Rich Dad Seminar Exposed (FINALLY!)

[UncommonWay]

Watched the video and had to chuckle when Russ Whitney's name came up. I can't believe that guy is still around.

I remember years ago being interested in getting into real estate investing. I actually went to one of Russ Whitney's "free" seminars - borrowed my sister's car because I was so broke, and drove 45 minutes to go to this stupid seminar. Thank goodness I was broke, and didn't yet have any credit cards, because I was so naive at the time that I probably would have bought into Russ Whitney's seminar B.S.

I also remember reading some other real estate investing author's website where he said, "There is no need to go to $5,000 Bootcamps or seminars - I am a bona fide real estate investor who makes a living at it, and my books cover everything you need to know." And, wouldn't you know it, his books sold for quite a reasonable price.

My point is, there are the shark-like scammers like Russ Whitney, who make their money by suckering people rather than the way they claim they make their money. And then there are the people who make their money the way they claim they do, but they teach others how to do it as a side business.

When I got started in Internet Marketing, I quickly figured out that there were those whose path to wealth on the internet was selling other people info about how to make money on the internet. It really discouraged me, because I thought for a while that I could only get rich by doing the same thing - "fake it 'til you make it" and pretend that you've rich so you can sell get-rich-quick info to others. I didn't want to do that, because it smelled fishy to me.

The IM "gurus" that I finally decided to learn from were those who were making the bulk of their money in non-IM niches. I was encouraged by the fact that they could make a living on the internet without scamming people, and it led me to believe that I could do the same thing.

So, for every Robert Kiyosaki who's scamming people out of thousands of dollars, there is an MJ DeMarco who is actually helping people. Okay, so maybe the ratio is more like 5 Kiyosakis to 1 Demarco, but you get the idea - they're not all scammers. Thank goodness, too, because I don't think I would have been clever enough to make the leap to Fastlane by myself without some of the distinctions that MJ puts forward in his book.

 

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[Bozigian]

Hm.... I wonder what anunez is doing?

After all, his profile pic did say because my life sucks

 

[CEBenz]

Hm.... I wonder what anunez is doing?

After all, his profile pic did say because my life sucks

Glad I wasn't the only one that noticed that.

 

[FxInvestor]

Really disturbing video.

Where is the humility of treating your clients respectfully? RK definitely will lose credibility in the market.

I read somewhere - One happy customer will tell only 3 other people, one unhappy customer will tell 3000.

With the power of the internet, where it has become so easy to reach out to millions, everyone has to put in all the more effort to be honest, credible and humble and at all times.

One negative press and it can do so much damage. Since this was a sting op, it is all the more believable. However, if it was just another new release, I would be skeptical. News is just tailored to get more viewership.

The seminar was just crap, the trainer was a complete arrogant SOB.

Thanks for the post.

 

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[Bozigian]

And since when does sticking up for someone's teachings and learning from them make you a d*ck rider?

I know right?
E.g. If you learn from some teachings and stand up from them in the case of religion, Christianity, Catholic.
Does that make you a d*** rider also?

If Jerry Poteet(one of Bruces own students) learns from Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do which is his teachings and applies it, does that means he's riding Bruce;s d?

 

[Bozigian]

Ive heard almost the same from

On some forums I heard people went for a free workshop but it was just for a pitch event.
I can recall, this one guy got a card from Online Trading Academy from the mail as I did. He went to the workshop, he knew it was going to be a pitch. He said in the presentation, the presenter said it will be the best investment in your life. So the presenter kept going on and on until the last moment when wait for it......... all this for $$$$$ such and such. The meeting ended and the guy talked to other people about whether they thought they should be in the program.

When one of the employees of the school ushered him into his room and asked the guy for his credit card and the guy said NO! The employee was growing arrogant and started to become aggressive and the guy started leaving the room and the employee yelled Get over here the guy proceeded walking out the door and was stopped by another employee who asked him whats wrong and he said "get out of my way" and walked off campus and could see the other people walking off campus as well with disgust.

 

[mrhahn]

Great bump of a thread I would have missed.

I got a letter in the mail a while back for a free dinner and mp3 player (showed a pic of an ipod shuffle, of course that wasn't what they were giving out) for attending this small biz startup seminar. I knew it was a sales pitch meeting but wanted to go for laughs n maybe shed some light to the unaware. Unfortunately I was busy and couldn't make it.

 

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[jahelmie]

I guess I was one of the suckers. I used to worship that R.K. I read all of his books and if you have not, Let me sum it up for you. GET OFF YOUR A$$, FAIL A BUNCH OF TIMES, GET MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME, BE AN EXPERT IN ONE AREA,

I Went to his FREE Seminar, thought cool maybe I will learn something. Then I, somehow although I knew better, signed up immediately to his 500 dollar 3 day seminar.

