I carefully considered using the offending guru’s actual picture in this post and just REALLY going for it…. but decided against it. She can thank me later. Lol…. But, the email sent out to her list yesterday was HILARIOUS in light of her “message”… and it is super instructive to us as sales people and business owners. So, here goes.
First, you should know I came into contact with this gal during one of those HUGE JOINT VENTURE pushes… where about four other gurus pushed her free teleseminar on us. As a student of my craft (marketing and sales) I often look in on this process. What is working? What’s super tacky and insulting? What are people BUYING INTO these days? So, here I am listening to this lady’s pitch.
She proudly boasts — and I’m paraphrasing– that, “A LOT of business owners PRETEND to work 4-hour weeks, but she is PROUD TO SAY that she ACTUALLY lives and works this 4-hour work week… and makes in the mid-six-figures.”
Note to us all, from Captain Obvious: When someone boasts both HIGH INCOME LEVELS and 4-HOUR WORK WEEKS, they are lying about AT LEAST ONE of these facts… either the money they’re making or the hours they’re working.
It’s been my experience that they’re lying about both.
So, this is her MAIN PITCH. She makes well into six figures and works ONLY 4 hours a week. She’s got the “SECRET” that will allow us to do the same. This is LITERALLY what she sells as a VISION for her would be clients. More ironically is that her “strategic consulting” is based on filling live events — something that (for anyone who’s hosted an event of ANY SIZE — EVER) makes a FOUR HOUR WORK WEEK even more laughable. Anyway, imagine my confusion when I received an email from this woman working ONLY 4 hours a week with the following subject line:
I spent 60 hours preparing this….
60 hours. In her world, that’s 15 weeks, or about 28% of her entire YEAR.
In the email, she’s talking about a FREE powerpoint presentation that she spent 60 hours preparing for us. So, WAIT… are we to believe she’s making in the MID SIX FIGURES, yet she spent FIFTEEN WEEKS working on a FREE teleseminar???
It doesn’t take an advanced degree in accounting or business or math to figure out that AT LEAST one part of this formula isn’t true, Miss 4 Hour Work Week. Either the hours you work or the money you make — and probably both.
Anyway, it was funny… but instructive. Here’s what we can learn from it:
1) We should RESPECT our target market…. not think them idiots incapable of simple math.
2) We should carefully consider what’s being sold to us. HYPE is easy to manufacture. PROMISES are simple to create. AUTHENTICITY, HONESTY and INTEGRITY…. much more difficult. Giggle at those who depend on the former. Work with people who display the latter.
And, of course….
3) If it looks / sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
As a final note, I actually QUITE ENJOYED and definitely recommend the book, The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. I gleaned tremendous strategy from Tim, learned how to REALLY ENJOY vacations from his suggestions, and found it an eye-opening book that was renegade-ish in approach. Loved it…. don’t recommend pursuing a 4-Hour Work Week as a LITERAL goal… but learned a lot from the book.
Anyone else EITHER received the email I mentioned above and thought twice about it?? OR read Tim’s book, The 4 Hour Work Week and want to weigh in on that?
