Youu’ve seen these ads. They bombard your email box regularly. But with gas moving toward $5 a gallon, food costs skyrocketing, and your 401k shrinking, chances are you may actually be reading them now. That part of you desperate for a solution wants them to be true; wants a way to easily fix the stress of financial overload.
Note the fine print. “… are not a guarantee …”; nor are they typical.” Sounds just like an ad for diet aids and we all know how successful most of them are.
I’m an on-line entrepreneur. And, in my effort to be successful, I’ve accepted much free advice from the Internet gurus who tease me with 6 figure launches and income streams that would send my grandkids through college. I’ve read, listened, and employed their tactics and guess what? At this point my grandkids are going to community college if they can get a scholarship. What I’ve learned hasn’t helped the business much, but it sure has enlightened me as a consumer.
These people are selling dreams. (Unfortunately for me and the authors I promote, I sell books.) They are psychological masters at pushing the buttons we don’t like to believe we have – hope, need, frustration, desperation. The tougher things are financially, the better they will do because they offer “solutions” to our problems. At least that’s what their sales messages say. But, how many Amway, Avon, Mary Kay, and Tupperware agents have you known? How many were successful enough to quit their day jobs? The Internet has just expanded the dream pool, and the sad truth is that when people are seeking the whistle of relief from the financial pressure cooker, these guys will do well and most of you will simply be out more dollars.
Instead of spending that $50, $100, $8000 (a figure recently quoted to me for a business jump start), on a dream, you’re better served investing it elsewhere unless you KNOW you are in that 1% echelon who will deliver atypical results. Reality is a cruel mistress (or boytoy to be politically correct). Overnight success is rarely overnight. Everyone can’t BE in that top 1%. But everyone can be frugal and realize success. What we have to do is redefine success. Success it not using the credit card this month. Success is having $20 left after paying all the bills. Success is having a garage sale and using those funds to pay the car insurance. Success is finding a barter partner. Success is consistently applying tactics to improve your financial picture, one dollar at a time. Dream big, yes. I do. Set goals and work toward them. Absolutely. Just make sure to practice a key tenet of frugality – skepticism – and keep those dream payments where they belong – invested in your financial future, not someone else’s.
