How To Spot a B.S. Guru.

Hi,

Here is The Real Estate B.S. Artist Detection Checklist (full text at the link below)
With minor corrections this list applies to the marketing, business, advertising, PR etc. BS artists.

I think that everyone should read this document and print it out.

Simon

Special thanks to Adam Katz for bringing my attention to the author - John Reed.

---------begin list-----------

1. Emphasis on luxurious lifestyle.

2. Subjective self description.

3. No pitfalls or corrections.

4. No bad news.

5. Universally-applicable techniques.

6. Emphasis on motivational material.

7. Claim to do lots of deals.

10. Emphasis on no-down, low-down techniques.

11. Blank paper and/or filler. B.S. artists’ books contain much blank space resulting from double-spacing, huge margins, extraordinary numbers of blank pages, large type, and so forth.

12. Gorgeous packages.

13. No indexes.

14. No acknowledgments. Here is an item which is virtually effortless, but the B.S. artists still leave it out. It is traditional, gracious, and appropriate to thank the people who have contributed indirectly to your book in an acknowledgment section in the front.

15. No bibliography.

16. High prices.

17. Bundling a book with cassettes. Books are good. So are cassettes. ...But there is no legitimate reason to force people to buy both by only selling your product in book-and-cassette form.

18. Too-good-to-be-true testimonials.

20. Use of the following words.
· perfect offer
· confidential
· sure-fire
· removes doubts
· secret (if it ever was a secret, it stopped being one when he sold the first copy)
· cinch
· always
· lazy way
· anyone can make a killing
· removes risk
· easy money
· easily determine market value
· air-tight
· take the fear out
· risk-free
· judgment proof
· insider
· painless
· fool-proof
· safe
· win/win
· removes guesswork
· easy
· magic
· bulletproof
· gold mine
· complete
· This is not a get-rich-quick scheme
· automatic

21. Testimonials with incomplete names.

22. Prohibition against recording at free seminars.

23. Repeated efforts to sell you more and more expensive products and services.

24. Focusing entirely on the acquisition phase

25. No profit formula.

27. Novel phraseology.

28. Talking like a politician.

29. Inaccurate book titles.

30. Focus on the beginner market.

31. Denounce those who disagree with them as “negative thinkers.”

---------------end list------------




The Real Estate B.S. Artist Detection Checklist

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the day brightener - I'm still chuckling to myself.

The best,

Dave


Make Money Online

Simon wrote -

> Here is The Real Estate B.S. Artist
> Detection Checklist (full text at the link
> below)
> With minor corrections this list applies to
> the marketing, business, advertising, PR
> etc. BS artists.

> I think that everyone should read this
> document and print it out.

> Simon

Oh yes. The good Mr. Reed is a real funny guy. What he doesn't bother to tell you upfront is that he also sells real estate infoproducts. So while he's busy debunking all the other so-called "gurus", he's trying to get you to buy his stuff. Hmmm. I think I smell a rat. *g*

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"


The Guerrilla Product Developer's Forum

G'day Simon

Very interesting read. Do you agree with every one of those points made? What personal experience have you had to help explain how you feel about these?

Christopher Lau

> Hi,

> Here is The Real Estate B.S. Artist
> Detection Checklist (full text at the link
> below)
> With minor corrections this list applies to
> the marketing, business, advertising, PR
> etc. BS artists.

> I think that everyone should read this
> document and print it out.

> Simon

> Special thanks to Adam Katz for bringing my
> attention to the author - John Reed.

> ---------begin list-----------

> 1. Emphasis on luxurious lifestyle.

> 2. Subjective self description.

> 3. No pitfalls or corrections.

> 4. No bad news.

> 5. Universally-applicable techniques.

> 6. Emphasis on motivational material.

> 7. Claim to do lots of deals.

> 10. Emphasis on no-down, low-down
> techniques.

> 11. Blank paper and/or filler. B.S. artists’
> books contain much blank space resulting
> from double-spacing, huge margins,
> extraordinary numbers of blank pages, large
> type, and so forth.

> 12. Gorgeous packages.