The First TWO DAYS - All they talked about was their 30,000 dollar school that if you were serious about being successful then you needed to be in their school. O and every once in awhile they would show you something that you could probably ask my 7 year old nephew and get the same answer. Such as: YOU CAN MAKE A LOT OF MONEY IN THE STOCK MARKET WITH MY TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGIES...

ALL YOU NEED TO DO TO GET THESE STRATEGIES IS PAY A MONTHLY FEE OF $39.99

Needless to say, I did not stay the full 3 days.

 

[Gonzosan]

Can't say I hate Robert Kiyosaki, only because after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad is what got me so interested in starting a business and looking at things past working for someone else. None the less I've read a good amount of his books, and he's just rehashing the same book over and over again. I remember I wanted to be "coached" back then but realized it was just too much money for something I probably could find in a book (you can). I still remember signing up for their forums and seeing how dead it was, and realized it wasn't worth it. I remember reading about the seminars and was thinking "there's nothing they can teach me at this seminar that would cost $50k". That's when I realized that one of their big money makers is those seminars. Kind of sad really, fortunately I just take his advice with a grain of salt. All these "gurus" make some good points and I think anyone who gets people thinking about their own finances and making a change in their life is doign something good, but you have to realize they're selling something.

 

[CEBenz]

Can't say I hate Robert Kiyosaki, only because after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad is what got me so interested in starting a business and looking at things past working for someone else. None the less I've read a good amount of his books, and he's just rehashing the same book over and over again. I remember I wanted to be "coached" back then but realized it was just too much money for something I probably could find in a book (you can). I still remember signing up for their forums and seeing how dead it was, and realized it wasn't worth it. I remember reading about the seminars and was thinking "there's nothing they can teach me at this seminar that would cost $50k". That's when I realized that one of their big money makers is those seminars. Kind of sad really, fortunately I just take his advice with a grain of salt. All these "gurus" make some good points and I think anyone who gets people thinking about their own finances and making a change in their life is doign something good, but you have to realize they're selling something.

Excellently put! Speed for you

 

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[ClintonSkakun]

This is really bad for his Kiyosaki's reputation. I obviously lost a lot of respect for the guy. On a side note, the guy(Robert Kiyosaki) encourages people to get into network marketing... or MLMs.... if you do your research, you'll find out that MLMs are closely similar to pyramid schemes... and although it's not illegal(MLMs I mean), it's really unethical if you look at it from a mathematical point of view. Fitzpatrick is an expert on MLMs and explains it best in his book: False Profits. Heard an interview of him and a radio show host on network marketing schemes a couple of days after having signed up with an MLM... but I was already brainwashed. I didn't want to believe it... now I see it though. I'm no longer in an MLM and I see the mathematical flaw in that business model.

Hey buddy, I'm going to look up this Fitzpatrick guy. Sounds interesting

 

[Brander]

You're missing the point of charging for information. It isn't the information that is being charged for, everyone knows it is available for free SOMEWHERE else.

What's being charged for is the time savings of gathering, organising and presenting the information.

By your logic, houses should sell for the cost of the building materials, since theoretically I could build my own house if I own a hammer and a wheelbarrow.

By that logic then, commissioning someone to gather the information in a cohesive format would probably cost at max $1000 - he charges $5000 for almost NO information - he says the $45.000 is where the meat is - do you think he alone gathered the information? No someone else did it for him. Hmmm, $1000 versus $45.000 - hard to choose, really, really hard

 

[puckman]

I went to a Dave Ramsey seminar and dropped $300 for the 'basic' package at the end of the seminar. This guy is even more swarmy because he uses religion and faith to hock his wares, and then you go to his seminar and he reveals his special secrets for hundreds of dollars in the back of the room. And he has his radio show, his message is basically painful slowlane, even though I do agree with him about abolishing debt.

I took my wife and bought the stupid thing. Looking back, our relationship would have been much better off if I would have spent that money on a nice dinner with her.

 

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[cashflow3000]

Hey guys -

Not a bad thread going here, a bit of a flame war in the middle but that's to be expected on public forums.

I think there is a little bit of misinformation in this thread also but over all it is on track.

My wife and I have been through the Kiyosaki sales funnel up to and including purchasing and attending several classes and going to the 2009 Annual Forum in Orlando.

The seminar presented in the video was a great "bad" example so I can see why it was featured. It was really not too different from what we went through. The presenter in the video was more of a jerk, but it is what it is: a sales funnel.

