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Lex DeVille's: Guru Cults Exposed: The Tactics "Experts" Use To Pull You In & Suck You Dry

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Amazing thread, thank you @SinisterLex.

It's been extremely interesting to read because I recently had been having the same debates in my own mind as some people have posed here (i.e. how do you use this in an ethical way if you are providing real value, where does the line stand between shady guru stuff and honest persuasion/selling/marketing tactics, etc). I was reading Russel's book, classic copywriting books (Ogilvy, Boron Letters, and the like), StoryBrand, and some others which touch on these kinds of methods.

I'm curious to ask if anybody has seen a business selling physical products able to implement some of these tactics, or the concepts behind them, in an honest/authentic way.
 
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GMSI7D

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I'm curious to ask if anybody has seen a business selling physical products able to implement some of these tactics, or the concepts behind them, in an honest/authentic way.



the must have book for any guru/cult / scam activity is the 36 chinese stratagems

any guru tactic can relate in a way or another to one or many stratagems

tactis are neutral . only your intention is good or bad


for example : stratagem number 1 " HIDE IN THE OPEN "

the idea is that you don't con people behind the scenes but right in front of them , on stage

" what is familiar doesn't look suspicious "

a con artist disguised as an official government agent "sold" the Eiffel tower in Paris to businessmen with this stratagem !!

nobody thought that such a big scam would be possible !!

and he sold it twice !!


---> show me any guru known as a con artist and i will tell you the stratagem behind the scam
 
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Brad S

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the must have book for any guru/cult / scam activity is the 36 chinese stratagems

any guru tactic can relate in a way or another to one or many stratagems

tactis are neutral . only your intention is good or bad


for example : stratagem number 1 " HIDE IN THE OPEN "

the idea is that you don't con people behind the scenes but right in front of them , on stage

" what is familiar doesn't look suspicious "

a con artist disguised as an official government agent "sold" the Eiffel tower in Paris to businessmen with this stratagem !!

nobody thought that such a big scam would be possible !!

and he sold it twice !!


---> show me any guru known as a con artist and i will tell you the stratagem behind the scam

The out in the open part is huge.

The best con men are the ones who you would never even suspect as conning you because they make no effort to hide anything.

Or so it seems.

The Eiffel tower story is one of many in another great book about con men from Maria Konnikova called THE Confidence Game.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WDP836S/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

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So much is perception as well.

Objective truth is something that's very hard to see.

You could make an argument that the greatest con man of our age could be someone like Elon Musk.

Now I'm not saying he is a con man or that he isn't, but there are some short sellers on Wall Street that certainly think he is with Tesla.

Maybe even space x.

Many people couldn't even stand the thought of this.

That their Jesus like figure may not be the Son of God.

But some of the boxes are checked for typical con men like attributes.

There's a saying about people who have been conned:

It's easier to con them again, then to convince them they have been conned.

There is a documentary on Netflix called Betting On Zero.

It's about a hedge fund guy named Bill Ackman.

He shorts Herbalife a billion dollars.

Then he goes on a campaign.

He does major news shows and a live presentation documenting how it's nothing but a Pyramid scam.

Which of course, it is.

He makes a persuasive case live and almost cries at one point.

He meets some of the victims or "customers" who have lost their life savings.

The amazing part is the stock never falls.

They show the herbalife convention that looks like a religious brainwashing seminar.

The majority of people there have heard the arguments and evidence about it being a Pyramid scam and actually respond in anger defending it.

It's like the matrix when morpheus says that people are so dependent on the system that even when shown evidence that it's a simulation they will angrily resist you.

People can not deal with cognitive dissonance.

Anyway.

I think the line between con man entrepreneur, salesperson, visionary can all get blurred.

There are many shades of gray between black-and-white.

Usually the one who speaks with the most certainty dictates the perception of objective truth.





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IMHO there is no rational explanation, based on logic, that could have me deduce that Elon Musk is a con man...
 

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So for everyone that has read this thread in its entirety...

Are these tactics happening right before our eyes?

Read this thread and let us know what you think:

1,000,000 Followers On Social Media: How I Am Doing It & How You Can Too
I'll be honest.

My brain went blank upon reading the thread.

Why?

I had seen similar online pitches, Youtube ads, Facebook write-ups and all the meat from the butcher's only too many times.

I felt like a a kid disensitized towards a murder scene after watching PG 18 shows.

Now to think of it, maybe that is why I am not taking gigs for copywriting these few days...
 

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1 ) So much is perception as well.

