I want to address something that will keep you on the guru treadmill, constantly wondering if the next sleazy salesman is "real" or not. Graham Stephan's vision of the paid course industry seems to be that it's a few bad apples that do a disservice to the real, "honest influencers". While I respect Graham's opinion, and think he's a genuine educator, I strongly disagree. It's 99% bad apples, 1% real experts. The place we disagree most is on what makes a fake guru. Graham Stephan thinks what makes an honest influencer is "long term value" but never defines what that value is. I guess a fake guru is the opposite of that?

I think this fails to consider the real problem with internet marketing: promises are given that aren't delivered upon. A better definition of a fake guru is "someone who doesn't deliver what they promised". Using this definition we find that the powerfully converting sales funnel we hear about REQUIRES you to make wild promises that can't be delivered upon.

The "winning formula" for turning cold leads into dollars is really quite simple: promise lots of money and require no skills. Which is a lie. You can promise skills, but promising lots of money is false advertising when what you're actually delivering is a skillset.

Not to mention, fake gurus outcompete real gurus every time, since exaggerated offers convert better than real offers (duh). Normally, the FTC cracks down on false advertising like this, but the internet has created a huge unregulated market, where regulation on this industry really doesn't exist right now. And underfunded as they (FTC) are, this industry is left sort of policing itself, which is a scary position to be in.

The reality is, no one wants to be the bad guy who starts beef with other people, so we just find people staying silent and these fake gurus continue their scam without accountability.

Which is why I'm making this video: only when then one true vision of fake gurus reigns supreme can we clean up this industry.

Graham's channel:    / @grahamstephan  
Graham's original fake guru video:    • Exposing "Fake YouTube Gurus" and the...