Today’s entry is brought to you by the word Cynicism. Written like that, with a big Capital C. You know how there are plenty of scams all around, all the time? Some legal and just a wee bit sneaky, and others way less legal and downright prison-inducing. Nigerian millions, pyramid schemes, thigh-and-bun-blaster-2000, Madoff… there are tons to get involved with if you have too much money.
Well today, we are going to be talking about the rise of the ‘expert’. In the western world, of the legal scams, I reckon this has got to be one of the most pervasive, tricky to spot, and potentially damaging. I’m talking about self-proclaimed teachers, trainers, experts, gurus.
Time for a little definition from an online encylopedia: (shush, a legit one!)
Guru: The term, which comes from Hinduism, refers to a spiritual teacher. “Gu” means darkness, and “ru” means light thus a guru turns ignorance into enlightenment. In the west, the term has been interpreted quite often as simply an expert in a field whether that person helps you learn or understand anything or not.
People who place themselves higher than others need to have a very very good reason for doing so. And I do believe than many do, and it’s worth listening with big ears to soak up every word.
But when you take that kind of approach with someone who doesn’t really know much about plumbing/websites/medicine/marketing etc then you can open yourself and your business to a very costly exercise which is at best useless, and at worst, harmful.
I want to talk specifically about business now. I’ve seen so many business seminars/coaching sessions/advisors advertised lately, and it’s really making me wonder. It’s a wildly unregulated field, and the claims are splashed about everywhere but very rarely guaranteed in any way.
It seems like small businesses might easily be sucked into thinking they need help from ‘experts’ to get started, and that they should spend significant amounts in ‘upskilling’ themselves to be able to run their own business. I do wonder though, if a business expert is so expert… why isn’t he on a yacht in the caribbean with his millions instead of desperately advertising for clients to pass his gems on to?
I guess the only (and cliched…) advice is just to be wary. While there are plenty of people out there who know more than you about lots of things (so many that it’s quite depressing in fact) there are also plenty who are only out to rip you off. If you need business advice, look around a bit. Ask someone who’s tried the service you are considering. Maybe try some of the free options first. Try approaching someone you respect to mentor you. Don’t expect a quick fix - that screams ’scam’ like nothing else.
I would love to hear from anyone who is a business coach/mentor/guru… or if you have tried one, what happened?
Hey Nadine,
nice post! Yeah I’m with you on that one. I’ve been approached many a time as a small business owner who ‘obviously’ needs help running a business from a ‘expert’ or ‘business coach’.
I’m always open to new ideas and ways of doing things, but with the amount of marketing/business books and free information on the Internet these days, I don’t see any need to pay $15K to have someone tell me what I should be doing. There are NO business ’secrets’ that all these people claim to have.
I’ve had a couple of meetings and free business evaluations from business coaches and I have nothing against them, they are nice people. However, the majority if not all of the ideas they put forward to me I have previously read about in books, on the internet, or are simple commonsense business building ideas.
I’m sure you will be surrounded by dozens of them at the business expo next month!
Hi Nadine,
I can’t resist to quickly express my whole-hearted agreement to your ‘rant’. I was nodding the whole way through! My field of work is psychology and it is really quite mind boggling to see how many people out there are experts in telling everyone how to live their lives. Don’t get me wrong - asking for support and getting assistance is VERY important for all of us at different times in our lives. It just seems that there are too many unqualified gurus/ advisors/ life coaches out there…and they really can cause a lot of damage in a vulnerable person’s life! My advice to clients and anyone seeking assistance: shop around. Trial and error in finding the right support in this area of our life is even more important that finding the right car mechanic, hair dresser or even accountant. Word of mouth is probably the most important avenue in finding someone who will fulfill your needs. This also applies to books, aricles and websites… some of them.. well let’s say they are NOT written by experts… Apologies for this outburst, but I just have seen too much damage done! Thanks for your thoughts, though! Cheers.