'Fake (business) guru and contrepreneur,' are words recently added to my vocabulary. I got to know those terms through YouTube activists who spent time and effort to expose certain individuals who amass a significant amount of money by selling expensive, but good-for-nothing, online courses.
In
previous posts, I talked about what bothers me and the devastating
consequences such courses may have on our youngsters. Consequences
that largely supersede monetary loss.
The word 'scam' and
'conman' are often used with these programs. But we have to be a
little careful. Since English is my fourth language, I am in no
position to zoom in and discuss the exact grammatical terms that
apply. So let's call it 'my two cents' on the matter.
In my
opinion, a scam would occur when a person was to opt-in and pay for
an online program, and nothing would happen. There is no course,
there is no handbook, no mastermind, no inner circle. The money is
gone, and after a while, the guru and his website disappear. Such a
scam bears a conman's signature.
What we have here is more
subtle. People that took the course testify that you opt-in, and you
do indeed get videos, classes, and whatnot. The quantity, the volume
of what you get, is in line with what was advertised.
The
problem, however, is the quality of the content and the practical
implementation of what you learn. Testimonials show that the course
gets you nowhere. It circles around the topic, talks about mindset,
the most appropriate diet, what-I-eat-in-a-day. It tells you to get
up at 3:30 AM and do your workout.
(The
same goes for a lot of 'How to...' free videos on YouTube, they do
not get to the bottom line, and you do not learn what you came for).
I call this 'Filler' content, an ingredient to 'thicken the soup.'
And here is the kicker; by delivering quantity, thick soup, it will be harder to sue or attack the guru, because they provided a course. The sheer amount of information makes it somewhat debatable whether the program is a scam or not.A conman is going to be stopped sooner or later. A fake business guru, most likely, not. And that is why those gurus are more challenging to weed out than conmen-scams.
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10 about the author; Erik Victor
1.
is a serial entrepreneur and started his career in Engineering
2.
currently a majority shareholder in corporations in the fields of
Industrial Real Estate, Wealth Management & Investment funds, and
International Tax Planning
3. has a passion for the dynamics of
young businesses and actively endorses several start-ups
4. is an
engaged member of several think-tanks and an international conference
speaker
5. has a business footprint in six countries
6. speaks
five languages
7. personal life - resides in Europe
8. Erik
(48) is known as a discrete and private person, a family man
9.
loves to spend his limited holidays in the mountains or at sea on his
yacht
10. Erik has no social media accounts
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