Lately, you might have been checking Instagram or TikTok frequently and seeing many people flashing their sports cars, houses and bragging about how rich they got investing or how successful their new business idea that made them rich overnight. It looks like they are living the best life out there. Whether genuine or fake, the level of self-pity and jealousy is almost inescapable for many. You might ask yourself, “why am I broke and why I can not be as rich as they are”. If you feel this way, I will show why people fake their lives.
Social Media is a platform for fake invention; you never see those influencers failures. They only show you what they want you to see: wealth, success, and a tragic backstory that they manage to turn into success. The truth is no one is perfect, even if they are rich and successful, because, in the end, they are humans just like you, and they do have insecurities.
You should know that fame follows success, but because we live in the age of social media, you can create fame by faking success. As humans, we are drawn to success; it is just a fact. Success does not have to be a financial success; it can be anything, like intellectual or physical success. Either way, you are hurting yourself by accepting the feelings of not being enough or you will never be as successful and important as those people.
Therefore, Social Media allowed many people to practice their fake lifestyles. In my opinion, no one summed it better than Elon Musk in this short video:
Why do people fake their life on social media?
People fake their life because they want to cover their failures, get instant gratification, sell you something, make money, or build followers. This is part of their brand; people follow them because they do something or have something. You should know that you are the product, not the customer; that is why they are free. The easiest way to grab your attention is by showing you something flashy.
How can you tell a fake guru? or fake influencer?
No one is that perfect, especially the one who manages to run his multi-million dollar company, but at the same time, they have free webinars because they want to teach you how to build wealth and get rich quickly! Also, they are nice, and they want you to be successful too – for free. Honestly, no one is that nice. If there is one thing I know, it is that nothing is for free. They do have agenda; usually, it is your money, so do not buy into their scheme.
Obviously, it does not apply to all, but the level of fakeness from some gurus is just ridiculous and almost so easy to spot. Ture investors are all about minimising your expenses and increasing your assets. Yet what you see is fake gurus in flashing cars, jets, or on a swimming pool in some fancy apartment. I am sure they had just rented them a few hours ago.
The silly thing is that they started to get super creative such as filming those videos on top of mountains, showing you at least 10 supercars in one ad, or playing with words to sound clever. They did not make this because they are nice but because they want to get you into their scheme. Otherwise, what sort of a successful business owner or investor wastes their precious time teaching others how to make millions in a few Steps (usually 5!)? Well, it is the fake one.
This video will make you feel good 🙂
How to spot fake gurus?
If you are looking for a specific online course or interested in learning something, you will likely get a herd of gurus ads. You can learn many things from the internet, but Unfortunately, those fake gurus made it hard to distinguish between the genuine and the fake.
As a general rule, the minute you see an ad is usually a red flag; it is subjective these days. Although it does not mean it is always fake, after research and spending hours watching fake gurus ads, I found the following are distinctive features of fake gurus and scammy ads:
- Being very pushy.
- Using strong language.
- Playing with words to make them sound smart.
- Saying something that is almost too good to be true.
- Using cliche phrases.
- No clear idea or objective.
- They say something such as “I developed 5 steps to ….”.
- Epic background music.
- Filmed in a luxurious or exotic environment.
- Being self-centered and superior to others
Falling for these ads is so easy because they offer you a free product full of recycled ideas, and when you get to the actual thing, you will be surprised to find that it is really just a scam. The materials are a copy from some book or new nonsense that rarely works.
Never buy a book or sign up for a heavily advertised course, and when you start seeing other ads about the same thing, you should know they are only copying from each other. Do your research well, apply the above and rely on your instants; you will find something true.
This video will make you laugh — Warning: It contains strong language.
The bottom line
Use common sense to analyse fake gurus on social media. Ask yourself why they are doing it? More than usual, you will find they are fake. Therefore, do not get sucked in the idea of not being good enough or needing their help to learn something because they want you to feel that way. If you let them in, it will affect your mental health.
If you want to become financially independent, reading books and talking to experts who put time into building wealth is the right way. I wrote an article about financial independence you might be interested in reading. Please do not fall into their get rich quick scheme because it does not work.
Building wealth takes time; in fact, the wealthiest people in your neighbourhood are the ones who do not drive the best cars or look the richest. Why?. Because they know that spending money on liabilities will not contribute to their wealth, which is precisely the opposite with fake gurus. I wrote an article about what self-made millionaires do to build wealth that might help.
Finally, do not be intimidated, they are not geniuses, and surely they have not discovered the holy grale to happiness and wealth. My advice is to make fun out of it because now you know how to distinguish them. If you see an ad with some crazy fake rich guru, try to find one of the distinctive features of fake gurus – If you think about it, they are spending their money to entertain you.