Objective truth is something that's very hard to see.


2) There's a saying about people who have been conned:

It's easier to con them again, then to convince them they have been conned.




3) The majority of people there have heard the arguments and evidence about it being a Pyramid scam and actually respond in anger defending it.

It's like the matrix when morpheus says that people are so dependent on the system that even when shown evidence that it's a simulation they will angrily resist you.

People can not deal with cognitive dissonance.

Usually the one who speaks with the most certainty dictates the perception of objective truth.


Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


yes absolutely . you are very aware .


1) this world is world of perception

" The Perception Deception " as called by David Icke

whether we like him or not is irrelecant . the title describes very well this world


2) yes dude. this is the core of the crowd psychology in my "guru licence " formula below

--> people CAN'T admit they are wrong or that they have been conned


and they will protect evil

this is called the stockhom syndrome :


Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia



3) yes . as Morpheus said, this is a good metaphor, people will die for the matrix they live in

that's why occult teachings are hidden from the masses !!

---> because they can't accept the truth

we can't teach mathematics to animals and we can't teach the truth to the masses

---> this is called " as above so below " in esoteric teachings





so here is my " CON ARTIST LICENCE "

--> for you guys out there who want to be a guru, a politician, whatever

CON ARTIST.png
the formula is very simple :

POWER = ( awareness + knowledge of the crowd psychology + the 36 stratagems ) applied on ENERGY ( the masses )


in case you don't understand, this is exactly the blueprint followed by the Masterminds at the top of society

remember my previous pictures :



energy 2.png



energy.png



FOLLOW THIS FORMULA AND YOU WILL GET YOU CON ARTIST LICENCE


POWER IS YOURS



.


 
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I never liked his first post from his notable thread. Looked shady as sh*t just like this one. So I stopped reading the first one and never returned to it. Anyone who looks closely will find every persuasion tactic in the book used in this guy's posts. From copywriting to pre-suasion techniques, to social credibility, to a personal branding references.

One of the reasons I'm following his thread with interest, that and the fact I'm intrigued by his life turnaround back story.
 

John Clancy

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So for everyone that has read this thread in its entirety...

Are these tactics happening right before our eyes?

Read this thread and let us know what you think:

1,000,000 Followers On Social Media: How I Am Doing It & How You Can Too

Well, while I don't have the same deep knowledge of these concepts as @SinisterLex and many others...

I've felt for a while now that Damian is fake.

I remember first seeing him when he was featured on Victor Pride's blog. He had developed a system for earning a full-time income with part-time effort on Fiverr ( I think the article was called "how I made $11032 in 3 hours a week" or something like that).. And it was only $15!!!!

I was lost at the time, struggling to find my way... And here was a guy my age, making money I could hardly dream of.
Predictably, I bought it.

And to be honest - it was cheap, and the information seemed to be good (I never applied it, I can't confirm)... So there's no issue so far.

Then I remember his email list going dead for 8 months... And when he came back, he had rebranded himself as a $3000/hr consultant, millionaire entrepreneur, etc. A big step up from his previous position, one that's definitely more lucrative.

A quick look at any of his social media accounts (e.g. Twitter) will confirm your suspicions. His tweets are all crafted to maintain the illusion he's trying to project. Retweets other guys with big followings (like Tai Lopez, Wall Street Playboys), posts pictures of himself with other internet famous entrepreneurs for credibility (Grant Cardone, "Hurricane Liz" I think?), talks about being a "millionaire dropout", posts stuff about cultivating your "alpha male" mindset, living a rich lifestyle... you get the picture.

Is he really wealthy?

Probably - maybe not as much as he claims, but I imagine he's doing just fine.

Is he a legit guy, who built himself via honest hard work and real value-adding businesses?

I don't know.

Personally, I'm a bit wary of all this posturing, particularly when they're catering to younger audiences ("I was a millionaire at 20, and you can be too!").

Taking advantage of naive teenagers isn't exactly high on my list of ethical business practices.

Maybe some else has a completely different opinion... But that's just my take.
 

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Personally, I'm a bit wary of all this posturing, particularly when they're catering to younger audiences ("I was a millionaire at 20, and you can be too!").

So am I. I'm following his thread with interest as so many tactics mentioned here are being employed, that in itself doesn't make it bad since it makes for good marketing and the end product could be extremely valuable... I'll wait. The fact he's actual managed to do it also fascinates me, success leaves clues - good or bad.
 
