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I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

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Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#31

Post by robertAngst »

woogiewonka wrote: post #30

These "influencers" and their instagram accounts are so cringeworthy. How can anyone live their life like this, constantly posing and putting on an image? This can't be healthy. I get the money making aspect and getting paid to do something like travel.. but at what point does posing for glamour shots take away the fun of enjoying the places you go? Why do people follow these people? I don't get it...

> but at what point does posing for glamour shots take away the fun of enjoying the places you go? Why do people follow these people? I don't get it...

That is exactly it, it becomes a job.

Its not really different than watching cable TV and hearing someone review a travel destination.

>This can't be healthy.

I think this is 'grass is greener on the other side' effect. What makes traveling and growing your influence unhealthy?

Its that we want this ideal lifestyle, and are jealous(?).

Whatever the case, most people are not making even 6 figures off their instagram accounts by just posting pictures. OP's article talked about offering an additional service.

Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#32

Post by robertAngst »

Aloha wrote: post #26

Quite arguably the job of an 'influencer' is to scam people.

This affects me daily.

I run a popular website that has saved hundreds of thousands of people money and time. Its been cool, but I lose about 1-3k/yr.

Often people tell me to run ads, or put affiliate links, or whatever.

The issue becomes, I wouldn't be saving people money.

The entire purpose of Efficiency Is Everything is to help people. If I'm shilling some crappy mutual fund or promoting an expensive protein shake- I failed my purpose.

/rant, but I do not think I will be profitable unless I contradict my original purpose.

Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#33

Post by giarc »

CamelCaseName wrote: post #4

Wow, great write up. Thanks a lot for taking the course and talking about it, perhaps it was because you went into it willing to burn $500 but many would stay silent. I can't believe at the missed business opportunity here. It sounds like she could have easily pulled 7 figures from running those classes. Even if she hired a "business manager" of sorts for a cut to grow her lessons, it would have been a really financi…

>It sounds like she could have easily pulled 7 figures from running those classes.

That's what blows my mind. She had 500 people sign up for the course, obviously there is demand. I don't feel like it would be too hard to put together a 12 week course and have people feel like they got their money worth. Then just simply rinse and repeat. Heck, she could have even found the real die hards from the original 500 and offered a special one-to-one course for $5000 and had weekly one on one's with her. Sounds like it could have been a cash cow.

Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#34

Post by jancsika »

CamelCaseName wrote: post #4

Wow, great write up. Thanks a lot for taking the course and talking about it, perhaps it was because you went into it willing to burn $500 but many would stay silent. I can't believe at the missed business opportunity here. It sounds like she could have easily pulled 7 figures from running those classes. Even if she hired a "business manager" of sorts for a cut to grow her lessons, it would have been a really financi…

> I can't believe at the missed business opportunity here. It sounds like she could have easily pulled 7 figures from running those classes.

You seem to be overlooking that she already made up to $225,000 for doing close to nothing.

Plus up to $25,000 for making the first assignment "Start building a pyramid scheme for me." And that's gravy on top of however many new rubes signed up for the next course for which she "solved" the refund problem with a third party payment service.

Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#37

Post by mratzloff »

robertAngst wrote: post #14
smudgymcscmudge wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many people would recognize my name. I’d guess 2,000 tops. Somebody who 800,000 people have heard of seems like a celebrity to me.

Paid followers are a real thing. Check out these people's website/youtube on Alexa(or similar). They are dead. Or check out the comments and see how fake/active the posts are.

Sure, but any company paying an influencer does background research to verify follower counts and activity. Fake influencers may lure unsophisticated companies, but it's much harder to scam the big ones.

Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#38

Post by maxxxxx »

woogiewonka wrote: post #30

These "influencers" and their instagram accounts are so cringeworthy. How can anyone live their life like this, constantly posing and putting on an image? This can't be healthy. I get the money making aspect and getting paid to do something like travel.. but at what point does posing for glamour shots take away the fun of enjoying the places you go? Why do people follow these people? I don't get it...

I myself have no desire to live that lifestyle but when you think about, it probably beats most office jobs by far.

Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#39

Post by lifeformed »

jancsika wrote: post #34
CamelCaseName wrote: post #4

Wow, great write up. Thanks a lot for taking the course and talking about it, perhaps it was because you went into it willing to burn $500 but many would stay silent. I can't believe at the missed business opportunity here. It sounds like she could have easily pulled 7 figures from running those classes. Even if she hired a "business manager" of sorts for a cut to grow her lessons, it would have been a really financi…

> I can't believe at the missed business opportunity here. It sounds like she could have easily pulled 7 figures from running those classes. You seem to be overlooking that she already made up to $225,000 for doing close to nothing . Plus up to $25,000 for making the first assignment "Start building a pyramid scheme for me." And that's gravy on top of however many new rubes signed up for the next course for which she…

I look at it as: $225k to kill the golden goose.

Re: I was scammed by a celebrity influencer

#40

Post by Aloha »

robertAngst wrote: post #32
Aloha wrote: post #26

Quite arguably the job of an 'influencer' is to scam people.

This affects me daily. I run a popular website that has saved hundreds of thousands of people money and time. Its been cool, but I lose about 1-3k/yr. Often people tell me to run ads, or put affiliate links, or whatever. The issue becomes, I wouldn't be saving people money. The entire purpose of Efficiency Is Everything is to help people. If I'm shilling some crappy mutual fund or promoting an expensive protein shake…

I dont think adding a couple unobtrusive ads would impact saving people time or money.
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