Initial hook: Free 1 day seminar. Go to a hotel room in a nearby city. Listen to someone talk about real estate for a couple hours. Gift: a book or CD. Upsell: three day seminar for $500.

Three day seminar: a lot of hard sell, a lot of impressive numbers, and an upsell for the $12K-$45K "packages" of classes as mentioned in the video.

Once you buy the classes there are no more upsells. Each class is tailored to a specific topic and the ones we attended were more or less informative and useful.

Those of us who went through these classes jokingly referred to the 3 day seminar as "Credit Card U."

What they showed in the video was accurate where they tell you to increase your credit card limit. The 3 day that we attended was a little bit different. The 2nd day is where they tell you to increase your limit for a "significant purchase" where in the video they were using the pretense that you need the credit card for legitimate real estate expenses. The evening of the 2nd day is where they revealed to us the pricing and sent us home with order forms so we could pick the classes we wanted.

Even though the guy in the video was a jerk, you have to give him points for revealing the upsell on Day 1. Anything after that no one can claim they didn't know what they were in for.

They also have a money back guarantee in these seminars. As long as you request a refund by the evening of the first day they will refund you. We noticed a trend that even in the advanced classes most of the "meat" information was held back until day 2. In reference to the people who were in a 3 day seminar with a jerk who told them on day 1 they were in for a $12k - $45K upsell - what did they expect day 2 and day 3 would be like?!

In retrospect we don't regret taking the classes. We learned a lot, met some good people, and gained "high pressure sales" seminar experience.

Unfortunately, most people who attend the Rich Dad 3 day seminar will never see this thread until its too late.

James Hagarty
Dover, DE USA

 

[PrincessK]

People in Missouri said they were not able to get theri refunds and reported it to the news and the atty general . Sad

PrincessK

 

[buckmajor]

Even though the guy in the video was a jerk, you have to give him points for revealing the upsell on Day 1. Anything after that no one can claim they didn't know what they were in for.

I wouldn't care less if that was an old man in his 90s lecturing the class, he doesn't deserve a damn point.

 

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[RazvanRogoz]

I don't know what to say.


I'm 10 minutes in, but it's not different from any other success / sales seminars out there.

Not only the "Rich Dad" is doing this. Almost everyone is doing this.

 

[Sharp]

The important lesson here is that people like to have others hold their hands for them and guide them to safety. That is why they pay a lot for seminars which a book can cover. Robert's book is top notch in delivering basic financial lessons and motivating people to step up but the instant he started giving seminars without him attending, he put his brand in danger. I guess he could go down the same path as his friend Donald Trump where any publicity is good publicity.

 

[rorschach]

What pisses me off the most is the whole "Buy our stuff or we'll sabotage your beliefs" bs. Some of those people will never get over that.

what a &(§! move to do...

 

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[The-J]

Hey guys -

Not a bad thread going here, a bit of a flame war in the middle but that's to be expected on public forums.

I think there is a little bit of misinformation in this thread also but over all it is on track.

My wife and I have been through the Kiyosaki sales funnel up to and including purchasing and attending several classes and going to the 2009 Annual Forum in Orlando.

The seminar presented in the video was a great "bad" example so I can see why it was featured. It was really not too different from what we went through. The presenter in the video was more of a jerk, but it is what it is: a sales funnel.

Initial hook: Free 1 day seminar. Go to a hotel room in a nearby city. Listen to someone talk about real estate for a couple hours. Gift: a book or CD. Upsell: three day seminar for $500.

Three day seminar: a lot of hard sell, a lot of impressive numbers, and an upsell for the $12K-$45K "packages" of classes as mentioned in the video.

Once you buy the classes there are no more upsells. Each class is tailored to a specific topic and the ones we attended were more or less informative and useful.

Those of us who went through these classes jokingly referred to the 3 day seminar as "Credit Card U."

What they showed in the video was accurate where they tell you to increase your credit card limit. The 3 day that we attended was a little bit different. The 2nd day is where they tell you to increase your limit for a "significant purchase" where in the video they were using the pretense that you need the credit card for legitimate real estate expenses. The evening of the 2nd day is where they revealed to us the pricing and sent us home with order forms so we could pick the classes we wanted.

Even though the guy in the video was a jerk, you have to give him points for revealing the upsell on Day 1. Anything after that no one can claim they didn't know what they were in for.

They also have a money back guarantee in these seminars. As long as you request a refund by the evening of the first day they will refund you. We noticed a trend that even in the advanced classes most of the "meat" information was held back until day 2. In reference to the people who were in a 3 day seminar with a jerk who told them on day 1 they were in for a $12k - $45K upsell - what did they expect day 2 and day 3 would be like?!

