Someone online is always selling a book or a course with strategies on “how to make [a lot of] money.” All this talk about making $10,000 per month or whatever big number per month. That’s all well and fine, but the reality is people don’t want to keep being upsold on the next big thing and told to join webinar after webinar. Those are income streams for the individual who promotes those sorts of things, but it’s not going to instill in someone the intrinsic motivation and drive necessary to succeed in business. The fact is everyone isn’t an entrepreneur. Everyone won’t be a CEO or their own boss.
Someone online making promises to people who buy their products that they will end up on a beach somewhere on a laptop making a boatload of residual income is a claptrap. Building a brand or running an actual business or both is not for everyone. This “get you a LLC” BS posted all over the internet is just that… BS.
Going forward, if someone claims to be some big-time CEO, the great Jay-Z quote needs to enter the chat, “we don’t believe you, you need more people.” If someone is really a CEO and cakin up like that, they should be able to prove it. We need to see their track record of success and their networth (*if they’re willing to divulge that info). We need proof.
Too many people are out here selling something and they’re cutting corners with their branding. Cutting corners with their graphics and visuals. Apps with ready-made graphics, but low quality. Things haphazardly thrown together on graphics (flyers, ads, etc.) with little to no regard for typography, imagery, color, etc. The graphics are grainy; real stretched and cheesy-looking. At the end of the day, visuals matter. People are visual and make judgements based on what they see. Lack of quality graphics and brand alignment is one of the mistakes people online are making. It brings down the value of the business. Not having a website and continuously sending people to a social media page with purchased followers isn’t helping either. “Fake it ‘til you make it” is cancerous and it needs to stop. This isn’t simply my opinion or up for debate really. The data is out there and accessible on Google and every other search engine. Don’t believe me. Believe the data.
I’m not perfect. I’ve tried many different things and made mistakes along the way. I’ve never had a “fake it ‘til you make it” mindset or methodology, but I’ve tried some of the methods associated with that mentality. You just end up playing yourself and ultimately it doesn’t work. Just being transparent. People aren’t stupid and real recognizes real. At some point, the house of cards comes falling down.
People who are serious and really trying to build something are ready and willing to lay bricks. They’re ready to lay the bricks necessary to build the foundation to their business. They’re ready to properly invest. Not just a financial investment, but a time and energy investment. It’d be wishful thinking to hope that one day people will knock it off with the superficial and haphazardness of establishing their brand and business online (and offline), but unfortunately with the advent of cut-and-paste methods and AI, it won’t stop.
If some online guru or entrepreneur/business owner is really about macromanagement… leaders building leaders… they wouldn’t keep misleading people with continual sales that just line their own pockets but not actually doing anything for the buyer(s). An endless treadmill of chasing superficial success. They would actually have a business that is for an audience receptive and willing to put in the work to build their own business. The person who is receptive and willing to put in the work wouldn’t continuously put out unappetizing visuals. That’s if they care enough enough about their reputation and not bringing down their value.
You can either be a leader or a follower. The followers will just continue to jump from one trend to another. One app to another. One hustle to another. One fake-it-til-you-make-it scheme to another. The leaders will put the time, energy, effort and money in. They won’t make excuses. They will take their business serious. They will do the research. They will find ways to get the right amount of money needed to invest. They will know not to undermine the work of the professionals they need to help them build. They will know that they’re running a marathon and not a sprint.
