Entrepreneurship is the new way of life. After the 2008 recession many of us turned to controlling our finances through building our own companies. I am all for encouraging people to consider entrepreneurship, there is much value in it and a great form of wealth (not just financial) to pass on to your family. But with capitalism comes less than ethical people and for as long as wealth of any kind has been a concept, there has always been someone ready to swindle people into “quick” tricks to make money. Quick money is not stable money, it’s taking advantage of people by getting them into a sales funnel. But since #SmartBrownGirl is all about encouraging own to strengthen their thought process, we are here to address the latest money making scam. The Life Coach Make 10k in x Weeks Webinar scam.
These people are promising to make you money quick if you just sign up for their mailing list that leads to their webinar that leads to their Facebook group that leads to their final sales pitch. They have the secret that no one else is sharing. At first it’s free, just sign up their mailing list. That leads to daily email lists with vague tips and plenty of positive affirmations. The goal is to get as many people as possible to sign up for the mailing list, ideally around the 2000+ mark.
Then there’s the “homework assignments” that lead you back to their closed/secret Facebook group. The goal is to move their mailing list off of whatever platform you were introduced to them on. Periscope, Instagram or YouTube do not offer the same fluidity of engagement and sales opportunities as Facebook. So to incentivize the Facebook group, they frame is a necessary part of the “learning”. Facebook Groups can be sold, you can charge for advertising in them and are a great way to make money if you can build a large enough group with active engagement. And this is friends what we call a “sales funnel.”
After their lukewarm email blasts come to an end, the finale is to introduce the sales pitch of signing up for their webinar. Here’s one that I signed up for after I saw their advertisement on YouTube promising to teach you how to make $8k with NO Adsense or Sponsorships on YouTube.
This person was able to get 2000 people to sign up for their mailing list with the promise of showing them on to make money without Adsense or sponsorships. That is a hope and dream that does not exist, but folks are intrigued. The end of the eight day challenge was their pitch to sign up for their academy for the lovely price of $897, because that’s a $400 discount! On what? Who knows…but it will show you the secret that wasn’t delivered in any of the eight emails.
With an email list of 2000, about 300-400 people might actually open the emails. Say 200 of those people make it over to the Facebook group, some of those 200 will fall off but others will invite their friends in, so the final active number will round out to about 150 people whose interest you’ve peaked. Most people will go for the six installment payments at $167/each. That’s $1002. If they can get 20 people to sign up for their academy that’s $20,000 they made in eight days.
$20,000 can be made in eight days. But you’re not making it, it’s the person that convinced you they could fulfill a vague promise. This young lady did come through on her promise to show you how to make $8k on YouTube without adsense, you just weren’t paying attention to the scam you invested in.
Not all webinars are scams. There’s plenty of great information to be learned from your peers. But always apply the rule of thumb that if anyone is teaching you something, they should have a resume or examples that show their skillset and that’s just not an Instagram full of vacation pictures.
What you need more than any quick tricks, is strategy. Here is a short list of books to get you started on thinking deeper and believing in what you already have within you. Stay smart!