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Elon Musk's growing empire is fueled by $4.9 billion in government subsidies

He is taking YOUR tax money to become incredibly wealthy.. Question everything my friend...
That article counts government contracts as subsidies also. If the government hires me to paint walls for new offices I won't consider that a subsidy for example, which would be no different if a private company hired me to paint their offices.
 
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GMSI7D

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I need to get better at not falling for bullshit.

with your actual understanding of life, you can't . this is just the tip of the iceberg

you have to do a lot of work to emerge above the matrix

i have been studying this topic for 10 years

a topic on a forum is not enough to scratch the surface of this field


and moreover i can't tell you further about manipulation in this world because you wouldn't believe me

i have to adapt to your current understanding , i can't go beyond


why ?

because you would judge the new information with your current understanding of life


that's why we can't jump from beginner in chess to Grand Master

same thing here

that's why there are 33 degrees in the freemasonry orders

 

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JPMorgan has a new short idea: Tesla shares to fall 40 percent in 12 months



Traders betting against Tesla are finally making millions



Again I'm not making any argument here at all.

I'm saying to question everything.

Especially the people who you would never suspect.

If they are the very definition of great entrepreneur/visionary how can anyone ever question it?

But it's THEIR vision and agenda they are running.

There is a book called The Man Who Sold The Moon.

It's a science fiction novel.

It's one of Elons favorite books.

One could argue the main character is a conman.

Peter Thiel who knows Elon very well says he is similar to Trump in many ways.

Peter Thiel Thinks Elon Musk and Donald Trump are a Lot Alike | Inverse

In Zero To One he also says Elon is a grandmaster level salesman.

These are compliments.

People who are almost worshiped and out in the open can turn out to be conmen to some degree either by intent or accident.

It doesn't have to be black-and-white or even a 100% intentional.

Simply just being unable to deliver on something that you promised and intended to do, can turn you into a partial accidental conman.

Elizabeth Holmes is an example of this.

Steve Jobs could have been an example had things not gone his way.

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jcvlds

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the must have book for any guru/cult / scam activity is the 36 chinese stratagems

any guru tactic can relate in a way or another to one or many stratagems

tactis are neutral . only your intention is good or bad


for example : stratagem number 1 " HIDE IN THE OPEN "

the idea is that you don't con people behind the scenes but right in front of them , on stage

" what is familiar doesn't look suspicious "

a con artist disguised as an official government agent "sold" the Eiffel tower in Paris to businessmen with this stratagem !!

nobody thought that such a big scam would be possible !!

and he sold it twice !!


---> show me any guru known as a con artist and i will tell you the stratagem behind the scam
Thanks for the response and for the resource, will definitely read into it.

As for tactics being neutral, I agree.. but what about someone who is marketing their product and they are excellent marketers and can utilize these tactics very well to give people that extra push to purchase their product vs competitors'.. but their product isn't actually the best in the market if you evaluate it unbiased.. so would that make him deceptive? .. he got them to purchase it because his tactics appealed to the emotions, desires, and other psychological barriers in people's mind that made them choose and purchase it
 

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IMHO there is no rational explanation, based on logic, that could have me deduce that Elon Musk is a con man...

I don't have any stake in the question of whether Musk is or isn't a con man (I think worrying about that kind of question is time-wasting gossip if it doesn't affect you) but it's interesting that you put things this way.

What would count for you as a "rational explanation, based on logic"?

Think about your answer, and then ask yourself this:

How does my answer get around my own human susceptibility to marketing triggers?

We live in Marketing World, and in Marketing World it's very easy to confuse feelings of conviction and certainty with absolute and impartial thinking.

What looks like rationality turns out to be psychology once you look under the hood.

There's nothing wrong with thinking. Don't let the question give you that impression -- thinking and reasoning are fine things. We should all do more of them.

But you might be surprised at how easily the belief in one's own reason can be hijacked as another persuasion tool.

When people say things like "no reasons could convince me", that's language indicating we've left reason behind and headed back over to psychology.
 

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Thanks for the response and for the resource, will definitely read into it.

