I noticed on a particularly popular ‘net marketing forum that a post regarding someone being sick of gurus was promptly removed. The guy was sick of gurus, which brought me to the thought – what constitutes a “guru?”

With Internet Marketing, it’s all about branding yourself as a power player. That requires attending seminars and rubbing elbows with others. But you’ll inevitably see two types of attendees here – those looking for a mentor and those who stroll around like they own the place.

It’s like a popularity contest in high school, only these guys flat out TELL other people they have what it takes and others believe them. This creates a big circle of boosting the guru up to highly revered levels.

Every product they put out is nestled among sales copy that says “I have a secret to success that you don’t.” And guess what? Money is made – not on the first sale – but on multiple backend sales, which means they can’t give all the information or secrets away in one sitting or they’d be broke.

As a former ghostwriter, I’ve had some clients specifically tell me not to go into detail about something. In other words, I can tell about Affiliate marketing, but not exactly how to earn a good living competing with them. I can gloss over the basics, but the meat and potatoes will be left on their plate, thankyouverymuch.

If you’re sick and tired of gurus (and are maybe a tad envious?), take it with a grain of salt and start emulating their success and style instead of complaining about it.

Personally, I don’t have anything against someone being a self-proclaimed (or otherwise) guru. I can learn from the big dogs and I can find out something I never knew from someone just starting out. It’s all about moving your success forward, not comparing it to someone else’s.

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