The online age is filled with marketing gimmicks that try to convince the unsuspecting, everyday consumer that they can become millionaires. If you pick up a virtual rock and throw it into the internet, chances are the rock will bounce off a guru and hit another guru.

A new trend that’s taking over the internet is influencers selling courses, and these can range from how to grow your hair to how to become a SEO reseller. If it’s marketable, someone will market it.

Social media gives everyday people a chance to become their own brand and business and it's no wonder why so many people have jumped on the bandwagon in order to try to make a living.

Find your niche

It goes without saying that you need to know your brand and understand exactly what you’re going to teach.

If you’ve got skills in digital marketing, you teach your audiences the ins and outs of it, while if you’ve got a degree in psychology, you can teach others how to be more charismatic and how to read other people. Charlie Houpert, a 27 year old who makes videos for his YouTube channel called Charisma On Command, has amassed close to 4.2 million subscribers by interpreting social cues via the help of celebrity interviews. Not only does he keep it entertaining, but it is also incredibly helpful as he also makes videos on how to become better at public speaking or interviews. His videos have helped introverts and socially awkward people find their confidence. Aside from offering free and helpful content on his YouTube channel, he also has an intensive course called Charisma University which goes deeper into his content.

The key idea is to share your knowledge in a way that others can benefit.

Passion takes priority

Of course, you will set out with money on your mind.

If you’re not doing this for personal gain, then why are you in it? For most people, the answer is passion. And it shows. For those who are in it for the money, you’ll burn out rather quickly because there’s no real passion in what you’re peddling. You can be selling the most delicious hotcakes in the universe, but if you don’t believe in them and love them with every fibre of your being, how are you able to convince someone else to try it?

Conversely, you can be selling homemade cookies made by your favorite aunt or beloved nana. Even if it’s only around average-tasting, if you really love and believe in the cookies, you’ll be able to make sales easily because passion is contagious. It’s the way you market them that makes a difference and it’s hard to market something that you don’t love.

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Don’t make it about money

Money follows success, not hard work. While we’ve been brainwashed into believing that we need to be hustling day in and day out in order to have it all, the truth is that’s not how it works and we only have society to blame for that.

How many people start off waiting tables or behind the counter at a retail store? Most of the time they are getting paid minimum wage by the hour. This automatically enforces the idea that the more hours you put in the more you make. However, you only have a limited number of expendable hours you can put into working and therefore time is the real currency here. Put your time into what you believe in and do a good job. When you do a good job, especially in the service line, you get tips. When you put the two together, it comes to the natural conclusion that doing a good job will give you more rewards.

In the world of guru-hood, money grabbers are a dime a dozen. When’s the last time you saw a homemade video of a guy telling you that “I made my millions sitting in front of a $50 laptop”? The truth is that these so-called gurus are only using money to entice you. Who doesn’t want to become a millionaire? Being told that there's a shortcut and hidden trick to become a self-made millionaire is appealing, but that’s their catch. These fake gurus swindle unsuspecting people into purchasing their courses (that seldom contain any real content) in order to make their millions. Think about it, in a world of 8 billion people, if you manage to convince just 0.01% to give you $1 USD, you’ll have 800k sitting pretty in the bank. But at what cost? Once the initial wave passes, your initial customers will leave reviews on the services you offer on forums and websites to debunk your course and share them freely.

Make your audience root for you

The most successful marketers or businessmen offer so much that consumers automatically want to pay them for their services. This is the height of success, to have people throwing their money at you in order to get five minutes of your time, or some advice, or even some art.

The motivator behind this behavior isn’t because you’re selling something. It’s because they want to support you. Offering your services for free, and asking people to support your free content by donating, is possibly the best economic model in the world. You pay creators directly for the content that you love. You can also take it a step further by rewarding your supporters with exclusive content, which is what sites like Patreon or Ko-Fi aim to do. Kickstarter and GoFundMe are also various platforms that stem from the same idea.

Be goal-oriented

Once you have detailed what you want to do, focus on what you want to achieve.

Be very specific, but don’t limit yourself to a fixed plan. A part of being an entrepreneur (let’s face it, all gurus are self-made entrepreneurs who live the ideology that ‘if you’re good at something, never do it for free’) is that you have to be flexible and listen to what your audiences want. If that means tweaking your content to suit their needs, go ahead and do it, but don’t lose sight of the goal you set for yourself in the very beginning. This will help keep you grounded and focused on the bigger picture.

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