Avoid These People - Focus On Learning Skills, Not Secrets

Avoid quick-fix schemes promising fast success; focus on long-term skill development, critical thinking, and high-value activities to build a sustainable consulting practice.

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There Are A Lot Of Pretenders Out There With Seductive Advice

This is a simple warning: don’t get side-tracked by anyone promising quick, amazing results.

Many years ago, an active website called SaltyDroid delighted in revealing the scams perpetrated by authors of various sales and marketing courses.

The playbook was always simple.

1. The authors would tell you they had discovered a secret to making a lot of money quickly (often with an ‘I used to be a loser…now I’m a winner’ vibe).

2. They would establish their credibility with precise claims about their income. Typically with (“I earned $72.3k a month by…”).

3. They would create urgency by giving you a limited window to secure one of the few places on their digital course to learn that secret (“I’m opening enrolment for only 24 hours!”.)

It was all nonsense. Whenever you see this combination, you should run for the hills.

The claims of success were either greatly exaggerated or outright lies. The only money they made was from persuading people to take their course.

And the ‘secret’ was either already well known (‘build a mailing list’), down to luck (‘buy Bitcoin in 2014!’), precarious (‘flipping homes and businesses for profit’), or too simplified to be useful (‘dropshipping/affiliate marketing’).

In short, don’t get sucked in - because many people do.

You’re More Susceptible Than You Think

I’ve met plenty of people who claim to be too clever to fall for such a strategy. Yet when the message comes from someone ‘in their tribe’ and presented as something ‘clever people do’ - they prove just as susceptible as anyone else.

The same people who claim they would never fall for a pyramid scheme pile into meme stocks and spend thousands of dollars on NFTs of digital monkeys.

Feeling you’re more intelligent than the average person makes you especially susceptible to the advice presented as something ‘smarter people’ do.

You might think this stuff is from the past, but it happens everywhere today. This happened to one of my coaching clients. She spent $2k on a sales course to attract clients — the course essentially told you she should create social ads to drive people to a landing page offering a free resource to attract newsletter subscribers. Then, make a sales funnel to turn those subscribers into clients.

She spent an additional $8k on ads, which attracted a few hundred subscribers of dubious quality but precisely zero sales. This cost her $10k and three months of her life.

You see variations of this all the time. For example, this ad from Jason Squires recently popped up in my LinkedIn feed.

When the offer sounds too good to be true - you should require extraordinary proof to believe it.

£139k per month sounds fantastic. Who wouldn’t want that?

But whenever we see an unlikely claim, we should naturally be suspicious.

Fortunately, the accounts of all UK companies are public record and we can explore them.

In short, Jason is -£55k in debt. This doesn’t exactly mean he’s fibbing; he might be generating £139k+ in revenue while spending, say, £150k on monthly ads. But I doubt his secret to going from £20k to £139k is to buy a boatload of unprofitable ads.

And the fact he’s filing as a ‘micro-entity’ suggests he’s generating a maximum of £52k per month (and there’s no evidence to suggest he’s anywhere near that figure).

(Aside: He blocked me when I asked him about this on LinkedIn.)

This isn’t to pick on Jason; he’s just one person whose claims are easier to falsify than others. I could easily have picked Codie Sanchez, Chandler Bolt, or others who make bold claims with limited evidence (often with painful consequences).

For comparison, here are my consultancy’s publicly available accounts:

As of Aug, 2022, FeverBee had £780k (or $1.02m) in the bank (it’s just over £1m today ($1.26m) today).

I Speak From Past Experience

These courses and resources are incredibly seductive.

In my early days as a consultant, I often consumed resources offering a powerful secret to attracting new clients and felt like I was getting great ideas.

But I was led down the wrong path every time I embraced these principles.

I tried fake scarcity, long-form sales pages, super-specific social proof, and high-pressure sales funnels. These tactics didn’t help me and likely caused some people to question my integrity. Every time I adopted a tactic suggested by these folks, I regretted it.

Here’s a simple rule of thumb:

Does it make you feel uncomfortable? Are you proud of the actions you’re taking? If you explained precisely what you were doing to your mom, would she be proud of you?

If you told your past and present clients what you were doing, would they think better or worse of you?

Does it match the branding and positioning you’re putting forward?

See: Spend your time on high-value activities.

Focus On The Building Blocks Of Success

This doesn’t mean coaching and courses can’t help. There are a lot of people with terrific advice who can help you achieve better results. However, the best advice focuses on the building blocks for developing successful consultancy.

Instead of pursuing quick wins, you should target specific areas for improvement and improve in each. For example, you can develop your consulting roadmap and improve in particular skills each quarter. This will lead to long-term, sustainable results.

Taking courses on sales, solving problems, design, project management, public speaking, etc…are all valid things to do.

p.s. Getting better at proposals is one of the best skills you can learn.

But to improve your consulting results, focus on the building blocks. Focus on the skills, not the secrets.

Summary

• Avoid Quick-Fix Promises: Be wary of anyone offering fast, extraordinary results. These claims often involve exaggerated success stories and fabricated urgency to sell courses or methods that don’t work.

• Trust Proven, Long-Term Approaches: There is no "secret" to success. Real success in consulting requires consistent hard work, time, and some luck. Avoid distractions that promise shortcuts.

• Critical Thinking and Skepticism: Always question bold claims, especially when they seem too good to be true. Demand evidence and perform due diligence (e.g., verify business claims with public records).

• Avoid Scams or Ineffective Strategies: Tactics like fake scarcity, exaggerated testimonials, and overly simplified methods (like social ads funnelling leads) are often ineffective and can damage your reputation.

• Focus on Genuine Skill Development: Instead of chasing quick wins, invest in courses or coaching that build valuable consulting skills, like problem-solving, public speaking, and project management.

• Evaluate Integrity: When adopting new strategies, ask yourself whether you're comfortable with your actions if they align with your brand, and if you'd feel proud explaining them to others.

• Stay on High-Value Activities: Prioritize creating quality content, improving your skills, and building relationships over chasing “secret” methods to quick riches.

Good luck!

Richard Millington

p.s. If you want to learn more about fees and selling consultancy projects, sign up for my Proposal Mastery course. (use ‘xmas150’ for $150 off until the new year.