Exposing The Self-Help Industry

The foregoing article was originally written in October of 2012:

“Those Who Can, Do; Those Who Can’t, Teach” – Unknown Author

I know that this article is going to ruffle some feathers but the points on which I'm about to hit just have to be made. I don't doubt that there will be opposition but one thing is for certain and that is: none of the opposition of the foregoing content will be successful people....just individuals who hope to achieve success through wishful thinking.

Here’s a basic rundown of how the self-help industry works: You have a guy who’s read all the various self-help books of the past and has attempted to run several businesses of his own that have been failures. After failing enough times, he figures that the only way to make money is to publish books/courses/audios/coaching/etc. which aims to teach people how to make money and be successful. That’s the gist of it. If I had to estimate, I’d say that 99% of self-help authors fall into that category. I remember seeing a guy (several guys actually), who was a nobody w/ no proven track record of success selling coaching for $5,000! When you research the guy, the only thing that comes up is his coaching services...nothing which indicates that he's run a successful business in the past.

There is that rare occasion where you’ll have someone who’s achieved success in business write a book about their journey to the top. You probably won’t find too many of these because those people are too busy actually making money to write books. But if you’d notice, these people’s work differ a whole lot from that of self-help authors who have never achieved any success. Take for example T. Harv Eker, author of “Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind.” Mr. Eker was a successful businessman before he decided to write about it. I’ve read Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind several times and to me, its one of the most pragmatic books on success. One thing the author emphasizes is hard work. In no way, shape or form does he make it seem easy to become successful. But on the flip side, the majority of self-help authors will make becoming successful sound like a walk in the park.

So now you may be wondering, “how do you know whether or not these authors have achieved success before writing about it?” One thing about me — if I’m looking to learn something from somebody, I am going to research that person to check their credentials. And that’s what exactly what I’ve done with a lot of the big names in self-help. I haven’t been able to find a history of success in business for 99% of them. Of course they tell you their stories of building companies and so forth, but in today’s digital age, I’d imagine that it would be easy to verify these claims. Yet, no one ever gives any verifiable information to back up their claims. Take someone like Charles F. Haanel, author of The Master Key System (TMKS), who was a successful businessmen BEFORE writing TMKS. I was able to verify that he did in fact build several successful companies. Mind you, Mr. Haanel built his companies in the late 1800′s. So if I was able to verify the legitimacy of claim made over 100 years ago before today's digital age, why is it so hard to verify the claims of these guys in today’s time?

I remember being part of a really popular Internet Marketing forum (not gonna mention their name). This forum is NOTORIOUS for allowing and even encouraging fraudsters to sell BS products to unsuspecting people. Many of the members portray themselves as being really successful businesspeople, but when you do a little digging, you find that they also fit my description of 99% of self-help gurus. When I browsed this forum, I noticed that almost all the products being sold which taught people how to make money in Internet Marketing, taught them to do so by creating their own product teaching people how to make money.

If you’re a sensible person, you may now be asking, “but how are they going to create a product teaching people how to make money if they haven’t made any money in Internet Marketing?” Here’s your answer: they hire “research teams” to research methods to make money who then ghostwrites an eBook for them (if they can’t afford these teams, they do the research and writing themselves), they then package and brand the product with their name and a phony story of how they came across this “revolutionary money making secret.” One of the most infamous tricks they’d use is a fake PaypPal and/or Clickbank screen shot which shows lots of money in their accounts as a result of using their methods. They create these fake screenshots by typing a javascript code into their browser, which then allows them to edit the numbers on the screen. After editing the numbers, they take the screenshot. I’ve seen this scenario play out with my own eyes hundreds of times on this forum. This method of creating BS products doesn’t only pertain to the forum in question, that’s how the overall “self-help/how to make money” industry works.

So now we’ve come to The Law of Attraction (The LoA for short). The LoA is something that self-help authors have referred to for quite some time now. During the early 1900′s, guys like Napoleon Hill, Charles F. Haanel, Wallace Wattles, Claude Bristol, William Walter Atkinson, and many others wrote about The LoA…from a pragmatic standpoint. The LoA is real BUT the way in which its taught today is false. Today, self-help authors teach you that The LoA is a short cut to success…a universal law to assist you in avoiding having to work. According to them, if you just think about it and believe, it’ll come to you. That is a load of bullshit. Yes, we do create our circumstances through our thoughts. And yes, we can create favorable opportunities through our thoughts. But what good is it going to do if you don’t take action? More on that later in my closing paragraph.

Many self-help authors teach The LoA in a way that causes the reader to desire to fulfill only selfish purposes. In ancient times, when people wrote about these Universal Laws, they used these laws for the purpose of bettering themselves and society as a whole. But now, self-help “gurus” teach you to use The LoA in expectation of something for nothing (which doesn’t exist). That, by the way, is why the vast majority of people who read these books never achieve anything, because they’re focused only on themselves. Nothing good comes to the person who isn’t willing to put in the work. I remember seeing several of these guys advise readers to act only if their actions feel good. Again, more bullshit. From my experience, its the actions you don’t feel like taking but that you take anyways that makes the most difference. I have never known a successful person who acted only when it felt good. One part of being successful is having to do things you don’t want to do…period. Do you see how these people are misleading you?

Your best bet, in my opinion, would be to leave the self-help stuff alone. Chances are, you already know what you need to do in order to succeed, you just haven’t realized it. 99% of these guys haven’t made any money outside of pitching products on how to make money and be successful. I would never tell you not to read any books on the subject. The books you read should be by people that have actually done it themselves. Some people may say, “what’s wrong with them providing motivation to others, even though they haven’t done it themselves?” The problem is that they’re providing misleading information to their audience. How can you teach someone how to do something you haven’t done yourself? People listen to these guys, apply their teachings and never become successful. Only person who makes money is the author. With the economy being in such a state of uncertainty at the time, these guys are going to be targeting the unsuspecting even harder because they know that everyone is looking for a way to make more money, looking for security, etc. And here they are ready to play the role of savior.

In closing, all I have to say is this: there is no substitute for hard work and accurate thought. Anyone who tells you otherwise usually has something to sell you. The Law of Attraction and other universal laws are important, BUT, they don’t take the place of plain ole hard work. You can attract opportunity to you through your thoughts, but you should be constantly putting in work. And you better be ready to work like a motherfucker when that opportunity comes. If you have to work 20 hours a day, so be it. I’m sure anyone who’s great at something worked their ass off to acquire those skills. Majority of self-help authors take advantage of people’s nativity. Lets be for real. A lot of people would choose easy success over having to work hard if there was such a choice (if you don’t believe me, look at how many people play the lottery). And these people prey on that desire people have of receiving something for almost nothing.

Don’t be fooled, people. Keep working hard, keep being motivated, keep your mind on your goal and DO NOT get tempted by claims of easy riches.