8 ms·
The influencers getting rich by teaching you how to get rich
- reiichiroh 4y agoThese are fake gurus
- User23 4y agoReminds me of the investing classic Where Are the Customer’s Yachts?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- spaceman_2020 4y agoI remember watching a real estate Youtuber break down his $1M+ income. The video was titled something like “How I make $1M with real estate”. In the video, he revealed that he actually made $95kish from real estate. Made 900k from YouTube and sponsored posts. Pretty much true for most “investment” channels
- faeriechangling 4y agoI respect the transparency and 95k is more than most of these guys are making from real estate.
- brewdad 4y agoI was half expecting to hear he was making $1MM in revenues with $950k in real estate expenses. “You too can ‘make’ a million per year”
- spoonjim 4y agoI feel like the opening anecdote is a swing and a miss. Miss Excel doesn't teach people how to get rich, she teaches people how to use Excel. I can't say whether it's good or bad content but it's not get-rich-quick hustle spam.
- AraceliHarker 4y agoShe tries to get people to subscribe to expensive seminars by touting that "mastering Excel will make you rich".
- spoonjim 4y agoAutomatically? Many high paying jobs that aren't software engineering do in fact require decent competence in Excel.
- boeingUH60 4y ago“Those who do, do. Those who can’t, teach”. You want to learn about business? Pick up the biographies of successful businesspeople. Even then, beware of survivorship bias. Note that these successful people will never write a book titled “how to be like me” but instead just write books narrating their stories and allow you to choose what to learn from it. To add, I think there’s just something about people wanting the easy path that causes them to fall for these grifts.
- kirso 4y agoThis is BS. Feynman taught. He taught because he wanted to understand better. The difference is that there are clowns who teach to maximise the youtube algo and there are real teachers who do it to actually make a difference or selfishly learn themselves.
- zwieback 4y ago.. and those who can't teach teach teaching
- etothepii 4y agoI always thought they taught PE.
- giantg2 4y agoI kind of doubt those biographies are very useful. I'm sure they're interesting. Even stuff written for the purpose of helping other become successful has been heavily edited, like How to Win Friends and Influence People.
- jvb1000 4y agoI hate this adage. I've taught, a lot. At universities, in high school, and to adults. The idea that people who can't do can teach is not remotely true. Most people can't teach effectively. If you can't do something you also probably can't teach.
- cal85 4y ago
- paxys 4y agoThis is a profession as old as time. "Get rich quick" books and seminars, MLM schemes, the entire "hustle" culture in general. Remember the most profitable venture during the gold rush wasn't digging in mines but opening inns and selling shovels. If there is a true secret to building wealth then people who know it aren't going to go around telling everybody for $50/mo.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- boeingUH60 4y ago“How to make money from crypto/NFT/AI/[insert current thing here]…buy my online course!”
- __derek__ 4y agoIn your analogy, the folks selling these courses are probably more like the people selling claims to gold-less plots. Maybe some gold-finding sticks, too.
- galacticaactual 4y agoThis is a long standing internet grift. Not sure why it's HN worthy.
- catchnear4321 4y agoOlder than the internet. Not worthy, but society is having a conversation about what to do with these types. Especially with how easy technology has made it to grift. That’s a little more on topic. So, maybe worthy. Pitchforks and torches for grifters with Porsches.
- giantg2 4y agoYes, and the people getting rich during the gold rush were the ones selling pans, shovels, and jeans. A tale as old as civilization.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y agoI don't think the article's title really matches up with some of the examples outlined in the article. That is, most of the time when I hear "influencer giving advice on getting rich", I think of it as total bullshit, and that type of advice ("Dropship on Amazon!!") is nearly universally BS. But I think it's fine, and actually great, to get real technical advice and classes online. I mean, I haven't seen what advice she gives, but the whole intro about "Miss Excel" doesn't seem like she's "teaching you how to get rich", she's just showing the ins-and-outs of Excel, and some features that may be unfamiliar to some folks, in a fun and engaging way. Heck, those are the types of "1 person company" stories that I think should make it to the top of HN! As another example, one time I was between jobs and I got really into baking, so I paid for some online baking tutorials by https://www.kseniapenkina.com/ https://www.kseniapenkina.com/ , who specializes in a type of glazed "mirror cake". The tutorials were worth every penny and I had a ton of fun making my pastries.
- boeingUH60 4y agoYeah, that one was odd. Someone teaching people how to use Excel (a useful skill in the workplace) shouldn't be lumped with get-rich-quick grifters.
- brewdad 4y agoI guess it depends on how much depth you get in each $50 course. The classic MLM book scheme involves spoon feeding one nugget worth 5 minutes explanation over each one of a dozen books or courses.
- PebblesRox 4y agoMy impression is that the article was contrasting the first couple profiles with the other ones. But I don't think it was very clear about that, and I felt bad for the people featured who do seem more legitimate, since they were lumped in with the rest.