> 13. No indexes.

> 14. No acknowledgments. Here is an item
> which is virtually effortless, but the B.S.
> artists still leave it out. It is
> traditional, gracious, and appropriate to
> thank the people who have contributed
> indirectly to your book in an acknowledgment
> section in the front.

> 15. No bibliography.

> 16. High prices.

> 17. Bundling a book with cassettes. Books
> are good. So are cassettes. ...But there is
> no legitimate reason to force people to buy
> both by only selling your product in
> book-and-cassette form.

> 18. Too-good-to-be-true testimonials.

> 20. Use of the following words.
> · perfect offer
> · confidential
> · sure-fire
> · removes doubts
> · secret (if it ever was a secret, it
> stopped being one when he sold the first
> copy)
> · cinch
> · always
> · lazy way
> · anyone can make a killing
> · removes risk
> · easy money
> · easily determine market value
> · air-tight
> · take the fear out
> · risk-free
> · judgment proof
> · insider
> · painless
> · fool-proof
> · safe
> · win/win
> · removes guesswork
> · easy
> · magic
> · bulletproof
> · gold mine
> · complete
> · This is not a get-rich-quick scheme
> · automatic

> 21. Testimonials with incomplete names.

> 22. Prohibition against recording at free
> seminars.

> 23. Repeated efforts to sell you more and
> more expensive products and services.

> 24. Focusing entirely on the acquisition
> phase

> 25. No profit formula.

> 27. Novel phraseology.

> 28. Talking like a politician.

> 29. Inaccurate book titles.

> 30. Focus on the beginner market.

> 31. Denounce those who disagree with them as
> “negative thinkers.”

> ---------------end list------------

Reed is VERY UPFRONT about selling real estate investment products. In fact, his whole angle is:

Look... you don't have to spend money on overpriced, over-hyped packages when you can get real, hardcore info. on the subject from other sources. (Some of them his, some of them NOT his.)

** Read that last line, carefully! He DOES recommend products that HE DOES NOT SELL or make a commission on.

As for his check-list... some of the stuff on there is just plain 'ole direct marketing stuff. But again, his list is a GUIDELINE. It's not a B.S. Detector Kit.

I find NOTHING deceitful about Reed's site.


DiscussionGate: Spam-resistant Discussion Forum Software for your web site...

Christopher,

Sorry for the delay.
The answer follows.
--------------
Those who can sell - sell.
Those who can't sell - teach how to sell.
Those who can't teach how to sell - devise methods of teaching how to sell.
--Anonymous

Top 3 Tell-Tale Signs of a Fake Guru:

I First and foremost: Absence of acknowledgements and bibliography.

Personal experience: NOT to acknowledge the results you BUILD on and NOT to give credit to people and ideas that contributed to your work is a sin.
Moreover, it's just plain stupid.
An egomaniac looses his chance to make his work more credible.

When a guru uses somebody's results, ideas and doesn't publicly acknowledge the contribution of others that shows that he is:
1. ungrateful
2. just scared of attracting reader's attention to the works that deserve attention

Summing up: ideas are not copyrighted, ideas get acknowledged.

II Emphasis on luxurious lifestyle.
This thing in a guru shows that he is a fool.
I think that when it comes to a lifestyle and finances you should be as private as possible (to avoid jealousy, lawsuits etc)
BTW, a lot of "gurus" got into trouble lying about their luxurious lifestyle.

III Not informing a reader were things can go wrong.
"Well-oiled money machines" are as fictitious as "money-trees".

Personal experience:
No bad experiences so far.
I just don't buy books that are fake.

Can't fathom how a person that claims to be successful can find time for teaching others that are NOT involved in his business.

If you are successful, build a franchise and duplicate yourself this way.

Simon

Hi Simon,

> --------------
> Those who can sell - sell.
> Those who can't sell - teach how to sell.
> Those who can't teach how to sell - devise
> methods of teaching how to sell.
> --Anonymous

Yes, I'd heard of this too, though I knew the shorter version, which goes....

Those who can, do
Those who can't, teach.

