The more we advance, the bigger dark matter gets; things are not simply black and white like they seemed before, rather the grey matter is more evident. Your vision is blurred and you cannot see the truth behind anything. And this happens especially in the case of online courses.
You think that I am joking, but let me be very clear to you, I am not. Do you remember, on 3rd September 2015, Tai Lopez released his infamous video “Here in my garage” YouTube ad? And this single ad has millions of views. But eventually, people started making memes of this ad, and it created a wave that gave birth to the term “Fake Gurus”.
These “Fake Gurus” are masterminds. They brilliantly sell their courses or programs to you in such a subtle way that you cannot even fathom that you are unknowingly stepping into their trap. They actually understand the human mind very well and chose their topics selectively. They promise big, positive things like “financial freedom”, a “laptop lifestyle”, or the possibility to “travel around the world”, and their audience is easily hooked.
Mostly, these online courses are eye-candy designed to make piles of money. Everything is a façade, be it sales, real estate, or the idea of starting from scratch and making millions of dollars. It is all a well-developed strategy to keep the audience hooked. And we easily fall into their trap because they have analyzed the human mind, and tracked down and targeted our insecurities. But it is a rapidly growing industry, and certainly a good way of earning; at least you are not harming anybody to earn money.
Today, I am going to talk about fake gurus, especially the tactics that they employ. Don’t you want to know these magnetic techniques with which you can also make millions from offering online courses like them? Obviously, you do. Who doesn’t want to know about secrets?! In this article, I will break down the business model of how to make millions from online courses using the methods that these fake gurus use.
Get ready to see the exposure of the dark truth behind this rapidly growing industry. And I promise this article is going to be a lot more interesting and will keep you hooked while I unfold the methods so you can find out how you were fooled that very first day.
It sounds exciting, right? So without wasting more time, let’s get started. Stay with me till the end to know the entire strategy. Here we go…
Step 1 – Pick Your Niche Wisely
Choosing the topic on which you want to make your content is the most vital. It can be anything, meaning anything ranging from a ‘success mantra’ to ‘earning piles of money starting from scratch’ to ‘real estate’ to ‘earning a handsome amount of money working from home’ or anything. But you need to be very careful with that.
You first need to find out what people crave and what their insecurities are. Find out the sensitive info and bang! Hit on those areas hard. People only search for those things of which they dream and want to obtain more easily for their life but cannot. You just need to pick from those areas and reflect.
First, understand your target people and analyze them with some time and then go for any topic. It would be wise not to pick any random topic to just follow a trend. Your understanding and your target consumers’ connection to the topic are both pivotal to selecting your niche and the topic as well.
For your better understanding, I put some examples of the most common niches that are offered by a few well-known gurus. You can select from here and certainly go beyond them. Just keep in mind: be creative and be well-connected to your target audience. And the examples are as follows:
Kevin David – Amazon FBA, Dropshipping
Dan Lok – Sales
John Crestani – Affiliate Marketing
Iman Gadzhi – Digital Marketing Agency (otherwise called an SMMA – a term popularized by Tai Lopez)
Sam Ovens – Consulting
Samuel Leeds – Real Estate Investing
Step 2 – Your Expertise
It is good to choose some off-beat topics. But you need to keep in mind that you need to be comfortable in that area. Make sure that you create your course on only those niches in which you, preferably, have some prior experience. Don’t just go for random or too many uncommon topics.
In most cases, the ideal and the popular route is to pick up a niche and start a business in that niche; and gain at least a little success in it. Only then can you create your own online course because after all, we know that’s where the real money is made.
But if you find a niche very interesting and you understand that your target audience will really be hooked by it, but you don’t have any expertise or experience in it, do not worry there is always a way out. In that case, you can always hire an outside expert to give you a helping hand.
To be very honest, the course isn’t what matters the most here. What matters the most is your online marketing for the course. So after choosing your topic, the most important part is to expand your content and develop it well.
Step 3 - Market Your Course
In this 21st century, marketing and popularity are the two most important things that matter the most for any business model. If you don’t market your online course well, no matter how good your content is or how much labor you put in to build it, you will not gain money from it.
So, for marketing, follow some strategies of digital marketing or online marketing, or social media marketing. In fact, social media is very helpful at this time. You can always start by running some advertisements for your online course on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or anywhere you feel comfortable with. This is kind of selling targets your dream consumer.
Now, it is always wise to attach your personal emotions or experience to it as your audience will feel connected to you as a result. Do it according to your niche. You can say that you were also a failure before, but after starting your course or business, you began to grow bigger and started to earn quite effectively, and now you are able to fulfill your dreams like traveling around the world or having a comfortable laptop lifestyle or enjoying a tension-free life or anything that will allure them to you and to your course.
Here comes the deceiving part. Now, you tell them to join your free online training, but your ultimate aim is not to teach them anything but to stir them up into asking more questions. You understand what I mean, right? Continuously make them think of their dreams, repeatedly remind them of your background or your struggle period, and this will create an urge in them.
Now, this is the crucial part for you. Create a feeling of exclusiveness for your audience so well that they become mesmerized by your ideas or course, and they start to feel the urgency and necessity to purchase your highly-priced course immediately. And this is the masterstroke for you.
Step 4 – Profit
We are all here to do some business and make a profit, right? When your marketing strategy is right, and if it works well for you, you will obviously turn the wheel of fortune in your favor, which means you will make a profit.
But why should you stop here? Don’t you want to earn or profit more or progress yourself? Certainly, we all want to prosper in life. The real way to make millions from online courses is to create an entire ladder of products; at first sell the products for $200 USD, then $300 USD, then $400 USD, and this is how you gradually increase them. If you want to raise the sale of your courses, you need to be a magnet. Never lose your audience; keep them hooked to your products.
Though it might sound unethical or a bit bitter, the fact is, you never tell them the truth, the actual reason you became rich that it is – the products that you sell them that you are growing day by day, and not from any of your dropshipping or Amazon FBA business.
These are the steps that you need to follow, though not blindly, to get to the ladder of success with your online course. If this seems to you morally wrong or unethical, which business isn’t? The sales and marketing industry is built on making fools of people. Ultimately, we all do that in some way. Nothing is transparent in life, at least any business isn’t.
But The Question Is, Are The Online Courses Worth It?
See, for me, as I have analyzed and understood the market, the online courses are magnificent, and this industry is ever-growing. Many courses have helped me in various issues from trivial to major. But the fact is that these have never promised me ‘financial freedom’ or ‘a laptop lifestyle’ or anything flattering like that, and also they were not costly.
From a consumer’s point of view, I must say, you need to be very careful and use your head before opening up your pockets for any of these courses. My advice is: do not go after their smooth words or do not fall for their struggle stories, no matter how magnetic they are.
Conclusion
The moment you sense that these fake gurus are playing off of your dreams, or exploiting your emotions, say a big NO. It is your money and you need to choose wisely where you want to invest it. Most importantly, we all know that Karma hits back hard. So being too unethical or building an empire by taking advantages of people does not last a long time. But your security and sincerity are at your own hand. Put your brain and a little extra effort into differentiating between the fake and the real opportunities that might be really helpful for you.
I hope you liked the article. Do not forget to mention if you have gone through such a similar situation.
Thank you for staying with me till the end. Till then, stay connected and we will meet soon.