In retrospect we don't regret taking the classes. We learned a lot, met some good people, and gained "high pressure sales" seminar experience.

Unfortunately, most people who attend the Rich Dad 3 day seminar will never see this thread until its too late.

James Hagarty
Dover, DE USA

This is pretty random, but you're from my hometown! That's very strange.

Anyway, I would never go to a RK seminar. Not all seminars are a waste of money, but it's not that hard to see which ones are. The way I see it is if a seminar requires a 4 day process of upsells, then it is probably not worth the huge amount of money that is spent.

The best seminars I went to, I went to for extremely low cost. I entered a business plan contest recently ($75,000 grand prize) and I got to hear multiple people speak; successful entrepreneurs, marketing and economics professors, founders and CEOs. There was a boot camp situation (9a-2p) and a couple of presentations afterward. The contest cost $75 to enter. Trick is, you have to be affiliated with my university ($53,000/year ) to enter. So $75 taught me how to not only write a business plan but to analyze one.

The only problem was that the professors who spoke thought the business plan was the end-all-be-all of business, but the entrepreneurs thought business plans were stupid. In fact, one of the speakers directly said that the business plan competition was a waste of time. I kind of agree with him; but all those seminars and presentations for $75? I think that's worth it in itself.

 

[luminus]

I appreciate this thread as someone just emailed me a link to the Rich Dad blog literally this morning and now I have something to respond with!

 

[NNR]

That's why you learn from what people do and not what people say...This guy makes a lot of money lol.

 

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[Determined2012]

Is the Tony Robbins Fire Walk worth attending? I have been planning to go to one. Its expensive though...

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So I was thinking about this today.

What successful entrepreneur would legitimately sit in a call center all day and be a "coach" for struggling entrepreneurs? If someone thinks that any successful entrepreneur wants to sit all day in a cubicle call center and coach seminar participants as their end game, they need their head re-examined. I bring this up because these expensive seminar gigs always include some stupid "free coaching" via live telephone.

Really?

Who do you think is behind the telephone?

A seasoned entrepreneur who just by chance, has nothing better going on? Or someone off the street who can upsell and read sales scripts?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Is the Tony Robbins Fire Walk worth attending?

I did this and found the experience very enlightening ... however, I was able to get in for FREE. Not sure how I would feel if I had to pay for it.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Or someone off the street who can upsell and read sales scripts?

I personally know for a fact that this ^ is the case.

 

[RHL]

This is just MLM for grown ups. In college, broke kids with no sense and an action-faker resume go for Vector or Organo Gold to make their money; some "rich" dude who makes a totally rad $7,000/month tells them he'll give them the secret formula to make millions without working hard if they just buy the $250 demo kit and sell out all their living relations.

20 years later, the same guys, who got tired of mediocre careers in law or engineering, go to $30,000 real estate seminars trying to get to that millions in passive income without working hard. It's the same old bullshit: Making someone who is already rich more rich in the hope that they'll sell you their magic formula to make millions in your pajamas.

Buying a trailer home in a park for $40,000 and renting it would be a way better investment than this.

 

[Guest3722A]

@MJ DeMarco or @AllenCrawley You're gonna like this one...and yes, I'm nuts, but, either this is a cell phone issue or something else, but from my cell, if I click on "forums" or when I finally get to forums and I try to select a thread to read, around 80% of the time it goes to the rich dad coaching site. lol help please??? this just started happening today

 

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[Daniel A]

What successful entrepreneur would legitimately sit in a call center all day and be a "coach" for struggling entrepreneurs?

I tried the RD coaching for a little bit but then got my money back. I went to a seminar too but I didn't go with the upsells. That was when I was 18 y/o. Everyone who was doing the coaching kept in contact via email too and we were all disappointed. I fell for a lot of BS from 18-19 y/o. I wish I could go back in time

There was a group of people who did go with the upsells though. At least one guy who was probably in his late 20s or early 30s went all the way with the most expensive package available for the "Stock Success" training, which was tens of thousands of dollars (I can't remember the exact price but I still have the papers and folder in a box I'm sure).

He was with his GF there who seemed quite and skeptical. So if he messed up and didn't at least earn his money back from what he learned, I bet he lost her...and maybe even his white Ford Mustang too to partially compensate the loss

The books I read written by Robert were good IMO, especially at the time.

http://dallas.bbb.org/article/bbb-u...ich-dad-education-seminars-with-caution-27427

 

[smarty]

generally (almost) all free tours or free seminars are pitches to upsell people to expensive programs, people should know this. But what surprised my here is how they make people first invest $500 just to put them in the game.
The link in the OP is down now but I found the videos here