Lex DeVille
Sweeping Shadows From Dreams
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You're browsing Facebook when you see a post with a title like this:
The Biggest Mistake That Held Me Back From Hitting My First $1,000,000...
When I first started my business..........
It looks like a blog post. But you see a "read more" icon. So you click it and down pops a story.
No harm in reading a story, you think. So you read the first line. But...
...you don't know this harmless sentence ends in a way that opens a loop in the mind that compels you to read more. Before you know it, you've read the third, fourth, and even twenty fifth lines.
By now you know you're reading an ad or maybe not. You may even wonder why you're still reading. But how could you not finish? That's like leaving a murder mystery before the killer is revealed.
When you start a story, you want to finish it.
(unless it sucks like new Star Wars)
When there's a question in your mind, you want to answer it.
(to close the loop)
So you keep reading...
Because the story is good. And it's good because it's about you.
Technically it's the author's story, but strangely, it parallels your own. The struggles, challenges, and failures...it's like you guys live the same lives.
The only part that deviates is where they made 7 figures and you have not.
(yet)
But if you're willing to sit through a Free Master Class, they'll reveal the 5 shifts that changed everything for them and when you get it, your life will change too.
This is how it begins...
Soon you've spent an hour alone watching a guru webinar designed to open your eyes to the error of your ways and show you how simple making millions can be.
(the real purpose is to make you feel good and give you hope)
If only you make those shifts...you'll be rich...and if you want help, the guru (or their team) has set aside time to speak with you to see if you're a fit to work with them to change your life.
But you'd better do it fast because spaces are limited.
So you click a link, fill out an application, and book a call.
Fast forward 3 months and you've spent $10,000 on credit for 8 weeks of training designed to teach you how to do all the things we just talked about. Doesn't matter what you teach in your "business" as long as you follow their "process."
(Also you get access to a Facebook group usually.)
THIS IS HOW GURU CULTS OPERATE...
It's not all that different from a NOT guru cult, which makes it hard to tell the difference. The key difference is one teaches a marketing system as a successful business (but calls it something else). The other teaches processes that open the doors to building a successful business.
Sometimes the funnels they use operate almost exactly the same. The problem with guru cults is they tell you that you can do what you love and be successful while secretly selling you the very system they used to get you to buy from them (rather than selling you their personal processes about how to do what they love and how that made them millions...because it didn't).
It's kind of like an MLM...Juice Plus, Amway, Mary Kay...except people actually do make a lot of money sometimes. As long as you sell the same system you bought to some other poor sap, you'll make back your investment and then some pretty fast (after all it only takes 2 schmoozers at $5,000 each to pay off that $10,000 loan).
At the top levels this works well. The marketing gurus at the top have a lot of money to spend figuring out how to get people to spend money. It works well at the second level too, because the people buying from the top gurus have plenty of money to spend. They get their water from the well. It's when you get to the 3rd level and beyond that things start to go to shit.
At the 3rd level you've got marketing training mixed with "business" and "branding" and "spiritual awakenings." Now things start to get muddy. These people still sell the dream, but they don't have as much money to spend on training, or marketing, so they turn to their personal network and start there.
At first they make a few sales from friends or family (this is what the top-tier gurus suggest they do to gain traction fast). But soon they run out of people to sell to and they stop making money.
So they turn back to the marketing systems. They try Facebook ads but don't have much to spend, so it doesn't work very well. They try promoting themselves all over Facebook and social media but that doesn't work well either. Also, by this time it's been so long since they first started this path, that they forgot half the shit they learned in their training...
The only logical solution therefore is to return to their guru because they've "tried everything" but something still holds them back (you'll find that line in their customer emails). Lucky for them, the guru is hosting a 2 day seminar in the Himalayas and it's just $30,000 to attend................
Anyone notice a pattern?
Anyway...
There are plenty of legit coaches, courses and trainings out there. There's also a F*ck ton of bullshit gurus and wannabes selling crackpot systems they don't understand to people they can't help.
In the posts that follow (and when I have time) I'm going to break down each part of the guru funnels, and the tactics and techniques they use to indoctrinate you into their cults and keep you there while practically stealing your cash.
Hopefully this thread will save some of you a lot of wasted time and cash, and help you make good judgments and buying decisions anytime you consider a training moving forward.
WHERE DID I GET THESE SECRET INSIGHTS?
I've worked directly with gurus at all levels. Built their funnels. Wrote their copy. Trained their students, and even launched courses and coaching programs of my own using some of their methods.
Also, I've bought courses from gurus, and through a rigorous process of due diligence have managed to only purchase useful shit up to this point. So hopefully some of those insights will help you.
Anyway, if you have any questions about gurus, or about a program you're considering taking, feel free to post them here. It's been a while since I spent time giving value to this forum, and this seems like a fair way to give back.
Even if you don't have questions right now, maybe you'll learn something from the posts that follow.
In the next post we'll look at some guru ads and break down different psychological tactics of influence and persuasion used to pull you in and suck you dry.
If that interests you, stay tuned...
P.S.
Look again at the ad above. Is it a BS guru, or does she sell a legit training program that might be useful for you? Consider it carefully. I'll tell you the answer in the next post.
