We alive in some pretty crazy times. A worldwide lockdown has happened because of a killer virus which has shown us just how vulnerable we and our businesses are. That’s why I personally find it particularly annoying that there are people out their scamming us daily with made up promises that have absolutely no validity and barely hold on ounce of honesty.
The fitness industry is unfortunately one of the worst for it. I hate that that is a fact as I work in the fitness industry. What Covid-19 taught me is that a single stream of income in the fitness industry is suicide for my business.
Having not made a dime during the lockdown I have seen my business fall flat on its face and slowly die. I’m not alone, and it’s not just the fitness industry. Here alone in New Zealand we have seen many casualties, and not just the ‘Mom and Pop’ stores that were already on life support. Companies have had to close down parts of their business, shut down stores permanently and sadly some will be lost forever.
It has not been a pleasant time. And we have only just scratched the surface when it comes to Covid-19…sadly, it isn’t over.
Governments around the world are having to pour money that they do not have back into the economy to refloat it, to get some life back into it. There have been so many job losses already it is hard to feel sorry for someone because a moment late there is another hard luck story.
For many years now in the fitness industry in particular we have seen Personal Trainers become certified and head out into the fitness world to ‘train’ people with no idea how to how to actually do this. I was one of them. I got my certification at which point I became very aware how hard it was to get anywhere in this industry without a serious amount of money behind you to start with.
This is not the industry to go into if you expect to be rich and driving flash cars whilst working out 2-3 people a week. It doesn’t happen like that. And sadly, there is so much advertising out there that tells us exactly how to do this. And the majority of it is lies based on extraordinary results of a few people yet the majority of people fail and were always going to fail.
It is sad. It is sad that in a time when we should be looking after people out there that scam artists are popping their heads up and targeting those who are already struggling with their lies and deceit.
But it isn’t anything new. Watch a You Tube video and you will soon see a video about something that you have been thinking about and it uses smart language to entice you in to thinking it is possible, even probably you can do it.
E-Commerce is the big one right now. Everybody has the perfect ‘course’ for you that if you follow it you will be guaranteed success. They will start up ‘review’ websites that critique their own course, as well as other courses that clearly shows their course to be the best, where as option B or C are just scamming you. If someone needs to write an article or blog or drop a video, the new ‘in’ thing to do to tell you are being scammed by everyone else and that they have the secret, well, they too are scamming you. What is worse, they will sell you this and once you are in they will say something along the lines of
‘Hey, great that you signed up. Did you know that I have this other ‘secret’ that will lift the lid of you earning potential? That’s right, I do and you can sign up for that course here…’
And it goes on. And on. And sadly forever on. I have seen scams from people who I thought were trustworthy. You buy a book that you like the sound of and on the sales page, they are pushing something else at you then act disappointed in you that you didn’t sign up.
One of my favorites is this one:
‘Hey there, hope the course is going well for you. I just wanted to let you know that I have this new thing that is even better but I only want to here from people who are truly committed to this to get in touch. If that is you, then great email me here…’
That reverse psychology rubbish sadly works. Before you have even gotten benefit from the initial thing that you signed up for you are being promised something newer and better, if it doesn’t make you pause for a moment it should.
But it has always been there. Remember Network Marketing? Or Multi-level Marketing otherwise known as Pyramid schemes? They all did the same thing, promised a lot of dollars for little work. They would say we only want to hear from the really serious people who will put up $3000 for the 3 levels of courses which will teach you how to to see the same thing to someone else, and so on…before you know it you knee deep in a pyramid scheme that only then you find out that the CEO has been jailed for starting.
E-Com and Click Funnels are the now thing. And people are trying to scam you with ridiculous promises that are so bad that it needs to have some kind of legislation introduced.
Sadly here, E-com is actually a really good thing, I personally can’t talk on click funneling as I don’t know much about it but from my limited understanding it can work but for me falls on the side of scam or at least shady as it is promising so much for so little effort.
But E-com websites are a vital part of our future, just not in the way that thousands of people seem to think. If you are buying a product from one website and marking it up by 100% then it is a scam, you are taking advantage of people who are none the wiser. That has been my issue with how it is introduced to us in those You Tube videos. And Covid-19 has put a massive whole in those people that use E-Com for that purpose. There are very valid ways to make great money through E-Com and maybe one day I will write about that, but for the purpose of this just know that if it sounds to good to be true then it is.
And so I bring it back to fitness. My passion in life is to help people better themselves and those around them through health and fitness. There are no shortcuts here, none. To get the reward you have to put in the effort and that effort is not easy, but it is so very rewarding. Nothing in life worth having should ever be free or not have an element of hard work and/or sacrifice attached to it. The chase is very much the fun part of goal. I have personally come from a very bad place with my health to where I am today, and it has taken so much hard work. It is not for everyone and it is easy to give up on.
So, in summary to this rant, be careful out there. The Art of the Lie is in almost everything that we see online at the moment. People are profiting of your own weakness. Be bold by all means, but be willing to put the work in, a six pack can not be done in 6 days or less, nor can it be obtained by doing whatever you want. It takes hard work and there will never be a sacrifice for hard work. What you put in you will most certainly get out.
Rob McQueen is a lifestyle coach who guides you through the weight loss process with guided trainings, nutrition understanding, and keeping you on track to maintain your results. He teaches from his experiences, he has lived it and experienced what he coaches. Visit us today on Facebook or contact us today to see how we can help you.