When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s…<\/p>\n
…a “guru” was someone who wore a robe, had long hair, lived on a
\ncommune, and was followed by people who wanted to hear his
\nmessage of peace, love, and being one with the universe.<\/p>\n
In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, a guru was someone like Tom Peters who
\nwrote best-selling business books and earned $30,000 an hour
\nspeaking on the corporate lecture circuit.<\/p>\n
Today a guru seems to be someone who curses like a sailor … goes
\nto any extreme to seem edgy and cool … has an ego the size of a
\nhumpback whale … and wants to extract thousands of dollars from
\nyou …<\/p>\n
… by getting your credit card number so they can sell you an
\noutrageously expensive course, “training,” or mastermind group
\nmembership — teaching how to make a million dollars a week in
\ninfo marketing, copywriting, coaching, consulting, small
\nbusiness, or maybe option trading.<\/p>\n
So — am I the only one tiring of this new generation of brash,
\nloud, conceited, egomaniacal gurus?<\/p>\n
I asked a few of my Facebook friends, and apparently, I am not:<\/p>\n
“I’ve been tired of it for a long time,” writes DP. “That’s why
\nI’m no longer buying these courses that teach nothing so you keep
\ncoming back.<\/p>\n
“I’m doing my own study and research. Much of what I need has
\nbeen found in cheap Kindle books. But much I also found just
\nsearching google and reading blog posts of these supposed gurus.<\/p>\n
“You see, they all believe in re-purposing content. So, if
\nthey’re selling an expensive course, then this same information
\nis [more than likely available] somewhere else, much more
\ncheaply.”<\/p>\n
SH writes, “I have been somewhat amused to meet several
\nself-styled marketing gurus who seemed to have close to zero
\ndisposable income.” (In Texas they call that having “big hat, no
\ncattle.”)<\/p>\n
“It’s scandalous,” proclaims SR. “I feel so sorry for the people
\nwho get ensnared in the empty promises. Plus is it my imagination
\nor is the ‘guru din’ just getting louder and louder? My theory is
\nthe really successful people are quiet about it.”<\/p>\n
“I suspect 90% of us are disgusted with such dishonesty,” says
\nSN. “I think it makes everyone suspicious and unwilling to buy
\neven from the honest teachers.<\/p>\n
“It causes confusion as we try to discern who we can trust. It
\ncauses hesitation and no improvement for the student, his
\nbusiness, or the customer whom he wants to reach. That sort of
\ndishonesty hurts everyone.”<\/p>\n
Next, EG chimes in: “I hate the word guru because of how it’s
\nbeen used and abused over the past few years. It also makes it
\nhard for the good guys, because in the eyes of many, all teachers
\nand coaches are lumped together into this scammy business
\ncategory.”<\/p>\n
“Making it worse, many of these gurus have never actually done
\nwhat they are offering to teach you how to do,” notes HC.<\/p>\n
And as DB notes, “It’s easy to call yourself a guru and rake in
\ntons of money while giving peanuts in return.”<\/p>\n
That being said, becoming a ***legitimate*** guru — a
\nrecognized industry expert who in fact DOES have real experience,
\ncredentials, and in-depth subject knowledge — can be the
\nfast-track to greater success as a consultant, coach, speaker,
\ncopywriter, info marketer, or business owner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s… …a “guru” was someone who wore a robe, had long hair, lived on a commune, and was followed by people who wanted to hear his message of peace, love, and being one with the universe. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, a guru was someone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1415,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions\/1415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}