@Andy Black @MJ DeMarco
Could you move this to the outside. Sorry about that. Thought I double checked and had it in the right forum.
The Biggest Mistake That Held Me Back From Hitting My First $1,000,000...
When I first started my business..........
It looks like a blog post. But you see a "read more" icon. So you click it and down pops a story.
...you don't know this harmless sentence ends in a way that opens a loop in the mind that compels you to read more. Before you know it, you've read the third, fourth, and even twenty fifth lines.
By now you know you're reading an ad or maybe not. You may even wonder why you're still reading. But how could you not finish? That's like leaving a murder mystery before the killer is revealed.
When you start a story, you want to finish it.
(unless it sucks like new Star Wars)
When there's a question in your mind, you want to answer it.
(to close the loop)
So you keep reading...
Because the story is good. And it's good because it's about you.
Technically it's the author's story, but strangely, it parallels your own. The struggles, challenges, and failures...it's like you guys live the same lives.
The only part that deviates is where they made 7 figures and you have not.
(yet)
But if you're willing to sit through a Free Master Class, they'll reveal the 5 shifts that changed everything for them and when you get it, your life will change too.
This is how it begins...
Soon you've spent an hour alone watching a guru webinar designed to open your eyes to the error of your ways and show you how simple making millions can be.
(the real purpose is to make you feel good and give you hope)
If only you make those shifts...you'll be rich...and if you want help, the guru (or their team) has set aside time to speak with you to see if you're a fit to work with them to change your life.
But you'd better do it fast because spaces are limited.
So you click a link, fill out an application, and book a call.
Fast forward 3 months and you've spent $10,000 on credit for 8 weeks of training designed to teach you how to do all the things we just talked about. Doesn't matter what you teach in your "business" as long as you follow their "process."
(Also you get access to a Facebook group usually.)
THIS IS HOW GURU CULTS OPERATE...
It's not all that different from a NOT guru cult, which makes it hard to tell the difference. The key difference is one teaches a marketing system as a successful business (but calls it something else). The other teaches processes that open the doors to building a successful business.
Sometimes the funnels they use operate almost exactly the same. The problem with guru cults is they tell you that you can do what you love and be successful while secretly selling you the very system they used to get you to buy from them (rather than selling you their personal processes about how to do what they love and how that made them millions...because it didn't).
It's kind of like an MLM...Juice Plus, Amway, Mary Kay...except people actually do make a lot of money sometimes. As long as you sell the same system you bought to some other poor sap, you'll make back your investment and then some pretty fast (after all it only takes 2 schmoozers at $5,000 each to pay off that $10,000 loan).
At the top levels this works well. The marketing gurus at the top have a lot of money to spend figuring out how to get people to spend money. It works well at the second level too, because the people buying from the top gurus have plenty of money to spend. They get their water from the well. It's when you get to the 3rd level and beyond that things start to go to shit.
At the 3rd level you've got marketing training mixed with "business" and "branding" and "spiritual awakenings." Now things start to get muddy. These people still sell the dream, but they don't have as much money to spend on training, or marketing, so they turn to their personal network and start there.
At first they make a few sales from friends or family (this is what the top-tier gurus suggest they do to gain traction fast). But soon they run out of people to sell to and they stop making money.
So they turn back to the marketing systems. They try Facebook ads but don't have much to spend, so it doesn't work very well. They try promoting themselves all over Facebook and social media but that doesn't work well either. Also, by this time it's been so long since they first started this path, that they forgot half the shit they learned in their training...
The only logical solution therefore is to return to their guru because they've "tried everything" but something still holds them back (you'll find that line in their customer emails). Lucky for them, the guru is hosting a 2 day seminar in the Himalayas and it's just $30,000 to attend................
Anyone notice a pattern?
Anyway...
There are plenty of legit coaches, courses and trainings out there. There's also a F*ck ton of bullshit gurus and wannabes selling crackpot systems they don't understand to people they can't help.
In the posts that follow (and when I have time) I'm going to break down each part of the guru funnels, and the tactics and techniques they use to indoctrinate you into their cults and keep you there while practically stealing your cash.
Hopefully this thread will save some of you a lot of wasted time and cash, and help you make good judgments and buying decisions anytime you consider a training moving forward.
WHERE DID I GET THESE SECRET INSIGHTS?
I've worked directly with gurus at all levels. Built their funnels. Wrote their copy. Trained their students, and even launched courses and coaching programs of my own using some of their methods.
Also, I've bought courses from gurus, and through a rigorous process of due diligence have managed to only purchase useful shit up to this point. So hopefully some of those insights will help you.
Anyway, if you have any questions about gurus, or about a program you're considering taking, feel free to post them here. It's been a while since I spent time giving value to this forum, and this seems like a fair way to give back.
Even if you don't have questions right now, maybe you'll learn something from the posts that follow.
In the next post we'll look at some guru ads and break down different psychological tactics of influence and persuasion used to pull you in and suck you dry.
If that interests you, stay tuned...
P.S.
Look again at the ad above. Is it a BS guru, or does she sell a legit training program that might be useful for you? Consider it carefully. I'll tell you the answer in the next post.
@Andy Black @MJ DeMarco
Could you move this to the outside. Sorry about that. Thought I double checked and had it in the right forum.
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