- for_i_in_range 4y ago> find your target market, “start with why,” and build your “click funnel.” (“Click funnel” is a term that comes up often in online marketing speak; the basic idea is turning your existing connections into paying customers by sending them increasingly irresistible emails.) This part is an error. In actuality, "click funnel" refers to the SaaS product called ClickFunnels (www.clickfunnels.com), pioneered by marketer Russell Brunson. Thanks to Brunson (and his books, Expert Secrets and DotCom Secrets), he's helped create a movement of people who aim to build their own info businesses (courses, 1-on-1 coaching, etc.). A "funnel" is not "sending them increasingly irresistible emails." It actually refers to upselling customers. A person purchases a product (like a book) at $9.95, then on the next page, you upsell them and offer them a $97 course, then a $197 course, then a $997 live course, etc.
- __derek__ 4y agoInteresting. That up-sell flow appears to be how the Financial Samurai blog works. Ditto Ramit Sethi, whose website/book appears to be the allusion for the article's title despite not being covered in the article.
- bdcravens 4y agoPerhaps they are conflating terms, but a "funnel" (sans "click") exists outside of Brunson's product, and are a well established sales technique. They aren't really an upselling technique, but are what you would imagine the word describes: large numbers (less qualified) in the top, small numbers (most qualified) in the bottom.
- boeingUH60 4y agoRandom related story: At my 2nd year of college, one of my buddies got into the dropshipping fad after watching courses on YouTube. He drop-hipped cheap bracelets from AliExpress and actually made profits...guess how? He advertised that he was donating 10% of its revenue to people affected by terrorist activities in my country (Nigeria)...turns out people fell for the marketing, and he did not donate one dime. He left college shortly after and now sells online courses on dropshipping and building businesses, LMAO
- AlexandrB 4y ago> He advertised that he was donating 10% of its revenue to people affected by terrorist activities in my country (Nigeria)...turns out people fell for the marketing, and he did not donate one dime. There's a fine line between "marketing" and lying, and this is plainly on the wrong side of it. In general though, I try to take any claims where "a portion of the proceeds" supposedly funds some charity with a huge grain of salt. It's difficult/impossible to tell how truthful the business is being about the amount donated.
- boeingUH60 4y ago> There's a fine line between "marketing" and lying, and this is plainly on the wrong side of it. Of course, I'm aware. I questioned him about it and he just shrugged it off like it was nothing...I'm no saint, but I found that pretty repulsive.
- jxramos 4y agoIt’s outright deceptive and fraudulent. He sounds like a deceptive individual is how it comes off to me.
- boeingUH60 4y agoWell, he started selling dropshipping courses..
- 4y ago
- BMc2020 4y ago"Where most small businesses have a hard time raising capital, GWB had it shot at him through a fire hose." (from memory) Molly Ivins on how GWB kept getting capital through many failed businesses.
- bdcravens 4y agoHardly a new phenomenon. Dave Ramsey is a perfect example.
- MilStdJunkie 4y ago"From these goddamn Mickelson Twins" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biYciU1uiUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biYciU1uiUw
- yazzku 4y ago"That nobody is talking about... that nobody has heard of before" How'd they talk about it if they haven't heard about it?
- TrackerFF 4y agoWhenever I see FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) influencers, almost without fail, the "hidden" story is that they: - Inherited money / property / etc. - Started to dabble in stock 5-10 years ago, right before / during the greatest bull-run so far - Work in tech / finance / law / general high-paying white collar job - Dual income, spouse in similar profession But the big talking points are of course how they like to make coffee home, and how you can save 2 bucks a day on doing that. Or how hustling 2-3 hours doing some menial online job will bring you extra 10-20 bucks a day, which adds up over 10-15 years. edit: Also, related to the article, I have noticed a considerable uptick of these "YOU NEED TO KNOW THESE 5 [insert some software] TRICKS" tidbits. Just 10 minutes ago I was scrolling Instagram and got a bunch of vids like that promoting excel tricks, chatgpt tricks, etc.
- alfalfasprout 4y ago^this. And also they soon realize you need a whole lot more money than you thought to retire early. Blind is riddled with these folks too.
- gonzo41 4y agoThe fire people also don't tell you that if you retire early you're existing standard of living will dip and then stay that way. So as long as you like hustling forever to get cheap deals you'll be fine, otherwise you'll be retired and poor and considering becoming unretired.
- _hypx 4y agoThis type of marketing has existed for a long time. The classic example being “learn to get rich by buying my $20 book” which is just a list of random advice.
- strikelaserclaw 4y agoi read Donald Trumps "how to get rich" when i was a kid in the early 2000's. What a worthless book. So yes, influencers will always exist, if there is any niche to make money, someone will always fill that hole.
- exogeny 4y agoSimple: never listen to influencers about anything. They are not your friends. They are paid to sell you things, and in almost all cases, with zero disclosure of that.
- meghan_rain 4y agoSimple as.
- AraceliHarker 4y agoEven so, algorithms such as YouTube will try to force us to see influencers' videos as popular. No matter how many times you press the Disinterest button for a particular video, or the Hide Channel button, similar videos are constantly shown to you.
- wink 4y agoSometimes I'm wondering where you draw the line between influencer, "youtube personality", and "person with quite a few followers" though. I mean, on a basic level the third category seems to not even live (or just supplement their income) from YT money, the middle category is not obviously selling something, just producing stuff people seem to like to watch...