As for tactics being neutral, I agree.. but what about someone who is marketing their product and they are excellent marketers and can utilize these tactics very well to give people that extra push to purchase their product vs competitors'.. but their product isn't actually the best in the market if you evaluate it unbiased.. so would that make him deceptive? .. he got them to purchase it because his tactics appealed to the emotions, desires, and other psychological barriers in people's mind that made them choose and purchase it


capitalism has to deal with the human's way of responding to the world

if people were logical, there would be no need for all these tactics designed to make them buy

you would just say :

" dear customer , here are the features of this car. as you can see , this is a safe car. this is a good price so since you are a logical guy , you just have to buy . this is common sense, thanks "

but it doesn't work that way


buying a ferrari is not a logical thing . it is an emotional thing

the first thing you learn when you study manipulation if that you can't manage people with logic

you can't manage your wife / husband with logic

--> you have to use emotions, anything else

you can't manage your children with logic

--> you have to use emotions, anything else


you can't manage your dog with logic

--> you have to use emotions, anything else

you can't manage customers with logic

--> you have to use emotions, anything else

you can't manage the masses with logic

--> you have to use emotions ,anything else

we have to deal with human nature whether we like it or not

we are emotional creatures pretending to be adult and logical


so yes , the problem with emotions and irrational behaviour is that you can manipulate people easily

that's why this topic was created




.
 
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jcvlds

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if people were logical, there would be no need for all these tactics designed to make them buy

we have to deal with human nature whether we like it or not
.
Extremely insightful. Thank you.
I've always considered myself a very analytical and logical person.. but I guess that's why after looking at some of my recent past purchases I find I buy things that both hit my emotional chords AND have some analytics/stats on their copy as well.

Why not have 'em both on your marketing to ensure you hit both sides on your prospects, right? :)
 
D

Deleted50669

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with your actual understanding of life, you can't . this is just the tip of the iceberg

you have to do a lot of work to emerge above the matrix

i have been studying this topic for 10 years

a topic on a forum is not enough to scratch the surface of this field


and moreover i can't tell you further about manipulation in this world because you wouldn't believe me

i have to adapt to your current understanding , i can't go beyond


why ?

because you would judge the new information with your current understanding of life


that's why we can't jump from beginner in chess to Grand Master

same thing here

that's why there are 33 degrees in the freemasonry orders
You're not wrong.
 

GMSI7D

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Extremely insightful. Thank you.
I've always considered myself a very analytical and logical person.. but I guess that's why after looking at some of my recent past purchases I find I buy things that both hit my emotional chords AND have some analytics/stats on their copy as well.

Why not have 'em both on your marketing to ensure you hit both sides on your prospects, right? :)



so i made another picture for you guys

i admit, i am tired of explaining so i will let you make your own conclusions

you have to think a bit but what you will understand is yours for ever


MANAGEMENT MASSE.png







You're not wrong.

you are already above the masses , just with this topic and being a user of this forum

you don't need the 10 years of reading books like me

you just need to be loyal to your decision to have a better life
 
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When people say things like "no reasons could convince me", that's language indicating we've left reason behind and headed back over to psychology.

Perhaps I misstated what I actually meant, since there's a TON of articles out there that try to deduce that Elon Musk is a con man.

Elon Musk has demonstrably generated value from thin air over and over throughout his career. The materials that postulate that he is a con man, that I have personally read, are works of persuasive writing. Usually it's based on half-truths, as a means of manipulating markets.

There's nothing in Elon's history that indicates any level of being a confidence man, aside from making his overly optimistic timelines a little too public.

To the contrary, Elon's history has objectively shown that every action he takes is one in which he has backed up his word, even if at a delay. And if he doesn't, he comes out and publicly apologizes.

My post was more of a "show me the proof" rather than "you could never convince me of this hahaha", since I've done a ton of research on the man's history.
 
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IMHO there is no rational explanation, based on logic, that could have me deduce that Elon Musk is a con man...

His behavior is reminiscent Edison, who isn't very liked by the geeky side of the internet. While Musk is praised.

(Musk is on record for looking up to Edison, and having studied his work)

Edison & Musk...

1. Take other people's inventions and products, improve them, and send them to the mass market.
(Elon purchased the company Tesla, he didn't invent it)

2. Work other people senseless
(See the recent heads of management quitting Tesla)

3. Great marketers

Musk: Sell silly hats, flamethrowers, and put cars into space

Edison was essentially an evil mastermind when it came to branding and marketing. What Lex is describing in this thread is child's play, in comparison. Propaganda to the highest degree:

a) Setting up an area where only vetted reporters could get in, and where he exclusively controlled the narrative.

b) Walking to meet reporters, and splashing oil and soot on himself to seem like he's hard at work.

c) Blatantly lying and killing animals to discredit his competitors. (Musk hasn't used animal testing, as far as we know. Unless there's a pig in the trunk of that red Roadster floating around)

d) Branding himself as a Genius. Giving people a vision that he's the go to, know it all guy.

Online gurus get found out and eventually fade away...

