Gilded Traps đ¸đ¸đ¸
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Have you ever fallen into the gilded trap of high-paying opportunities, only to find yourself holding the fool's gold at the end?
You don't have to say it out loud because apparently, people don't like to talk about their failures which is totally fine, but I'm wary of those who pretend to succeed in everything they do.
This topic of deceptive money-making schemes stemmed from an entirely different discussion with @soulsdetour under my recent post. She encouraged me to write more about it. I didn't plan to do it any time soon but my mind was tangled in that thread, so here I am. I will focus on a particular kind of seamless scam in this blog. If you are in a hurry to know, feel free to skip the next few paragraphs, but if you like to read stories then walk with me...
A little background for the context which some of you already know...
Despite having a high-paying degree, I chose my family over my career. It was a difficult decision for an ambitious person like me but since there were no financial restraints, it was easier to let go. My husband's job is extremely demanding but provides financial stability, if I also had gone after a 9-5 then we would be rolling in dough, but then the kids would have suffered. I know many people manage it and their kids turn out fine. Let's say, in our particular case, we would have to make other compromises too like living apart.
Long story short, I opted for online opportunities whenever I had extra time, just to feel productive. Over time, I tried different things. I switched from programming to something less intense like writing due to countless distractions and the added responsibilities of home and kids.
I signed up on every freelancing site but I quickly learned that freelancing is harder than a 9-5. I have completed numerous projects but most of the work I receive is through direct/real-life connections. One day, my brother suggested me to use LinkedIn as the platform helped him a lot to build a successful career.
He doesn't do anything on LinkedIn except keeping his profile up to date. On the other hand, the writer in me, started creating content on LinkedIn because apparently that's what most people do there nowadays.
I was so influenced by the LinkedIn Influencers. Having spent a great deal of time on Instagram and watching pointless fashion or meme content, the LI influencers seemed more productive and thoughtful. I learned something new through each post. It was my newly found paradise of knowledge on in-demand skills. Name a skill and you will find experts sharing their practical knowledge on it, all for free.
The platform has great potential but soon I lost interest in writing there. I noticed, there was a certain kind of content that received more traction. Since content creators run after views and likes, I saw people leaving their niches and choosing to create certain kind of content. What was that traffic-generating content about? Any guesses?
How to excel on LinkedIn? (:
Even here on steem, if you write a steem guide or something about your contributions like promotion, development or investment, that kind of content is more likely to get votes than your personal blogs. Imagine, everyone starts writing guides here...
That's what is happening on LinkedIn on a mass scale because such content gets more views and helps gain more followers. Now I don't demean it but when everybody starts educating then who will be the students and not to mention that LinkedIn is just a tool, not a skill. People enthusiastically start with writing about their area of expertise but when they don't get engagement they start writing about what gets more eye balls.
And then...they start selling it.
They become gurus - the online ones.
They are not limited to LinkedIn. They are everywhere. Insta gurus, marketing gurus, freelancing gurus, crypto gurus...
I'm not implying that everyone is fake, but the general trend is that, when people fail to make decent money through whatever skill they have, they become teachers, and they start selling courses and e-books and whatnot.
How I made $10k through upwork? Get this e-book and see my exact strategy.
Make $1000 overnight with my exclusive crypto advice, only $7 for an hour-long call.
How to go from zero to 1M followers? Grab my e-book now. First 50 buyers will get a 70% discount.
LinkedIn and other social platforms are filled with this kind of crap.
And then there are courses on Coursera and Udemy about hard skills like web development and graphic designing. Some are professionally detailed but no matter how good you get at a skill, it takes a lot of patience to land your first few clients or first few dollars.
Right when demotivation starts kicking in, thanks to targeted advertising, you start seeing ads of gurus teaching all the soft skills you need to land your first client and make your first $10k.
If they were so good in their field and if it was so easy to get clients, then why they don't do it themselves? They hit the pain points of beginners and start selling them whatever little knowledge they have. Because it makes more money with less effort.
A few years ago, I fell into a similar trap. I bought a couple of courses and e-books on some soft skills. Although I learned enough through practice and research for free but just to be sure that I wasn't missing out on anything, I bought some flashy courses. Don't ask me how much I regret it to date.
Some were good but mostly there was nothing new that wasn't available on the Internet for free.
If I excel at Steem, that doesn't mean, I should create a course and start selling it for $$$. Although, there is nothing wrong with it but my conscience doesn't allow me to charge for something that is already available for free. I know I could charge for my time but perhaps I'm so pissed at online gurus that I don't want to be one of them. It would be too easy for me to grab clients by showing my wallet and blog and unlike fake gurus, I could actually help them grow on Steem with the little influence I have. It could be a successful side-hustle. I really hope no scammer reads this brilliant idea. đ
Lastly, I want to empahsize on the fact that I don't mean to offend the teachers in any way. It's one of the most noble profession. There are many genuine online teachers who put their blood and sweat into their work. Having said that, bad eggs are everywhere. Technology has provided us easy access to target audience and knowledge, fake gurus exploit this by repackaging already available information and sell it with minimal effort.
P.S. I still think LinkedIn has a lot of potential but I'm rethinking how to use it in steem's favour. That's why I'm silent about it for the time being.
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