The more questionable kind of creator. ## Why do we fall for them - Preying on insecurities - Solved through toxic productivity and optimism, not letting people feel negative emotions - This lets them sell more ## Why are they bad - The money is only coming from people wanting to join in on the same dream, it's self-fulfilling - If they were truly successful in what they were teaching and wanted to do it for the greater good of humanity they could just show people how to do it without insane products or coaching pricing - The coach has the protection of a "higher-power", one that has no responsibility or [[Skin in the game]] when expectations are not met - Interesting perspective - initial products are intentionally bad so they weed out competent people, leaving only suckers [^1] ## Types - [[Fraud]] ## Examples - Coaches coaching coaches how to coach coaches - Coach at https://www.coachgrowthhub.com/free-membership-training - You are offering pre-made products and roadmaps - One of the testimonials has an almost exact landing page - https://thecoursecreatorssociety.com/join1649217295252 - What are you providing to the world? The only argument here is motivation? awareness? - People's personal stories https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/pdf9ba/online_coaching/ - No originality - Life coaching is the intersection between motivational speaking and MLM - The main thing people are selling is dreams - It is all the same thing - how much of entrepreneurial life is just repackaging of 4 hour work week lol - putting disclaimera before products is not fraudulent but is still being a rip off ### Criticisms - [Funny comment chain](https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/123bzca/comment/jduh9yl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) - Ironic commentary on it https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTsSi3AJ7CPi0v8lghhRR3g/join ## The truth - Most information is technically available. [[You do not need to pay for courses]]. - A more [[Give the solution, sell the implementation]] - The people with actually unique solutions will not share it because their income does not come from selling it to new people - if your niche is not about making money, you will probably not need to talk about making money - Common niches with a priority on making an income are most prone to these coaches - Non-MLM people are found in IndieHackers and more mission-driven communities, and are people who do not have to rely on their clients or customers from following a similar model. They are genuinely teaching people what their skill is, not whatever dreams they are trying to promote. - Miss Excel - https://twitter.com/BrettFromDJ ## Application - Always view things with [[Skepticism]] How can you prevent this and be an actual coach? - Proper positioning - The main thing that makes something a scam is if you can't deliver on what was promised - Do not show off only a fraction of successful stories - Be a coach that teaches things beyond your ability to coach people - Alex Hormozi approach, not here to sell anything - Clarify what they want, assess if you can actually provide it, then charge - If your service is results-based, there should be some client screening to make sure they are actually committed - Disqualify people if they are not qualified. Don't try to sell to everyone. - Monetization - Should be voluntary - ANY results should be achieved or should be objectively seen - Products - Don't be hyping up a similar course every week, keep building on the products you already have - No future claims on post-completion beyond what is taught in the course https://youtu.be/QWhGHxrK9w8?si=Z-ESP2TupfZB34qv Avoid [[Sales dark practices]] Do not be a [[Capitalist Creator]] For a government-regulated guideline, see https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/when-business-offer-or-coaching-program-scam # References [^1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/az0aie/comment/ei4p8oi/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button