Edison's hold on public perception is so strong, even in today's schools, we're still taught that he really was the one who invented hundreds products we use today. With little to no mention of Nikola Tesla and the other inventors he stole from.

So far Musk seems to be doing it for good. But who knows. He currently controls the narrative, so there may be skeletons in his closet we don't know about.

I'm a fan of Musk by the way. But there's no reason to not look at his situation objectively.
 

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so i made another picture for you guys

i admit, i am tired of explaining so i will let you make your own conclusions

you have to think a bit but what you will understand is yours for ever


View attachment 18611









you are already above the masses , just with this topic and being a user of this forum

you don't need the 10 years of reading books like me

you just need to be loyal to your decision to have a better life

Top-rate gurus appear to be very naturally charismatic (which generally appears to be a combination of varied tonality, strong body language, natural understanding of people etc.).

What advice would you give to someone with charisma so they don't go down the path of 'gurudom' or become a charlatan? Or to be more precise, how can one make money ethically through their charisma?

In regards to your diagrams, how did you come to find the association between Yin and Yang with Logic and Emotion?
 
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If that's not the biggest red flag ever, I don't know what is. Opening with bullcrap social proof based on free publicity anyone can get. Didn't even need to read beyond that line. :D

I did read beyond it though (since MJ tagged me), and here are my thoughts... MJ can see it, but I wonder if anyone else can. A post that has 34 likes must be good, right?

No.

I never liked his first post from his notable thread. Looked shady as sh*t just like this one. So I stopped reading the first one and never returned to it. Anyone who looks closely will find every persuasion tactic in the book used in this guy's posts. From copywriting to pre-suasion techniques, to social credibility, to a personal branding references.


Surprise! The way you prove your presence is by showing credibility and building your personal brand. Kind of reminds me of something...ah, yes...the way gurus last shift in their 5 shift webinar ALWAYS suggests you "get mentoring." In other words the final shift or bullet should always be to "get the thing I'm planning to sell you later on."

Guarantee this is leading back to a course or 8 week program...
What I find interesting is that the people who have successfully sold courses and coaching to members of this forum do NOT seem to know or use any of the guru tactics mentioned in this thread.

@biophase 's coaching.
@Fox 's course.
Even my own course.

And the grand-daddy of them all - the books by @MJ DeMarco and this forum itself.


What can we learn from that?
 

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I need to get better at not falling for bullshit.
Think "What would MJ, Vigilante, Gary V, Elon Musk, Richard Branson (insert your business hero) think of this?"


Being in this forum gives you the chance to mimic the thought processes of successful business owners. When a thread starts up and you can predict where it's going to go and just watch the train-wreck, then you know you're starting to make a bit of progress.
 

jcvlds

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What I find interesting is that the people who have successfully sold courses and coaching to members of this forum do NOT seem to know or use any of the guru tactics mentioned in this thread.

@biophase 's coaching.
@Fox 's course.
Even my own course.

And the grand-daddy of them all - the books by @MJ DeMarco and this forum itself.


What can we learn from that?

Perhaps that if you truly care about and build a deep, authentic relationship with your audience, you can deliver extreme and targeted value they want/need in a manner that is authentic/transparent/honest and results in a win-win situation for you and your customer (value exchanged both ways). Without this relationship, you'd have to resort to guru tactics that are borderline unethical and you resort to only psychological ways to push your product.
 
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Brad S

Bronze Contributor
Jan 23, 2014
99
357
48
New Jersey
His behavior is reminiscent Edison, who isn't very liked by the geeky side of the internet. While Musk is praised.

(Musk is on record for looking up to Edison, and having studied his work)

Edison & Musk...

1. Take other people's inventions and products, improve them, and send them to the mass market.
(Elon purchased the company Tesla, he didn't invent it)

2. Work other people senseless
(See the recent heads of management quitting Tesla)

3. Great marketers

Musk: Sell silly hats, flamethrowers, and put cars into space

Edison was essentially an evil mastermind when it came to branding and marketing. What Lex is describing in this thread is child's play, in comparison. Propaganda to the highest degree:

a) Setting up an area where only vetted reporters could get in, and where he exclusively controlled the narrative.

b) Walking to meet reporters, and splashing oil and soot on himself to seem like he's hard at work.

c) Blatantly lying and killing animals to discredit his competitors. (Musk hasn't used animal testing, as far as we know. Unless there's a pig in the trunk of that red Roadster floating around)

d) Branding himself as a Genius. Giving people a vision that he's the go to, know it all guy.

Online gurus get found out and eventually fade away...

