What's Up With All The Guru Haters?

Was it a good one before?

define guru?

I love Gurus. I guess it became bad when tons of people kept giving up and blaming the "Guru" for their problems.

i think most people claim to not be "gurus" so they can connect to their customers on a more personal level. even if they have extensive knowledge on a subject. no one likes people that toot their own horn.

Cuz too many people with average knowledge defined themselves as Guru to sell or have authority. When in reality they weren't really Gurus and it started to backfire. Now people are de-sensitized to Guru so it doesn't have as much weight. I usually steered away from anyone that called themselves guru.

It's a marketing method - you use human group instincts and introduce an enemy, the "other party" in contrast to "us". This can, of course, have the effect of getting people to dislike Gurus. So it's several reasons at once, I'd say.

Allen

I think it is more common in recent sales copy they're are always trying to second guess their prospects, get into theirs minds and create controversy, any kind of emotion is better than no emotion. I also think that the idea behind this comes from trying to separate themselves from all the scams out there based on the assumption that Guru = scam.

Im just guessing really but that's my theory anyway.

I'm not sure I hate gurus, but I have definitely become indifferent to them. I suppose I just appreciate the more practical advice I can get on WF without all the hyperbole that comes along with a sales letter.

People hate gurus because gurus never reveal themselves to the public in a transparent way.

In other words, how many times per day do you see guys like Frank Kern on forums or chat with him on Skype?

I understand, he does 5000 dollar coaching and has better things to do with his time. But what do you do when the person you're learning from wants to do anything but maintain direct contact with you and is selling you an info product?

I hate doing business with people like that.

Oh, and all the stuff about stuff not working and being garbage. There's that too.

I think that unfortunately so many people have pretended to be experts or gurus that anyone that now claims to be one (whether they are or not) makes people sceptical.

That said, claiming to be a novice doesn't help much either!

To me, its just pot calling the cattle black.

A thief calling another thief a thief.

A murderer calling another killer a murderer.

Too many Marketers are calling themselves "GURU" and offering useless stuff that costs a lot but never works. I think that's why there are lots of Guru haters

In the physical world, we also use the words "experts," "authorities" etc. for guru, but that's a bit stiff for the wild and wooly world of IM, isn't it.

I view the genuine IM gurus as those who've made boatloads of money online by working hard and investing a lot to identify marketplace demands and then developing and marketing the products that serve. But to answer your lead question, I think the trend of "uncool to be labeled a Guru" must have begun when various gurus got greedy and ruthless, giving their more honest peers and the entire industry an undeserved bad rep.

It logically follows that the truly ethical gurus now have the challenge of marketing their own credibility as successful experts/authorities while finding the words to distinguish themselves from the ruthless and greedy ones without seeming to be on the defensive.

Meanwhile, you get promos from folks who really aren't gurus and take pains to say so, and that does sell for all the obvious reasons to a marketplace that's been so abused.

Re the sales letter about plotting conspiracies, I've seen that tactic in many video promos featuring the story of the promoter's personal evolution from nothing to success in IM. It goes like, he went to a seminar and later, in the bar, discovered a bunch of famous gurus consorting on various ways they've pulled the wool over our eyes and joking about our collective stupidity. In some versions the naïve and innocent outsider (who is now promoting something to you) was laughed at and rejected from this conspiratorial group. Whether or not these events were ever true, somebody started it as what became, IMHO, a phony marketing ploy told in various versions in many promos.

Thanks for the interesting question,

MBDirect

The first starting off point should be this: define "guru".

It's the guru-haters who made up that term. I've never seen or heard an established marketer ever refer to themselves as a g-u-r-u.

Most people don't hate whatever that perceived term is supposed to mean. People are just tired of the bulls!t from a few rotten apples in this industry. People also tend to focus on the negative, which short-changes those in this industry that do a lot of good.

I'm not going to name names as that would be in poor taste and probably against the rules. But there are some freakin' AWESOME marketers out there who do a lot of good things behind the scenes: they are far more than their products / services.

And then there are some real scumbags out there. I've run into a few of them over the years at seminars and for some of these individuals, it's ALL about the money and they try and rip people off for as much as they can for as long as they can. Then, they close shop and start up a new LLC and repeat the process.

These "push-button" peddlers, as I like to call them, give our industry a bad name. The back lash against them has been brewing for years and it's starting to manifest itself in different ways.

So while I don't agree with lumping all "g-u-r-u-s" into one blanket general statement, I can understand why some people jump on the hate band wagon, but that doesn't make it right. There are healthier ways to express frustration.

RoD

I think it's not so much about actual 'guru haters' - people have become
disenchanted with what seems to have been an abundance of poor quality products in 2011, IM in general, and maybe even more discouraged at themselves for not having found/achieved success yet...

There has to be someone to blame (other than themselves), therefore let's blame the 'gurus'? Just my 2 cents...

for as long as there have been gurus, (since the dawn of men) there has been the haters.

Love them or hate them, they do know things and can teach you things.

I think it is more about do what I do, and not what I say. That has increased our profits each months. Reverse engineer them.

I guess it has some kind of hesitations attached to it - since a lot are claiming to to be one when they're not!

People hate on gurus because the "gurus" sell you a $500 box, and tell you what to do, instead of showing you how to do it... effectively keeping their "secrets" safe.

If you are successful you will have haters it's reality.

Like any over-used word. Guru is begining to fall into the realm of cliche.

I've been scammed more than once and I believe that what drives people to blame the gurus - is the fact that in the eyes of many people they represent the IM industry. And since this industry is now full of scams and problems, people tend to blame the "leaders".

Gurus are blaming the so-called guru to make their sales page more believable?

I'm not even a Guru in my own house. Fml

That makes no sense Daniel. Look up the definition of the word and please tell me why calling myself an entrepreneur lacks modesty.

Perhaps the fact that I refer to myself as a lady or a woman or a businesswoman might also lack modesty?

You always struck me as a smart man...

Actually guru means spread the light, and one thing for sure a guru never said that he is a guru

I prefer the word coach.

I don't know what it is, but I think using the word "entrepreneur" sounds kinda silly too. But I think in my case it's more of a reflection on the people I know that use that word. In other words, dreamers that do nothing but talk use the word "entrepreneur". People that actually own and run successful businesses usually just say "I own a (fill in blank) business".

The only thing more cheesy is when people say "I'm a serial entrepreneur".

I think the term Guru may sound pretentiousness to some people.

The reason why this is happening more often is simply because at one point The word "Guru" held lots of power. The reason why these new internet marketers come by to bash them is because they want to gain a reputation for themselves.

Sadly, it is a fact that some if not most of the so called "Gurus" failed to deliver on their promises. What better time than now would there be to start gaining a reputation from making them look stupid?

And yet Daniel, you use the word "professional' to describe yourself in your signature.

Could this possibly be a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

Di :p

They hates GURU's and at the same time, they opt-in to their list? Please explain.