Remember when you last scrolled through social media and saw that guy in a rented Lambo, promising you the “secret wealth blueprint” if you DM him? Yeah, me too. The thing is, people keep falling for these schemes, even those of us who should know better.
Take Avon, Amway, or even Herbalife – a perfect examples of how these schemes prey on hope. The Netflix documentary “Betting on Zero” exposed how this latter “wellness company” operates more like a pyramid scheme, where 99% of distributors lose money. The company specifically targets vulnerable communities, often immigrant populations, selling them not just supplements but a dream of financial independence. They create an almost cult-like atmosphere where “lionesses” (successful female distributors) are celebrated, while those who fail are told they simply didn’t work hard enough.
The thing about MLMs and get-rich-quick schemes? They’re not win-win situations. They’re zero-sum games where someone needs to lose for others to gain. For every success story they parade around, there are hundreds of people who lost their savings and ended up worse than before.
It’s not just MLMs. Times are tough, and during uncertainty (hello, pandemic), these quick-fix promises become irresistible. Just look at The National Lottery – where people spend an average of £162 per year for a 1 in 45 million chance of winning the jackpot, getting back just 45p for every pound spent. To put that in perspective, you have roughly the same chances of (I did my throughout research with help of Claude asking him for sources – you’re welcome):
- being killed by lightning and earthquake on the same day (roughly 1 in 48 million)
- being struck by space debris in a given year AND being attacked by a shark in the same year (1 in 44.8 million)
- being dealt a perfect bridge hand (ok, that’s actually 1 in 52.6 million).
Sounds ridiculous and very improbable, yet people, especially in lower-income areas, keep playing because they’re convinced “this time could be different.” The house always wins – that’s how it was designed… but hope is a powerful thing.
Our brains are wired for quick rewards. When we see someone promising a shortcut to success, it triggers our dopamine system – the same one that makes us reach for that chocolate bar when we’re on a diet. We get this initial rush of excitement, whether it’s from a Tony Robbins seminar or a new online course. And yes, motivational speakers like Tony can be great for inspiration, but there is a catch – excitement without a solid system for change is just a temporary euphoria.
Think about it – how many times have you felt super motivated after watching an inspiring TED talk or attending a seminar, only to fall back into old habits a week later? That’s because real change isn’t about motivation – it’s about building systems and habits that stick even when the motivation fades.
The self-help industry knows this, which is why they’re now selling us accountability tools. E.g. Steven Bartlett’s “1% Diary” promises to help you achieve your goals through small, daily improvements. Ok, the concept isn’t wrong – compound growth is powerful. But it’s fascinating how even the tools meant to keep us accountable have become big business. “The diary itself isn’t going to change your life,” Bartlett admits, “but the mindset it teaches you, will.” Sound familiar? It’s the same promise, just packaged differently.
From Nobody to “Somebody” overnight
Today’s guru industry thrives on what’s called “borrowed credibility” – a clever trick where self-proclaimed experts associate themselves with successful people or prestigious institutions to appear more legitimate. See those photos with famous entrepreneurs at conferences? That quick handshake became “mentored by” in their marketing. That weekend course at Harvard weekend course? Now they’re “Harvard-educated.” Watch out for these name-dropping tactics and staged photos with rented luxury cars – they’re designed to make you trust someone who hasn’t earned it.
Which brings me to… Monaco.
When I first visited Monte Carlo at 19, I was completely starstruck. All those luxury cars, champagne-sipping socialites, gold-leafed everything, and an air so thick with prestige you could choke on it. Years later, I learned the hilarious truth: much of it is as authentic as a 20-something ‘self-made’ entrepreneur’s story about starting with nothing (except daddy’s trust fund).
You see, Monte Carlo has become the perfect backdrop for the wannabe wealthy. The luxury car rental business there is absolutely booming – not for actual driving, but for Instagram clout. “Business gurus” and “wealth coaches” dropping €1,500 a day to rent a Ferrari, just to drive it in circles around Casino Square. Some even pay €500 for a 30-minute photo shoot with their “own” Lambo. The rental companies’ stats tell the real story – 80% of their business comes from social media content creators. Because nothing says “trust my get-rich-quick course” like a rented Bugatti and the Monte Carlo Casino in the background. But hey, at least when I was broke at 21, I wasn’t maxing out my credit cards pretending to be something I wasn’t.
Selling dreams is more profitable than living them
Most gurus made their fortune not from their supposed expertise, but from selling the dream itself. Take Robert Kiyosaki – he got rich mainly from selling books and seminars, not real estate. They figured out selling the roadmap to success is way more profitable than building actual businesses.
The real wealth-builders, like Warren Buffett, don’t need to borrow credibility. Their track records speak for themselves. Buffett didn’t make his fortune through get-rich-quick schemes or selling courses. His wealth came from understanding and harnessing the power of compound interest – what Einstein allegedly called the “eighth wonder of the world.” Starting investing at age 11, he built his fortune steadily over decades. By age 30, he had $1 million, but 99% of his wealth came after his 50th birthday – that’s the power of compound growth. Whether those early investments were luck, genius, or both doesn’t matter – what matters is how he leveraged that initial success through patience and compound growth, reinvesting profits instead of spending them foolishly.
The thing about MLMs and get-rich-quick schemes? They’re not win-win situations. They’re zero-sum games where someone needs to lose for others to gain. For every success story they parade around, there are hundreds of people who lost their savings, strained their relationships, and ended up worse than before.
It’s fascinating how some ‘gurus’ make their fortunes not by offering real products or value, but by selling the dream of wealth itself. It starts to look like an elaborate pyramid scheme when their main advice is to ‘find the richest person you can and do everything they tell you.’ They seem to profit more from selling the idea of wealth than from creating anything truly valuable.I think it also speaks about our generation: the need and desperation to find something real and tangible, the hope to get ahead and succeed; to find a shorter or faster route there, makes people more naive, susceptible and willing to entertain and invest in ‘concepts’ of wealth accumulation, rather than finding the right tools and information to implement the actual growth of assets and resources.
Jim Carrey
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Here’s a crucial rule I’ve learned: never take advice from someone who hasn’t actually achieved what you want to achieve. Want business advice? Check if they’ve built a successful business (and no, selling courses about building businesses doesn’t count, even when a person has 500k followers).
Instead of looking for shortcuts, focus on building sustainable habits. Start small. Want to build wealth? Start investing a small percentage of your income, diversify risk and increase it gradually. Want to get fit? Start with ten minutes of exercise, make it a daily habit. The key is consistency over intensity. Create systems that help you show up every day, not just when you’re feeling motivated.
Coming from Poland, we were taught success comes through hard work and patience. So naturally, we’re really alert to scams (partially, because our parents generation was thought to become street-smart themselves, to survive during communism). I feel real success often feels like compound interest – boring at first, but creates something solid as the time (and your experience) grow.
Yet, in today’s instant-everything world, I sometimes feel that wisdom feels outdated.
