I know when the world will end!!
But first, let me tell you about…….
Sorry, I don’t actually know when the world will end. I am just making a point about the number of total BS claims that come in my mailbox. I get emails related to everything I have ever searched for on google. The amazing thing is that they all have the miracle answer to whatever I needed to know. Here are some helpful phrases to watch out for so that you don’t waste your money on crappy things that are “taking the world by storm” (there’s one now).
Taking The World By Storm
It can’t be much of a storm if you hear about it in an anonymous email. This type of phrase is designed to make you feel like you are missing out on something that everyone else is already onto. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a big motivator these days. For some reason most people like to be part of the crowd. Although the product may be just great, using this type of wording is manipulative, as most advertising is, so take it with a grain of salt and use your buyer beware smarts.
This Secret Ingredient will Cure Blah Blah Blah
As I have diabetes, I do a lot of research on health related things. Consequently, the ads that are targeted at me are health related miracle cures. I have clicked on a lot of these ads and guess what? There is no secret ingredient. There is no simple trick. This phrase is designed to make you think there is a quick and easy way to deal with your health issues. There isn’t. I have found natural remedies for most things but they usually are not quick or easy.
I find this phrase misleading at the very least and not very trustworthy at worst. If you click on one of these ads you will most likely be taken to a lengthy video that takes forever to get to the point. Sometimes it never gets there. You will think you are going to hear the answer but then you will repeatedly hear the phrase “but first let me tell you about ……blah blah blah”. I assume that if you invest the 30 or 40 minutes that one of these things drones on for, you will break down and buy whatever snake oil is being offered. If you do find one of these products worth a shot, go to the purchase page and then move your mouse to the address bar like you are going to leave the page, usually a box will pop up offering a discount.
The Sales Funnel
When you do decide to purchase you will have entered what is called a sales funnel. Now that you are committed to buying the initial product or service, you will enter what will seem like an endless stream of extra offers with ever increasing prices. You will be presented with 2 options to continue. You can either press the big button that say “YES! I want this deal” or the text in small print that says something like “No Thanks. I don’t like saving money”. You don’t have to think about this too much to see the manipulative nature of it.
Don’t get me wrong. The product may be great and something that will really work for you but if you feel like you are being talked into it then use your Scam Alert radar.
Quit Your Day Job and Scam People Into Taking My Course
The vast majority of these make big money and quit your job deals are about making websites to con people like yourself into taking an expensive course on how to make a website to take the course you are taking. You have to become a soulless con artist yourself to make money at these or you will just waste your money paying for more courses. They will explain that the reason you are not making any money is that you don’t have enough of their expensive “education”. The most expensive of these courses are dealing with investing. Very few very savvy people make money trading stocks. Just saying.
When you go down one of these funnels they don’t stop till you are out of money and credit. Buyer beware.
But Wait! The World Can Only End After This Commercial.
I would like to believe that there is enough good people in the world that would provide this type of information free of charge. I find it downright evil that if there were, say, a humanity ending pandemic, greedy businesses would not quickly try to turn it into a profit opportunity. If there was a problem that is going to wipe out mankind, I can’t imagine what kind of twisted evil people would try to profit from it. What good would money bring if the world ends? Unless of course everybody just THINKS its a world ending pandemic and there isn’t much to really worry about. Just a thought.
My point here is, if something is so important or is really a cure for everything, it will come out as common knowledge sooner or later. If someone is hiding the secret cure for cancer behind a pay wall, I would say that it is a safe bet that it isn’t anything you haven’t heard before or has no real proof that it works. Think of what kind of person would withhold life saving information for money. Save your money.
I believe that the truth invites scrutiny and lies avoid it. We live in a world where we seldom hear the whole truth so when a reasonable question is asked and the answer is an assault on the character of the questioner rather than a rational explanation – you have your answer.
Just my opinion of course.