AI, Fake Gurus, and What I’ll Never Do

If you caught one of my podcasts recently, then you'll know that I started this podcast—or I changed this podcast—so that I could start sharing views and thoughts that are kind of more unfiltered, raw, unscripted format. And today, I've got probably what is the most unfiltered view that I've posted since I've changed to this new format.

It starts with this post that I saw on LinkedIn. And the hook of the post—it's from Dr. Kent H., no last name, it's a flag, right?—and the hook of the post says: "My wife died at 39. Her doctors never tested the one thing that could have saved her."

You know, for all intents and purposes from a copy standpoint—I mean it's a shitty situation—but from a copy standpoint, it's a good enough hook to bring you into the story, right? And so I started reading. And as I started reading, I got this like, "Hey, I'm a retired or 25-year pharmacist that got tired of the system and Western medicine is this and that and here's some quotes and here's some problems." And I was like, "This feels like... this smells like a sales letter."

And so I scroll to the bottom. And I shit you not. At the bottom of the post, there's a CTA that says: "Leave a note of 'Energy' below and I'll send you the clinical research on glutathione depletion, the missing piece that explains why 133 million Americans feel older than they should."

And I thought, "There is no fucking way. You've got to be kidding me. Did I really just read a post that leverages somebody's spouse dying—if it's real, if the person's fucking real, I don't know—as a hand-raiser type post to generate leads and get people into a funnel? Like have we actually stooped that fucking low in digital marketing that our spouse dying is the lead and the hook to more lead generation?"

It frustrated me. But it also made me nervous. And I started to reflect yesterday on this quite a bit. And so I'm going to share a few takeaways from this because I think it's really important for anybody that is using social media or leveraging digital marketing in any way right now. And I'll just share like three core principles with you.

Now, what I want to say is: I'm not here to beat up anybody who's generating leads or driving business from social media. Like I create a lot of content. I have driven a lot of revenue directly from social media. I continue to look at social media as a channel where you can build an audience that you're aligned with, that's aligned with your world views, that's aligned with your services, and compel them to take business at the right time if they're the right person. Like so I think social media is still a fucking phenomenal platform to build a business and create awareness and get the word out there about who you are and what you do and what your business does, attract in the right people. Right? So this is not a "beat up on social media for business" thing. This is a "how you do it" post or podcast.

The first thing when I thought about this was: This highlights the importance of principles over tactics. Right? Like this highlights why it's so crucial to understand why something works and not just copy and paste tactics that work.

So in this instance, what I would say is: What would be more important than taking this template and then applying it to your business saying "Hey, wow, this guy got 500 comments"—and he did. Well, I don't know, they're fucking AI for all I know. But instead of saying, "Hey, let's just take this tactic and use it"—and this actually happens in business all the time. People are like, "Hey, hiring an SDR. Let's just copy and paste." "Doing some cold email. Let's copy and paste." "They're doing X. Let's copy and paste." And if you don't understand the principles that are underneath it, you're never going to be able to adapt that model or adapt that specific tactic to make it work for you. Or make it work effectively.

So with this post, what I would want to understand is: Why does that hook resonate? Well, it's clearly like an attention grabber. It's clearly a scroll stopper. Like why does the storytelling process that he used work? Why does the social proof that he's alleging is in there work? Why does that CTA work? Right? Like I think understanding that is what allows you to look at that and say: "Hey, you know what? I don't like the way that's implemented. Or I want to personalize it. Or I want to customize it. Or I want to change it. I want to make it applicable to my business. I want to make it not cringeworthy. I want to make it not disgusting. I want to make it not fucking... that somebody reads it and goes 'Oh my god, like digital marketing has really stooped this low.'"

