The Dangers behind the 6-Figure Online Business Coaches
Have you also been hypnotised by the allure of their promises?
If you have spent a few seconds on social media in the past years, you MUST have stumbled upon an ad that goes something like:
“I reached a 6-figure income in just one year — and I will teach you how you can do it too.”
or
“Are you tired of living your regular 9 to 5? I’ll show you how to go from Zero to $10K in 30 days with your own hustle.”
or
“How to Build Your 6-Figure Coaching Business in 1 Month”
It basically always goes along the line of how the person has made a ton of money, usually using a 6-figure (in some cases even 7-figure) income as benchmark, in a short period of time, and on top of that apparently without investing any considerable effort.
Typical buzzwords include, “make money through your passions and while you sleep, crush your competition, charge your worth, get out of the 9-to-5 rut, hit 6-figures in one year, work only 15 hours a week.”
You are intrigued so you click the link of the ad. You are then usually prompted to sign up for a “live” webinar (which is usually not really live, by the way), or are asked to provide your email address in exchange for a freebie. You then receive a series of emails, which usually ends in the promotion of an online course to teach you their exact way of making a 6-figure income in just one year, as you learn how to turn your dream into profitable business. These courses vary in price, from around $100 or less to $500 and the sky is the limit.
More often than not, they say that the real value of the course is some exorbitant figure of thousands of dollars, but if you buy now, you will get it at a 90% discounted price.
Ironically, if you go on their websites, you cannot see any link to their courses — you only see them through a link you receive via email.
Disclaimer:
Before I continue, I would like to make it clear that there are indeed online coaches who are worth the money they ask for. Some of them are truly experts in their field and are qualified to coach others to succeed. These are the coaches who can provide legitimate value that is difficult to find online or would take you hours upon hours of research to find on your own. Furthermore, they can help you come with actual strategies, and not just tactics and tips. Others have built legitimate businesses with their brands, products and services and I myself have paid for many of them. So, I am not putting all of them in one box and labelling them ALL in a negative way.
/end of disclaimer
So who exactly are these online coaches?
I started clicking on every single ad, subscribed to their newsletters, watched their “live webinars” and studied all their email marketing funnels to the minutest detail. In essence, they all follow the same pattern. And of course, there is nothing wrong with that, as it is simply marketing. What I do have a problem with is if they employ tactics that are dishonest and misleading. One of them are the allegedly live webinars filled with chat bots saying “wow” and “so amazing”, as it is false advertising if they are pre-recorded.
Most of the online coaches are in their mid twenties to mid thirties, some of them with a sizeable following, while others with less than 1,000 followers. Many say that they have been working regular office jobs before ditching them to become what they are today.
In essence, most of them tell you that the reason you are not getting any eyeballs or closing any sales on your products and services is because you don’t know what they know, and they are going to spill “the secret sauce”.
In short they present themselves as the experts in their field and promise that you can replicate their success.
So what is the real problem with these online business coaches?
You may be wondering why I am wasting my time writing about this topic and spreading negativity. I am not spreading negativity but what I see as shedding light on false advertising. One of my greatest life philosophies is to “live and let live” but I find it difficult to ignore the fact that many of these business coaches are straight out lying and misleading individuals who are actually trying hard to put up a business.
Out of curiosity, I have bought some of these courses and ebooks myself. I told myself that if I wasn’t satisfied, I will demand a refund. If I was genuinely satisfied with it, I will be honest with myself and not ask for my money back.
In most cases, I asked for a refund because they simply did not deliver what they promised.
My problem with them lies in the following:
The sheer dishonesty
Every time I read an ad with a catchphrase that goes along the lines of “Grow from Zero to $10K in 30 days”, I need to both laugh and cry at the same time. While it is theoretically possible to earn 10 grand in one month, they simply leave out really important factors. An honest headline would, for instance, be “3 years and 30k Dollars later, here’s how I eventually have been making 10k per month.” That’s a course I would seriously be curious about. In short, they don’t accurately show you how much work and preparation is actually required.