- AlbertCory 4y ago$997 for information you can get for free, in approximately a bazillion places on the web? I wouldn't call Kat Norton a scammer. If you can figure out how to package 35-year-old information in a way that people will pay money for it (and it's not incorrect), more power to you. Sooner or later, it will be corporatized, like everything else, so grab the money fast.
- nico 4y agoThis is as old as the guy from Rich Dad Poor Dad, who got rich by selling the book about how to become rich. And it’s what happens when the system doesn’t make sense. People are doing this because the system tells them the main goal of the game is to make money. Would people still work on these things if they couldn’t make money off of them? Or better yet, if they didn’t need any money at all in the first place?
- unmole 4y ago> Rich Dad Poor Dad The continuing popularity of that book baffles me. I've seen people recommending it even on HN.
- robocat 4y agoI’ll bite: that book really taught me the importance of passive income. Now passive income is a fundamental idea with better materials covering the topic. However for me, and perhaps others, it was an eye-opener when it came out. That lead to really believing in SaaS early on, which lead to good financial outcomes for me years later. It’s like saying Lord of the Rings is just yet another book series about elves and orcs and ents.
- unmole 4y ago> Now passive income is a fundamental idea with better materials covering the topic. Is my point. When the book is mostly terrible and the author is a charlatan, why continue to recommend the book instead of alternatives?
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago> Would people still work on these things if they couldn’t make money off of them? Or better yet, if they didn’t any money at all in the first place? The acid test, indeed. "too many hands in too many pockets, not enough hands on hearts"
- robterrell 4y ago
- dagorenouf 4y agoI’m bootstrapping a startup and in parallel also released a course 6 months ago (unrelated to startups or making money, FYI). After 4 months, the course had made more profits than the startup in 3 years. It has also taken less time to build (5months total to plan, record and edit) I was both happy and sad when that happened, because as much as making money by teaching others is gratifying, my dream is to build and grow product startups. However it taught me two valuable lessons about why people buy things: - contrary to an online SaaS tool, a course is something you can buy anytime and then consume whenever you want in the future, with no expiration date. so if you see a good offer or love the product at first sight, there is no need to wait and postpone the purchase decision. This increases conversions + makes limited promotional offers more effective - Seems weird but simply owning a course is enough to bring people significant value, that’s why most of them don’t even bother to watch it. It gives them an “insurance” that they have the knowledge handy whenever they need it. It’s perceived as an investment that will come in handy someday. This also drives purchases. I considered becoming a full-time course creator, because it’s easier than building a startup, but my heart isn’t in it. So instead I’m trying to apply the lessons learned to my startup: - how can I offer a product people can purchase anytime and use whenever they want? - can I make my product valuable to own, and not just valuable to use? I think doing both could significantly improve conversions.
- drdec 4y agoWhere/how are you selling your course? Is this strictly a DYI thing or are you utilizing some kind of framework?
- dagorenouf 4y agoI put it on gumroad and sell it as a digital download. 100% DYI. The sales come mostly from my social media audience.
- tamasnet 4y agoHow long were you building your audience before releasing the course? (I ask this with respect, building an audience is hard.)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- black_13 4y ago[dead]
- r00fus 4y agoMy kids and I play a game - we look at YT videos and talk about how this person really makes money. It's fun "defense against dark arts" by critically examining any proposal they see.
- meghan_rain 4y agoVery cool!
- every 4y agoIf you're so rich and successful, why are you busking online?
- defrost 4y agoasked random passerby of Jack Conte . . .
- holoduke 4y agoI dont understand why people are even interested in these fools. On how they want to share their vision on how to get rich, independent and other crap. I also think its a big fundamental flaw in our society. People should be interested in people who can actually do something useful for society. Follow those people amd see them as an example. 10 times more guaranteed success. And you feel a lot happier then all these jealously infected people.
- ldoughty 4y agoEveryone* wants to improve their financial situation... A smaller group are able to see that the get rich scheme itself is someone executing someone else's get rich scheme. That's why people listen to these people. *= Some people are happy where they are but that's a VERY small percentage
- unmole 4y ago> why people are even interested in these fools The influencer is able to grift money out of the audience. The audience is made up bigger fools.
- RGamma 4y agoUnderstanding behavior of other people (measured against my own mind's sensibilities) is the single greatest mystery I'm still grappling with since the introduction of the smartphone (when the ~99% entered the server and social media really took off). Made me realize that a good chunk will part with their money for practically anything. Tbh in recent days I'm more and more considering to forget my personal ethics for a while and try to collect some dumb money as well.
- h4ch1 4y agoCoffeeZilla does a great breakdown on these internet gurus and general scammers online and has been a great watch; His take on Tai Lopez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikuf02o6wJ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikuf02o6wJ0
- AraceliHarker 4y agoInfluencers are always keen to flaunt their wealth, but their actions are rather stingy. For instance, they produce a lot of videos that barely reach the minimum length of 10 minutes to insert mid-roll ads on YouTube.