Milli Vanilli and Internet Earners

The Worst Marketing Advice Ever to any Internet Earner: “Fake It Till You Make It!”

I’m sure you have heard that said before… In fact, one of the personal development Gurus that featured in the movie, “The Secret” – a guy that I respect so much – said that was what he did at a point in his life! (This was on stage at a seminar and the video’s on Youtube. Of course I won’t mention his nameJ). In fact in a John Reese report I read recently, he said he had seen more than one marketer (including one giving advice on a forum) saying to people to just “fake it” if they don’t yet possess the credibility or experience in the niche they want to sell to.

So, even some Pro’s cheat. Anyway, John disapproved of this unethical tactic. In fact his verdict was “BAD. BAD. BAD. “

He was also brutally frank in the report about his recent absence and mistakes. I learnt a lot from him.

If for any reason you do not recognize the guys holding these Grammys in the photo on the left, it’s Milli Vanilli – the now ill-famed music band that was exposed for being phonies. You see the guys above (who were the ʻimageʼ of the group) did not actually do the singing of their Grammy award-winning songs. The just moved their lips, deceived us all, sold millions of albums, got nominated for the Grammys and won it. So you can imagine how big the interest became worldwide when rumours of faking it began to sip out. They got shaken by the paparazzi/media that dug all the way down to the truth.

The resulting shame and pressure eventually led to one of them committing suicide. A tragedy indeed and it all began when they chose the easier route of deception to their superstardom – The Fake-It-Till-You-Make-It route.

If you want to sell to any niche, you can. But lying and misleading people is not the way to go (whether you’re new, fairly experienced or a Guru). In other words, forget trying to fake it till you make it.

If you want to succeed and build authority when you don’t have any is to ally yourself with others that are more successful. For instance, you can sell to the bed covers niche and advice people on what techniques to use by simply referring them to actual experts in that niche.

Never claim to have developed anything or methods you haven’t just so that you can look like an authority! Interview experts in a niche where you want to build a business. As you gain precious experience and expertise of your own (Remember, EVERY GURU started out new to any interest at the level you are at now) you’ll also be doing business with other experts and from there build your personal brand that way.

There is only real way to build real expertise – Be involved in your niche market. Learn everything you can about your niche then get out there, roll up your sleeves and get real life experience by trying and testing things. Yes, experience is gained by being mentored, Trial and Error and taking calculated risks.  You actually grow to become an authority by mastering something.

The way to master anything you want is just to put in the time to study and USE it. Then alone will you be in a position to even refer to yourself as an expert to offer others solutions to problems in your niche to people.

In the mean time, a big idea is to be a “referrer” – you can build a successful business by simply educating yourself about who the real experts are in a niche and referring your customers and subscribers to them (plus you get paid for it.)

If you want to become an expert in any field then I suggest you specialize in a niche within your niche and make your name that way. It’s much easier and wiser to master ONE small niche than to try to build expertise in a huge one. But the bottom line is you must truly build your expertise before you can teach others directly.

Building your expertise will cost you time and money to acquire the relevant information. In the movie “The Last Don” this concept is called “Making Your Bones”.  While you’re working at this, simply align yourself with others who are the recognized experts.

It is called Internship and it happens in EVERY industry.

People gain experience by interning for someone with the experience they want to eventually have.

Remember, what goes around comes around bigger. Don’t fake it or it will come back to haunt you in a very negative way. There is absolutely no reason to fake it when you can be successful doing it the Right Way.

The Lesson: You can become an expert at any niche you choose. You just have to pay the price by putting in the time to master the subject and garner required experience. Work with and learn from those that you want to be like.

All the best,

Billy