[HN Gopher] The influencers getting rich by teaching you how to ... ___________________________________________________________________ The influencers getting rich by teaching you how to get rich Author : herbertl Score : 39 points Date : 2023-04-03 21:58 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.vox.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.vox.com) | TrackerFF wrote: | Whenever I see FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) | influencers, almost without fail, the "hidden" story is that | they: | | - Inherited money / property / etc. | | - Started to dabble in stock 5-10 years ago, right before / | during the greatest bull-run so far | | - Work in tech / finance / law / general high-paying white collar | job | | - Dual income, spouse in similar profession | | But the big talking points are of course how they like to make | coffee home, and how you can save 2 bucks a day on doing that. Or | how hustling 2-3 hours a doing some menial online job will bring | you extra 10-20 bucks a day | | edit: Also, related to the article, I have noticed a considerable | uptick of these "YOU NEED TO KNOW THESE 5 [insert some software] | TRICKS" tidbits. Just 10 minutes ago I was scrolling Instagram | and got a bunch of vids like that promoting excel tricks, chatgpt | tricks, etc. | paxys wrote: | This is a profession as old as time. "Get rich quick" books and | seminars, MLM schemes, the entire "hustle" culture in general. | Remember the most profitable venture during the gold rush wasn't | digging in mines but opening inns and selling shovels. | | If there is a true secret to building wealth people who know it | aren't going to go around telling everybody for $50/mo. | __derek__ wrote: | In your analogy, the folks selling these courses are probably | more like the people selling claims to gold-less plots. Maybe | some gold-finding sticks, too. | [deleted] | boeingUH60 wrote: | "How to make money from crypto/NFT/AI/[insert current thing | here]...buy my online course!" | galacticaactual wrote: | This is a long standing internet grift. Not sure why it's HN | worthy. | catchnear4321 wrote: | Older than the internet. | | Not worthy, but society is having a conversation about what to | do with these types. Especially with how easy technology has | made it to grift. That's a little more on topic. | | So, maybe worthy. | | Pitchforks and torches for grifters with Porsches. | giantg2 wrote: | Yes, and the people getting rich during the gold rush were the | ones selling pans, shovels, and _jeans_. A tale as old as | civilization. | exogeny wrote: | Simple: never listen to influencers about anything. They are not | your friends. They are paid to sell you things, and in almost all | cases, with zero disclosure of that. | hn_throwaway_99 wrote: | I don't think the article's title really matches up with some of | the examples outlined in the article. | | That is, most of the time when I hear "influencer giving advice | on getting rich", I think of it as total bullshit, and that type | of advice ("Dropship on Amazon!!") is nearly universally BS. | | But I think it's fine, and actually great, to get real technical | advice and classes online. I mean, I haven't seen what advice she | gives, but the whole intro about "Miss Excel" doesn't seem like | she's "teaching you how to get rich", she's just showing the ins- | and-outs of Excel, and some features that may be unfamiliar to | some folks, in a fun and engaging way. Heck, those are the types | of "1 person company" stories that I think should make it to the | top of HN! As another example, one time I was between jobs and I | got really into baking, so I paid for some online baking | tutorials by https://www.kseniapenkina.com/ , who specializes in | a type of glazed "mirror cake". The tutorials were worth every | penny and I had a ton of fun making my pastries. | boeingUH60 wrote: | Yeah, that one was odd. Someone teaching people how to use | Excel (a useful skill in the workplace) shouldn't be lumped | with get-rich-quick grifters. | User23 wrote: | Reminds me of the investing classic _Where Are the Customer's | Yachts?