How An Internet Marketing Bad Guru Made Me Confess

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How An Internet Marketing Bad Guru Made Me Confess

By TheAntiHype | February 1, 2008

Hi, I don't remember seeing you here before. If you're new here, welcome. If you despise the hype on the net as much as me & like a laugh, keep up to date with my latest posts by subscribing to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! The Anti Hype

This is very hard for me to write.

It’s almost like admitting I’m an idiot.

How and why did I do it?

I’ll keep it quiet - nobody needs to know.

What a waste of money.

I’m never going to make this work.

What do I do now?

Enough preamble - I’m going to do it, as much for myself as for you. I read somewhere that the best way is to open up and let it out. That’s hard for me. Like most guys admitting to failure or not knowing is nearly impossible. That’s why we don’t ask for directions!

I was taken for a mug. Yes, I have been Guru Fodder. Yes, you read that right, The Anti Hype, has been taken in and used by one of those self-proclaimed big shots and I’m still mad.

It’s time to let it out and move on. You may well have been there too.

Over the past few weeks I’ve introduced you to some new terms:

Guru Fodder & The Anti Hype and today there is another - Bad Gurus.

Now I have to straighten something right off - I’m not saying Gurus are bad. I’m simply saying there are some Gurus who are bad and from now on they’ll be referred to as Bad Gurus. (I’m not sure yet whether the good guys will be called Good Gurus - a bit too obvious so we’ll come back to that in the future).

So today I’m talking about Bad Gurus

So here’s the story.

Nearly 2 years ago, before I really knew anything about internet marketing I found myself dreaming of the riches a business on the internet would bring. I knew a fair amount about business (real world stuff) and a lot about sales but very litle about how it all fits together on the web.

The biggest problem was that I was not aware of what I didn’t know. I didn’t know what to look for, I didn’t know who were the guys to look up to and to follow.

I did what most people would do - put a few words in a search engine and followed the links.

It started well, I stumbled on Ken Evoy of Sitesell and downloaded his excellent free course about building a business on the web. I read it, learnt much but did nothing much with it. I eventually set up a SiteSell site but my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t like the SiteSell concept or the look of the pre-configured sites BUT I knew nothing about HTML to build my own.

Some time passed and I found some enthusiasm to start thinking about an online business again and I came across one of those awful (I know now) free websites where everything is done for you. You get a pre-configured site, it’s all set up for you, they guarantee traffic, all you need to do is collect the money.

Oh, yes, did I say it’s free?

Apart from the hosting that is - which turns out to be rubbish.

Oh, and the traffic doesn’t arrive.

And with the hosting you have to give your contact details…

And this is where it turns nasty - the phone call

“We see you took advantage of our great free website offer and as a special offer to those committed to a life of luxury on line we are taking a handful of selected individuals to personally mentor, for as lomng as it takes, until you have a successful online business”

“All I need to do is ask a few questions and if you qualify I’ll arrange for my manager to call you back and ensure you are the type of person we are looking for”

Warning bells were ringing but my dream was still there and here was the solution. Someone who would show me exactly what I needed to do to be successful online.

“We’ll agree the market you should be in, we’ll set up the website for you, talk you through exactly what you need to do to get a high search engine ranking and work wit you for as long as it takes until you succeed. We’ll take care of all of the technical issues while you learn the marketing side. It’s a win-win. We’ll do this for you for a very low cost provided you give us a testimonial at the end with an agreement we can use it and your highly successful site as a case study”

What could go wrong? They had a vested interest in my success, they’d want me to be successful so they could tell everyone else - wouldn’t they? This was their brand new flagship mentoring program after all. And I’d been selected!

If Only I’d Known Then What I Know Now

It was all bull. Sure they did the training as promised, sure they’d be around if I needed anything - all I needed to do was ask the questions (if I only knew what they were!). But as for the technical stuff…

“No, you must have misunderstood. We give you an assignment each week, you do the work, we review how you got on - that’s how we keep you on track. We don’t build the website - that would mean you don’t get to know how to go out and do it all again on your own next time”

OK, so I taught myself how to build a website during that time - so I did get some value by the fact I had to do it. But that wasn’t what I agreed to.

The advice (I use the term loosley) they provided could have been found anywhere on the internet for free. The coaching was scripted - I could have read it out. Was there any refund? “No, we’ve done what we promised”, said the mentor.

I was left with a amateur website, minimal traffic, frustrated at them, at myself, disillusioned, financially poorer but at least I had their promise that all I had to do was call with my questions…

Oh, yes, one more thing, as soon as I signed up, I was passed on to my “personal mentor” and the guys who peddled the service could no longer be contacted, no returned calls or emails. No doubt too busy looking for Guru Fodder!

Many people would give up at this stage, disillusioned, no more money available, dreams shattered.

These guys simply prey on others. They shatter dreams, they steal our money. They have no remorse - they do not care about anyone but themselves.

In Us & Them, there’s the line - “the General he sat and the lines on the map moved from side to side”. I’ve heard military predict serious loss of life as though they were talking about bits of wood. To them people are just pawns in their big game. There’s no personalities, no broken hearts, no grieving children or widows - not to those guys. There are guys in business who are just the same. DO NOT GET CAUGHT OUT BY THEM.

For me I decided to take on the challenge. I’d find a way to prove to myself I didn’t need these guys. I’d prove to myself I could do it and I wouldn’t let them take my dream away. Not everyone has my resolve & for those I feel truly sorry.

Don’t let these Bad Gurus steal your dreams.

Was that the last time I got taken in by the Gurus?

You’ll have to tune in for the next episode of Guru Fodder

Until then “don’t get taken in”

The Anti Hype

P.S. If you liked this post please download a pdf of it and share it around - the less Guru Fodder there is the thinner the Bad Gurus will get!