and do so with enthusiasm.

 

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[biophase]

if the coaches out there really stand for what they are teaching their value proposition should be...

I will personally mentor you for 1 year and I know my stats -> 75% of people following my teachings can get at least $1000 / month in 6 months ->

If you follow my process (and YOU CAN PROVE IT by giving me reports every week or month or something) and you do not achieve the results I am saying you will achieve, then I will give you all your money back - that is my guarantee.

So I went back to your original post because I'm trying to understand where you are coming from.

Here is the real problem with this process. Let's say that I know that lamp shades will be a hot product in the next year. So I launch this with the exact guarantee as you mention above.

I get 50 clients and I tell them all, sell lampshades. Now, all my clients are competing against each other. Would you sign up for a course like that? How many of the 50 do you think would be successful? Remember all 50 clients are getting the exact same information.

However, one client might call their business lampshadesrus, and another lampsandstuff and another shittylampshades. Well, guess which one might not do so well. One might build a neon pink website with yellow lettering against my recommendations.

If everyone followed my exact process we would end up with 50 websites looking exactly the same, same font, same color, etc... Is that what you really want to learn? Something with no personal input from you?

The point is that the information is the same, you get the overall knowledge and guidance, but ultimately you control where you end up. You can't say, "I want my mentor to choose my product, my URL, my logo and my colors and my text." If that's what you want, then be prepared to see 100 copies of your website online.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

It depends. After interviewing a lot of these gurus and buying a lot of info products myself, as a rule of thumb I would recommend to stay away from everything that is pushed by ads and PPC.

The truth is:

This online coaching niche is a numbers game.

If there is no regulation these people get away with a lot of low-quality stuff because the numbers work for them.

TRUTH.

Fortunately, some of the 0.01% of the coaches who don't suck, have threads here in the marketplace.

Ha I didn't know this! Good to know.

I'm not taking clients

Although I am launching a business course in the next couple of weeks!

Keep us posted, I am 100% interested in this!

Getting a coach to develop a skill is a quick fix shortcut usually ending up being a waste of time and money, partly because of the fact that indeed, most people suck at their jobs as said in the thread. The other reason is that you develop a skill THROUGH EFFORTS AND FAILURES, not by walking someone's else path.
I don't believe you need a coach to learn the basics of anything in life. All is online and free, the coach is the easy way, it is the anti-initiative way, it is for lazy people that believe that if they pay a fitness coach, they ll look like Shwarzy in 3 weeks. I have a friend that spent 5000€ + on dating coach, fitness coach and boxing coach, and he said the same thing every time: "it wasn't as good as i thought". That guy happens also to be one of the laziest folk around. Btw his gym coach never even told him about nutrition LOL

That being said, I still think a professor can be interesting if you want to master a skill such as singing, acting, or painting, but a business/lifestyle/get rich quick coach?? There is no written path to millions, that is why the fastlane is difficult, cuz you gotta figure it out entirely by yourself.

One interesting thing i learnt in my international relations courses was that during time of uncertainty, people get afraid and turn to strong men (dictators) to protect them and that tell them what to do, what to think. We all know how it usually ends. A coach is to an individual what a dictator is to a country: it takes control of some parts of your life in exchange for money. F*CK THAT. Embrace freedom, don't trust nor rely on anyone but yourself and never trust only one source of information.

As i was reading i dont remember where, the secret to all things is that there is no secret, but only work. And people that pay coaches are people that don't want to work nor cant take any intiatives and need to be told what to do.

So yeah, most coaches are a scam hahaha

Most of the content is garbage too.

Those that do, do. Those cant, teach?

In the poker world alot of former pros started getting into coaching for quick cash, I feel it's similar in the business coaching world. Are people that really know what they are doing bundling it up and selling courses?

There is far to much FREE information out there that's very good, even MJ has a YT channel that's worth more $ than any paid courses out there. The core principle of entrepreneurship is providing value or skewed value to another human being on the planet. I think that principle alone is good enough to carry you along the way to your first value voucher, the rest is on you to scale it up. If you can make one value voucher, why not 100? Or 10,000? A million and so on.

If you go and look at most courses for a few thousand bucks, it's mostly regurgitated guru baloney of buy these facebook ads, target these people and sell them some crap. You could train a monkey to train other monkeys on buying & building facebook ads!

Your best book to actually learn from others would be books, Unscripted , TMF , Lori Greniers book, Mark Cubans, Felix Dennis, and so on, the people that have actually done it are far more trustworthy than someone making courses online. (Anyone can make courses online)

I disagree with the first line, only if you are teaching a specialized skill or a technical skill. You provide value there.

 

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