_ | for_i_in_range wrote: | > find your target market, "start with why," and build your | "click funnel." ("Click funnel" is a term that comes up often in | online marketing speak; the basic idea is turning your existing | connections into paying customers by sending them increasingly | irresistible emails.) | | This part is an error. | | In actuality, "click funnel" refers to the SaaS product called | ClickFunnels (www.clickfunnels.com), pioneered by marketer | Russell Brunson. | | Thanks to Brunson (and his books, Expert Secrets and DotCom | Secrets), he's helped create a movement of people who aim to | build their own info businesses (courses, 1-on-1 coaching, etc.). | | A "funnel" is not "sending them increasingly irresistible | emails." It actually refers to upselling customers. A person | purchases a product (like a book) at $9.95, then on the next | page, you upsell them and offer them a $97 course, then a $197 | course, then a $997 live course, etc. | bdcravens wrote: | Perhaps they are conflating terms, but a "funnel" (sans | "click") exists outside of Brunson's product, and are a well | established sales technique. They aren't really an upselling | technique, but are what you would imagine the word describes: | large numbers (less qualified) in the top, small numbers (most | qualified) in the bottom. | __derek__ wrote: | Interesting. That up-sell flow appears to be how the Financial | Samurai blog works. Ditto Ramit Sethi, whose website/book | appears to be the allusion for the article's title despite not | being covered in the article. | boeingUH60 wrote: | Random related story: At my 2nd year of college, one of my | buddies got into the dropshipping fad after watching courses on | YouTube. He drop-hipped cheap bracelets from AliExpress and | actually made profits...guess how? He advertised that he was | donating 10% of its revenue to people affected by terrorist | activities in my country (Nigeria)...turns out people fell for | the marketing, and he did not donate one dime. | | He left college shortly after and now sells online courses on | dropshipping and building businesses, LMAO | AlexandrB wrote: | > He advertised that he was donating 10% of its revenue to | people affected by terrorist activities in my country | (Nigeria)...turns out people fell for the marketing, and he did | not donate one dime. | | There's a fine line between "marketing" and lying, and this is | plainly on the wrong side of it. | | In general though, I try to take any claims where "a portion of | the proceeds" supposedly funds some charity with a huge grain | of salt. It's difficult/impossible to tell how truthful the | business is being about the amount donated. | boeingUH60 wrote: | > There's a fine line between "marketing" and lying, and this | is plainly on the wrong side of it. | | Of course, I'm aware. I questioned him about it and he just | shrugged it off like it was nothing...I'm no saint, but I | found that pretty repulsive. | BMc2020 wrote: | "Where most small businesses have a hard time raising capital, | GWB had it shot at him through a fire hose." | | (from memory) Molly Ivins on how GWB kept getting capital through | many failed businesses. | bdcravens wrote: | Hardly a new phenomenon. Dave Ramsey is a perfect example. | [deleted] | spaceman_2020 wrote: | I remember watching a real estate Youtuber break down his $1M+ | income. The video was titled something like "How I make $1M with | real estate". | | In the video, he revealed that he actually made $95kish from real | estate. Made 900k from YouTube and sponsored posts. | | Pretty much true for most "investment" channels | spoonjim wrote: | I feel like the opening anecdote is a swing and a miss. Miss | Excel doesn't teach people how to get rich, she teaches people | how to use Excel. I can't say whether it's good or bad content | but it's not get-rich-quick hustle spam. | MilStdJunkie wrote: | "From these _goddamn Mickelson Twins_ " | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biYciU1uiUw | boeingUH60 wrote: | "Those who do, do. Those who can't, teach". | | You want to learn about business? Pick up the biographies of | successful businesspeople. Even then, beware of survivorship | bias. | | Note that these successful people will never write a book titled | "how to be like me" but instead just write books narrating their | stories and allow you to choose what to learn from it. | | To add, I think there's just something about people wanting the | easy path that causes them to fall for these grifts. | zwieback wrote: | .. and those who can't teach teach teaching | etothepii wrote: | I always thought they taught PE. | giantg2 wrote: | I kind of doubt those biographies are very useful. I'm sure | they're interesting. Even stuff written for the purpose of | helping other become successful has been heavily edited, like | _How to Win Friends and Influence People_. | jvb1000 wrote: | I hate this adage. I've taught, a lot. At universities, in high | school, and to adults. The idea that people who can't do can | teach is not remotely true. Most people can't teach | effectively. If you can't do something you also probably can't | teach. | cal85 wrote: | I think there's a strong grain of truth in it when it comes | to "business skills" or subjects in that general area. | ModernMech wrote: | And those who can't teach, denigrate teachers. | | Literally the best thing you can do to increase your | understanding of something is to teach it to someone. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-04-03 23:00 UTC)