Oversimplifying the nature of business
If you have been alive for some time now, you will probably have realized that business is a very complex playing field. If you are starting a business, the odds are always, always stacked against you, and that is the brutal truth. There is no quick fix or secret sauce when you want to start a business. Which leads me to my next point…
Selling tips and tactics and wrapping them as strategies
When you hire a real business coach, they help you come up with a strategy, and not just show you mere tips and tactics. Strategy defines your overarching plan and set of goals, and how you are planning to achieve them. Tactics on the other hand are steps you take in order to achieve short and mid term goals to eventually attain your overall strategy. A solid strategy reflects your entire organisation, taking into account an alignment of all aspects of your business (marketing, finance, logistics, etc.) and that is based on extensive planning, research and reflection.
Let’s make an example. Let’s say you are an online business selling courses on how to make money online. Things like gaining eyeballs, converting leads to customers, upselling, etc. are actually all tactics. Tactics that everybody employs. A real, actual strategy for instance would be “I want to create differentiation of my service offer from the thousands of others who offer the exact same service.” Now tell me how to do that. As you can see, the answer to this is MUCH more complex. A great online coach will, therefore, teach you how to optimise your business on a strategic level, and not with a mere tactical approach.
Pretending that what works for them works for everyone
Most of these courses claim that what they teach — which is how to make money online, make successful webinars, or become a successful online course creator — is applicable to all forms of businesses. Without a shadow of a doubt, the overall topic on “making money online” is one of the most searched for topics with proven demand. But what if you have a food blog, make essential oils, or blog about parenting, the English royalty or fashion? Can you truly replicate 1-to-1 the tactics and so-called “strategies” to ALL forms of online businesses? I don’t think so.
Fostering an unhealthy mindset on money
Of course, in the end, everyone is responsible for themselves. But I do think that this herd of 6-figure online coaches can cause major disillusionment among people. People who have not reached their financial target in their set time frame will develop an unhealthy relationship with money, as they continue to pressure and beat themselves up as to why they didn’t get that 10k in 30 days. There is no such thing as easy money, and most of the time, if it seems too good to be true, then that is because it probably is.
So how do I choose or find an online coach?
Personally, I am actually a big fan of coaches. I have paid for coaching as well (although this was on a one-on-one, in-person basis) and I found it incredibly useful. You yield different results if you have an accountability buddy and generally have the opportunity to talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about and can give you insight, aside from your family, partner and cat. I have experienced first hand what a great coach can do, which is perhaps why I feel so strongly about the misleading 6-figure coaches online.
So if you want to find a coach, consider the following:
- Can I find the information online on my own for free? If yes, how long would it take me to find all the information? If you want the convenience of having all the information in one place, readily distilled and properly summarised for you, then it may be worth it spending your bucks (I have done this as well and am usually satisfied with my purchase).
- Does this online coach have a successful track record in what they teach?
- Do you know perhaps a retired businessman in your neighbourhood who may be willing to sit down with you and teach you what they know after decades of being in business? In general, do you know anyone in your circle with whom you can seriously talk about your business endeavors?
- Do I want to learn a very specific skill? If yes, then online coaches or courses can indeed be a good solution, as it is more time efficient than searching for everything on your own. I have, for instance, learned the entirety of the Adobe Suite through online courses that I paid for and I very well got my money’s worth. In general, skills-related courses are mostly a good investment, especially if the coach knows what they’re talking about.
In closing
I think it is great that we have the opportunity to learn new things in such non-traditional ways. We can consider our generation very lucky to have this possibility. I think it’s also wrong to think that learning stops after we leave school, and I regularly invest in furthering my education — and often times, that is in the form of an online offer.
As mentioned earlier, not all online business coaches or coaches in general are tricksters. I can vouch for it as I have taken many online courses myself. However, it is important to be mindful and realistic about what we think we can learn from them. We need to do our proper research and most of all, manage our expectations accordingly.
So keep learning, but learn from the good ones.