Edison's hold on public perception is so strong, even in today's schools, we're still taught that he really was the one who invented hundreds products we use today. With little to no mention of Nikola Tesla and the other inventors he stole from.

So far Musk seems to be doing it for good. But who knows. He currently controls the narrative, so there may be skeletons in his closet we don't know about.

I'm a fan of Musk by the way. But there's no reason to not look at his situation objectively.
Edison is central in a ring of some of the most persuasive people who ever lived in the United States such as Rockefeller, Carnegie, JP Morgan.

JP Morgan backed Edison and they were wrong about direct current electricity but they still managed to crush Tesla and his backer and get their patents that formed General Electric.

Edison and Rockefeller put out huge amounts of propaganda.

Rockefeller saying that electricity is dangerous.

Edison saying kerosene lamps are dangerous.

Carnegie was known to seek out persuasive people to befriend and learn from.

He was friends with Mark Twain.

Supposedly Think and Grow Rich Existing is mostly because of Carnegie.

None of these guys had technical skills in the things they built their monopolies on.

They had to convince many people to help them.

They also had to anticipate all their enemies moves including the U.S. government that tried to hold them back.

It seems whenever there is a huge fortune, empire or social change you have a master persuader initiating most of it.

All the way back to Julius Caesar and his legendary rhetorical skills.

Through the robber barons.

To people alive today:

Doctor Phil, Tony Robbins, Conor McGregor, and Donald Trump.

It's hard to underestimate the power of understanding human nature.

Then applying it to your goals.





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Brad S

Bronze Contributor
Jan 23, 2014
99
357
48
New Jersey
This topic has got me thinking about a video I saw a few months back.

It's pretty unbelievable.

The video shows Naveen Jain reading the body language of a few different people.

He guesses accurately time after time the number they had written down on a piece of paper.

What makes this interesting is Naveen Jain is a billionaire.

And the people whose body language tells he's reading are Tai Lopez, Grant Cardonne, Elena Cardone, (grants wife) and Tai's model/prop named Kate.

View: https://youtu.be/3NAbxaE80L0



Now obviously Tai Lopez and Grant Cardone both have high EQ.

They have used their EQ to profit quite nicely.

As Gary Vaynerchuck says (who of course checks a lot of conman boxes himself) EQ is more important than IQ especially for an entrepreneur.

Naveen Jain makes Lopez and Cardone look like amateurs of EQ.

He would make poker professionals look like amateurs for spotting tells.

Jain probably also has an extremely high IQ to match his high EQ.

It's almost like watching Emperor Palpatine with Darth Vader and Grand Mof Tarkin.

Jain had a business called Intelius.

Which was a people search service you have probably seen.

Not surprisingly he is another billionaire being called a conman.


Naveen Jain's Latest Scam: Intelius – TechCrunch


His current businesses are a moon mining company and the gut bacteria testing kit company called Viome.

Here is a short documentary on him that is very interesting.

View: https://youtu.be/JYyCelw41sQ


He casually mentions at the beginning that he saw a woman on the news get an asteroid in her back yard.

So he calls her up and convinces her to give it to him.

More evidence of high level EQ.

He has been doing a lot of interviews and putting out much influential content on the importance of gut bacteria balance.

Which happens to be a trendy health topic.

It is probably significant to our health.

But it's all in the service of selling Viome testing kits.


View: https://youtu.be/3mtvahhBcvo


Harry Houdini was obviously a magician and illusionist.

But towards the end of his career he went on a mission to expose conmen of all types.

Psychics, snake oil salesman and many others.

He saw through all of their bullshit because he was a conman himself.

Obviously he used it for entertainment.

Not to fleece people of their money peddling false hope.

Naseem Taleb in his book The Bed of Procrustes has an aphorism that states:

"The characteristic feature of the loser is to bemoan, in general terms, mankind’s flaws, biases, contradictions, and irrationality—without exploiting them for fun and profit."

Anyway.

All someone needs to manipulate us is to have an understanding of our fears, desires, hopes, ambitions, greed and laziness.

But most of all:

Our search for answers.

The notion that someone other than ourselves can solve our problems.

The notion that if the right person tells us we're OK it's true.

The person who's perfectly content, looking for nothing, has no desires and has no fears, cannot be manipulated.

I think the best defense against gurus and con men is to become one.

Knowing them better than they know themselves.

There's a line Bruce Wayne says about the Joker and others like him:

"I know now what I have to become to fight men like these."

A vampire can sense when another vampire is near.









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