Fake Gurus: Welcome to the Online Business Guru Grifter Industrial Complex
I’ll be your guide
If you have not seen an advertisement for gurus selling business courses online, you have probably seen the memes. In 2015, Tai Lopez, the “here in my garage….” guy, was so prevalent as a YouTube pre-roll ad that Funny Or Die made three parody videos of his commercials.
Lopez has a TEDx talk explaining how he reads a book a day. What he fails to mention is his definition of reading includes perusing the book’s summary, or having “someone else read it for you.” Lopez also sells training courses, across a wide range of subjects of expertise, from how to run a social media agency and e-commerce to credit repair and real estate investing. I see dozens of similar business gurus promoting courses, usually pointing out their TEDx talks, “bestselling” books, or speeches at the so-called Harvard Faculty Club.
Some course-selling gurus are bringing in millions of dollars, pushing the dream of being “financially free” and finding love and happiness. Besides the over the top ads, these fake gurus paradoxically amass wealth primarily (or exclusively) by selling courses “teaching” others how to become rich.
Training courses often focus on soft ideas like “consulting” or “being free,” offering remixed concepts from religious…
