Volume 6 Number 6   |   June 2016

The Con Men

There are offers everywhere (you probably see many of them) promoting all forms of online promotional activity. They feature "platforms" where your intellectual property is presented over the course of dozens of modules and people subscribe to improve their consulting, coaching, esteem, sales skills, or general good looks.

These are basically "talking heads" with some animation and graphics thrown in, some self-testing, but nothing hugely ingenious. You are supposed to invest from $40,000 to $65,000 in these "opportunities" AND pay the provider another fee in terms of percent of sales.

This is a rip-off. Those who claim the approaches made them "millions" are either shills for the company or ashamed to admit they just dumped $50,000 down the sewer. Many endorsers make money for bringing you on board (not unlike multi-level marketing, another unethical practice creating no value).

But Wait, There's More

There are also what I call the "progressive buy-in sharpsters" who provide free videos for a few sessions, then ask that you sign up for future ones, host a conference, sell products, and so on. And what are they teaching you in these series? They may claim it's anything you need, but it's really the notion and ability to run these yourself.

You're likely to hear claims that they make $250,000 on a single launch, and many claim to make millions every time they launch a new series of videos. What you never hear them talk about is the value they're producing or creating in the environment. Because that's nil.

Value should improve people, but not at the expense of others.

How Is This About Mindset?

A million dollar, abundant mindset is about creating an improved life and business for our clients. It's not about us making quick money by teaching others to make quick money. Some people I've had trouble coaching in the past had to be weaned away from what I called a "turnstile philosophy." That means they were originally solely interested in how many people came through the turnstiles and paid a few bucks.

Value based fees start with the word "value." It's not called "fee based value." The more you create true improvement in others that can be sustained, the more you'll eventually profit from it. As George Merck, the founder of Merck Pharmaceuticals (and my largest historical client) in the U.S. said,

"Do good, and good will follow."

© Alan Weiss 2016