With the explosion of social media over the last five years has come an explosion of gurus. Everyone and anyone can become a guru with internet access and good lighting for their photos. The thing about being a guru is that there are no rules or criteria for it. Went through a bad breakup and decided to write about it? You can become a relationship guru. Gave up sugar for a year and took photos of all your sugar-less meals? Congrats, you can now be a health guru.
One of the most popular out there is the business guru. Stop me if you’ve heard it before; someone’s face pops up on your Facebook or Instagram and promises you the secret to getting thousands of new followers, or reaching six figures in six months, if you only follow their process.
Don’t get me wrong; there is a lot to be learned from a lot of these people. By no means am I saying that you need a business degree, or some type of credential from an Ivy league university to really know your stuff.
What I am saying is, there comes a time that you need to stop consuming other people’s content. There comes a time when what you’re reading is the same old advice, just in a different color scheme, on each website you visit. And there comes a time when you need to call a little bs on some of these business gurus advice.
Calling BS
I’ve spent the last two years building my financial education company, Bravely. In that time, I’ve read hundreds of articles on marketing, on sales funnels, and on finding your business ‘why.’ And I’ve learned a lot!
But what I began to notice is that many of the people who are branding themselves as experts, gurus, or professionals, are only sharing part of the picture.
People might say they are six figure earners- but how much of that are they holding on to?
They say they have a team- but how many are full time?
There’s nothing wrong with spending a lot of the money you earn (as long as you’re not in debt!) and there’s nothing wrong with having a team of part time employees. But it’s not what I want.
I want a full time staff member to work with me. I want to continue saving 60-70% of my income as my income goes up. And that’s when it clicked for me; these people are not sharing the complete vision of a business that I want.
Find Your Own Road
Only you can build out the type of business and life that you want. You might pick up bits and pieces from someone else, but at a certain point, you have to block them out. What they are creating and selling is only a portion of the business that you want.
You have to be honest with yourself about what these business gurus say. You have to look beyond the Facebook ad and determine if what they have to say and sell really aligns with your own business.
It’s ok if the answer is yes. But it’s also ok if the answer is no. And right now, the answer for me is no.
