this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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Proof that these courses are scamming you (alien.top)
submitted 1 year ago by MarketingToExpats@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space
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Hi all

So I thought I'd share how I researched one company behind the "earn $1m+" adverts. Prepare to come on a ride down the rabbit hole!

I had this advert pop up on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/v/DjZxpv843KcDLptd/

It's a marketing agency, telling me how I can make my first $1 million from a marketing agency by passively getting leads whilst I sleep.

Great! I'd like a million bucks.

So I looked her up on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/giulia-smith-1aa9b535?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app

Scroll to the bottom and what do we have? A recommendation from Ed Razzell about what a great job Giulia did on his course about making money... If she was that amazing, wouldn't she have loads of actual client recommendations? If she scaled my business to a million bucks, I'd give her a glowing recommendation. But no, it seems she has attended a course by someone telling her how to make money by making a course.

But there's more.

See, information on UK companies is always public. Here's her company:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11437139

What can we ascertain?

The company has way more liabilities than assets

The address was changed from literally "nowhere" to a physical address in July this year

A guy was added as a co-owner ans COO recently, with no relevant work experience (if she scaled her business "as you can, with her course", wouldn't she get an amazing angel, an investor with so much credential?)

The company claims on its website to have 12 employees, yet when you go to its LinkedIn page, only the two owners show.

The accounts it produces are "micro company accounts". From the UK official government website:

"Micro-entities Micro-entities are very small companies. Your company will be a micro-entity if it has any 2 of the following:

a turnover of £632,000 or less

£316,000 or less on its balance sheet

10 employees or less"

So, it has 12 employees, a turnover of well over a million, yet can also satisfy the micro-entity requirement?

Conclusion: don't fall for these "buy a course" ads - if they can't obtain what they promise ($1m+), neither can you.

I hope you found this useful

top 16 comments
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[–] GenIISD@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Wow! Thanks for sharing your research!

[–] Complex-Shelter1437@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

There are two things I always tell to my friends.

  1. Nobody will ever spend their advertising dollar to make you money, they are advertising to make money themselves.
  2. Behind any ads, I ask what's in it for them. Anyone who knows how to make 7 figure a year, they wouldn't sell that secret for however much they charge for their course.
[–] BankingScrilla@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Hence why one would download the torrent of the course.

[–] EntranceOld9706@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Coaching coaches to coach coaches 👍

I had a great coach set me up with my first business but honestly he was more of a consultant because he worked with me on my actual business and value proposition, structures, processes, etc.. not just creating a course about courses.

I would never take advice from these people with no “there,” there, like you pointed out.

With half the business coaches offering seven figure years in xyz niche, it’s like ok great, if you did it, why aren’t you still doing it, even hands-off?

[–] erogers999@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I used to make YouTube videos exposing fake gurus. I stopped because I realized I was teaching more people how to do it by exposing how the fakes were faking everything lol. There will always be snake oil salesman.

[–] cydestiny@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Oh great idea, I'mma sell a course to teach y'all how to avoid these courses.

Table of content:

  • How to use LinkedIn to background check a company
  • How to Google legit official company information (only works in UK)
  • Bonus content: How to use ChatGPT to identify scams
  • Bonus bonus content worth $7999: How to use ChatGPT 4.0 without paying (p.s. use Bing Chat).
  • Also entitled to join our "Anti-course Guardian Entity" - AGE private subreddit and invite-only Discord.
[–] Traditional_Mix68@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Get a coach not a course!!

[–] Spiiterz@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Meh this ad wouldn’t be made for most of the people in here

I do agree that her claim of making $1m per year is stupid without having client results to back it up

But her ad is exactly how 99% of B2b lead generation agencies present themselves

I really doubt there’s a course and typically these lead gen people offer guarantees that can only apply to businesses doing over $100k/yr

[–] Defiant-Life-7881@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I love these Gurus

[–] d3vi0uz1@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

99% of courses are scams. Just look at all the universities that charge thousands of dollars. And you have to do all the work yourself!

[–] CriticalNovel22@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

The quickest way to make a lot of money is selling a way to make a lot of money.

[–] DM_Me_Pics1234403@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

In the FS it says she has 1 employee. My guess is she’s counting contractors as employees to inflate the number to 12

[–] acceptable_momentum@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

We need a detective to continue looking for these scammers.

[–] jzia93@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I've seen a weird trend (not sure if it's a scam) of just re-hashing free material. Saw this a lot when learning how to program in rust. There were 2 kinds of re-hashing:

  1. A genuinely good, well-intentioned and free set of YouTube videos by a guy who walked through chapters in the official online textbook - no problems with this guy his channel is letsgetrusty
  2. A load of pseudo-scammy udemy courses offering the same material but charging users. I checked one out and it was literally the same course content but repackaged in different branding.
[–] fromindiapakistan@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Facts man!

[–] PachoWumbo@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I'd say no shit, but somebody's gotta check em once in a while, so thanks too.