How To Spot a B.S. Guru.

Christopher,

Sorry for the delay.
The answer follows.
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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