Fortunately, though, it ain't completely true (or most of us would probably be in trouble, since who would teach us)?

I mean, it may be true for some people, but fortunately there are many who can both TEACH and DO as well....

I realized that a lot of people really enjoy teaching, and that's why they teach. It's a pleasure to them to share their knowledge, even if they don't have to do it to make a living....

Thank goodness. :)

One of the first things I turn to if I'm considering buying a book in a bookstore is the part that's "about the author." I want to see what their experience is. Fortunately, some great people have written excellent books.... :)

I think a great example of this is the late physicist Richard Feynman. For those who never heard of him, he's a Nobel Prizewinner in physics for co-discovering something called quantum electrodynamics.

Anyhow, back to Feynman. He loved to teach. But you couldn't accuse him of not being able to DO! In fact, most would say he was one of the most brilliant physicists of the 20th century. And he was a brilliant teacher as well.

Feynman talks about how teaching stimulates him. It forces him to rethink things through, to go over what you know again, and know it even better. The questions you get from students are stimulating too, since they may suggest ways of thinking about things that you never thought before.

I remember how, in one of his books, Feynman pities those who don't teach.... He meant specifically people like Einstein. Einstein spent most of his life working at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey, where he didn't have to teach. All he had to do was research.

Feynman mentioned how he'd HATE that. He'd miss all the stimulation he'd get by teaching.

Well, there's an alternative point of view.... :)

But of course, you shouldn't teach unless you first know it yourself, which was probably your main point, right Simon? :) I don't believe in "faking" your way through, I think people will see through you sooner or later if you do that. So personally, I don't do it.

But teaching what you DO know? I'm all for it! :)

- Dien Rice

Adam -

> Reed is VERY UPFRONT about selling real
> estate investment products. In fact, his
> whole angle is:

> I find NOTHING deceitful about Reed's site.

Perhaps I missed something. I've been to Reed's site a few times. The whole tenor of his site comes across as very negative to me. At least the parts that I saw and I looked at quite a bit of it.

He rips on everybody from Ted Thomas, to Carlton Sheets, to Robert Kiyosaki and everybody in between. Are there crooks in the real estate info products game? Oh yeah. Some of the worst. Tom Vu and William McCorkle spring to mind. But a villain doesn't lurk behind every no money down concept just because John T. Reed says they do.

I own the Ted Thomas tax lien/tax deed program. Are there parts of it that could be improved? Yes. Are there parts of it that provide useful information? Yes. I also own one of Kiyosaki's books and one of his audio programs. There is good information in both. I also recently looked at the book on protecting your intellectual property that was written by one of his advisors. I found it quite disappointing. There was a lot of what but not much how. But in general I think Kiyosaki does a good job of making you think about your beliefs and maybe what you can to change them to improve your financial life.

I don't find Mr. Reed's reviews to be even handed *at all*. For example, when Robert Kiyosaki wrote a reply to Mr. Reed's scathing commentary, Reed, (as of the date a couple of months ago), refused to post Kiyosaki's reply. How even handed is that?

Contrast that with Klaus Dahl and Paul Myers. Paul writes some of the best reviews I've ever seen. For example, he's a Cory Rudl affiliate, (or he used to be). Yet a wrote a very good review of Rudl's Internet package. Paul revealed the good *and* the bad with the package as he saw it. And he made no bones about the fact that he was an affiliate. I haven't been on Mr. Dahl's site in awhile but I do remember that he had some *excellent* reviews.

I find John T. Reed's site to be the exact opposite of that. In effect Mr. Reed says, to me at least, these guys are trying to sell you garbage. Their stuff doesn't work. But you can buy my stuff or the stuff I recommend. It works. Huh? How do I know John T. Reed's stuff will work any better than anybody else's?

John Reed needs to *show* me why his stuff or what he recommends works better than these other guys. He doesn't do that. All he does is rip them. (Here's another contrast.) Paul Hartunian rips *nobody* personally in the publicity game. He shows you what works and tells you why it works. He also has the documentation to prove it works.

You asked. *g*

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"


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