Getting rich: the secret is to sell others on the secret

By Ariella Brown

Everyone is doing it!

I'm on an email list from one of the hundreds maybe even thousands of people currently positioning themselves as experts who offer "masterclasses" on improving one's earnings as an independent marketing professional.

Today's email offers the tantalizing lure of drawing in clients that pay $60K a year. The possibility of getting just two of those pushes one into that highly coveted six-figure income slot.

Definitely worth paying $1500 to learn how to earn nearly 10x that amount this year, right?

Then rational skepticism kicks in, and you think this: "If he really has no problem getting all these clients that put him in what he says is the top 1% of earners for this category, why would he take any time away from that highly lucrative work to produce these classes?

He's not retired, so he's not just passing on what he's learned to the next generation. He'd be passing it on to his competition. Altruism is certainly not the motivation here because the cost of the classes are substantial, particularly for something that wholly virtual and not accredited.

How did we come to this?

Perhaps what happened is that when the economy was in a much better state, some of these consultants did very well. The self-proclaimed masters have, indeed, experienced high earnings.

They had already acquired some key connections when the pandemic hit and create a new surge of demand for digital marketing content. With everyone working remotely anyway, it was a lot easier to be accepted as a consultant who delivered without having to be present in a NYC or LA office while still demanding the rates associated with those high-cost cities.

What a difference a year or two makes!

However, times have changed. Now these people have found that they're not nearly as in-demand at present as they likely were when brands were investing heavily in content marketing, particularly during the pandemic.

Finding that their income has dropped, they are now trying to supplement it with courses and some with other materials you can purchase.

In fact, some are even starting to boast about how much they've made from such sales.

Those who are trying to appeal to the value of exclusivity will like not publicize exactly how much they've made. For example, the "master" behind the course I described earlier claimed he will "restrict" attendance to 60 for his course to allow for "individual attention."

At $1500 a pop that amounts to $90K over mere weeks. But that will only happen if he gets the 60, which I seriously doubt. I'm sure he'll get a handful of people, but I believe he priced something with no guarantees too high to attract the desperate.

Of course, there are techniques one could learn and improve. But it's not really the quality of your work or even the leads it brings in that guarantees you're paid what you're worth. However, my own experience of 18+ years in the biz has taught me that timing and connections count for far more.

Related

A matter of degree

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A straight pitch?

Today I received the following email (personal identifiers removed):

Ariella,

As you may know, in my capacity as Chief Marketing Guy for The __ __ Project, I help facilitate networking meetings for professionals who are members of ___ with other professionals who I am connected with on LinkedIn and in other networks.
There is a ___ member named ___, [She] is looking to meet and network with (NOT sell to) other professional business women who are serious about their businesses and careers. I was wondering if I can make an introduction and facilitate a networking meeting between the two of you.
Let me know.
Make it a wonderful day. 

I responded that I would just send an invitation to connect on LI, which I did (though I then discovered that the person was there twice, having failed to remove her old profile). I got this response to that:

Ok cool.

Would you be interested in us setting up a meeting  between the two of you?

I declined that honor because I really don't favor in-person meetings. 

He didn't like that and tried to still persuade me by saying, "Really? Why is that? They are extremely effective. I have meetings multiple times a week, and thus grow my network effectively and successfully."

Well, good for him. I happen to be connected to over 1300 people and organizations online, though I've only met a small handful of them. And some people I've taken the time to meet have proven to be a huge waste of my time.  
 I wrote back:
 "Just a matter of personal preference. I don’t mind talking on the phone, and I’ve found it works just as well." 

He finally dropped the matter. The fact that he was so keen on the meeting, though, makes me suspect that the woman he was contacting was not just trying to meet other professionals but to try to sell her services to them. That is what she does professionally, marketing.  And that would make the original claim that said "(NOT sell to) false." In fact, likely that's what he was being paid to do, procure prospective clients for her under the guise of setting up networking.

What makes this even more suspect is that the guy who claims he loves meetings hasn't even met the person he's promoting! I sent her a message about the pitch via LinkedIn and she said that someone else at the same organization is trying to set up a meeting between him and her. Hmm...