How we make our money is at least as important as how much we are making. I just said no to a very promising business opportunity – simply because it violated one of my core business principles.

I believe we set ourselves up for failure if we start to listen to any of these external voices promising us a shortcut to success. No matter if it is Tony Robbins or one of his million wannabe offsprings. I believe they should all vanish. Sorry but I am a total hardass when it comes to that.

You’d make a much better motivational speaker than any of these guys – as long as money stays out of the mix.

I did not watch the video.

And, I too am adverse to get rich quick methodology. Seems to play on the notion that many of us want to take the easy road.

Thanks!
J

I also don’t see Tony Robbins as a get rich scammer. The guy has literally helped millions of people through skillful means.

The problem with ordinary therapists and coaches is that they often struggle to market themselves and end up serving less people as a result. Think of what could be possible if those same therapists and holistic practitioners new wound business skills and could run huge corporations. Wow. that would be cool.

Like the first comment, I am also a little averse to “internet marketing” programs which seem to promise a get rich quick.

Overall thanks for the article though. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my relationship to money and these thoughts here come at a good time to help me think it through some more.
-J

Robbins’ newest “reality infomercial” videos are celebrating the get-rich-quick gurus John Reese and Frank Kern as heroes, reframing their scams not working as the fault of people not having enough “certainty” and not taking action. This is a great tactic for distracting from the impossibilities of everyone “succeeding” in an extremely crowded market, and distracting from the highly manipulative sales tactics Kern, Reese, and Robbins use to sell products.

If you pay very close attention at the beginning in the first video you linked to, Robbins implies that they were spontaneously getting together and therefore “we might as well film it.” Hmmmm….then why was there “spontaneously” a shot of the car driving down the road (camera #1), and two more cameras “spontaneously” in the backseat of the car ready to film *before* Kern calls Robbins to meet?

This is the first of many bold-faced lies in the Robbins’ video. If he had not lied about the obviously planned nature of this video, perhaps the rest of it would be more trustworthy.

Reese and Kern apparently are seeking Robbins’ “help” with a problem they have in their business, i.e. that their customers are lazy and negative and don’t follow through. The real problem is that they don’t have a business but a get-rich-quick scam. People buy their expensive products (Kern’s go from $2400-$3000) under high-pressure and only afterwards realize they would have to become a psychopath in order to pull off the marketing tactics Reese or Kern are encouraging. Even then their “success” would depend on an enormous amount of luck in the ever-crowed get-rich-quick make-money-online marketplace.

This “spontaneous conversation” frames Reese and Kern as good guys who want to help their customers succeed so much that they’ve called on Robbins for help, thus turning all criticism of their products into a problem of motivation, which can be solved with their new product (which isn’t being sold yet but no doubt will be in just a few short weeks, thus perpetuating the idea that they are doing this for free just to help, that they aren’t selling you anything).

A modest amount of money and success is a wonderful thing. Personal motivation, a positive attitude, and taking action are important to reach any goal. But treating get-rich-quick scammers as if they are leaders and heroes instead of greed-purveyors is upside-down and backwards. Ordinary coaches and therapists are much, much better for society than scammers like these.