But I think there's something to take from it. And that's where principles really matter. And I challenge you, when you're taking tactical advice from an agency, from a coach, from a person, from social media, whatever that is, to instead of just copy and pasting that into your business, to figure out and ask why does this work? So that when it inevitably hits friction or stops working, you're also going to know how to change it. Because it will. Like tactics change all the fucking time. Right? Like I try to share some tactical advice with you. I want it to be actionable. I want you to have something to take away. But let's be real. Like if it works, everyone's going to start doing it. And then you're going to be in a crowded market. And then it's going to stop working. Or it's going to stop working as well.

So the question is: Why does that work? And how do I make it work for me? In a way that I'm okay with it. In a way that we can modernize it. In a way that works for my particular audience or my particular service. And principles are how you do that. So that was one.

The second thing that I thought about as I read this post was: I believe that we have really got to learn—and this is a lesson I've learned over the years which is why I'm just sharing it here—like to trust our intuition. You know, if something is cringeworthy to you, if something is kind of disgusting or makes you uncomfortable or you go, "I don't know if I want my business doing that," that's a warning sign. Right? That's something to listen to. That's something not to suppress and completely ignore.

Now the counter argument to that is: if something makes you moderately uncomfortable, there are times where that is a function of having a limiting belief that needs to be challenged. Right? Like I work with a lot of technical founders who have like an aversion to certain sales things. Like when you're running discovery, they want to go straight into the technical aspect instead of running real discovery. Right? So I'm like, "Hey, let's run real discovery. Let's understand what the problems and the pains are. Let's make sure that we're framing the technical solution that we're presenting around what they really want." All of these things. And there are times where a technical founder or salesperson will say, "Ah, I don't know, makes me a little uncomfortable." And that's... we go "Okay. Like let's work through why that is." And so I get that.

That said, if you simply are just trained to ignore that feeling all the time, what you're doing is you're saying, "You know, my gut is just... I can't trust it." But I think you can. Like I really do think you can. And the easiest way in my view to determine "Hey, is this a warning bell or warning sign for a cringeworthy tactic that I don't want to be associated with? Or is this something that's potentially a limiting belief that I just need to push through and kind of expand my skill set on?" One is like... what's the real motivation? Like what's the real impact? Like what's the source of it? But two: Take it to five people. Right? Like objectively present that thing to five people. Like don't lead the witness. But present it to five potential customers. Present it to five existing customers. Present it to five people that you trust to like literally tell you the truth and say, "Yeah, you know, that is pretty cringeworthy." Or, "No, that makes sense." Right? So challenge it. But don't ignore your gut.

And I continue to get more adamant about this because I... just through personal experience over the past year... I continue to find that we know the answer to things a lot more than we think we do. And so something like this, if you see this post and it works, or you're talking with a coach that says "hey do something that's really kind of funky" and you go "Ah"... Trust it.

And then the third thing: I think this really highlights how the digital marketing landscape is going to change like drastically over the next 12 months. And it already is in a lot of respects. Like it's already... it's already changing. I was on a plane recently in fact and I'm sitting next to a couple and they... and I... was being nosy I guess, I overheard the conversation. And you know he said, "Hey check out this this video." And he shows it to his wife/spouse whoever. And she goes, "Yeah. Is that real?" And he said, "I don't know." And they watched it a few more times. "No, I guess you're right. That is AI."

And I thought, man, this is changing everything. Like AI is changing everything. It is causing people to question and to doubt so much shit that they're seeing. And if you don't think that that changes how you need to market stuff, like you're going to miss something very very significant. Because it's attracting more scam artists. Like the cost of starting an online business today... Like I could put up a landing page with a bunch of fake video testimonials, a LinkedIn page, and a YouTube channel with you know 20 AI-driven videos. I could do that for less than a few grand. And get online and start marketing something that looks and feels real and even looks and feels like I even have some customers and some testimonials. And it's too easy. Which means more people are entering that market. Which means it's going to be more difficult to stand out and to differentiate.

Which is the... like you've got to stand out and differentiate if you want your marketing to work. So what I would be thinking right now is: How do we do that? Right? Like how is the market going to change? And as everyone else is raising the stakes on their offers—you know everyone's everyone's a hundred millionaire now, right? Like everyone's a fucking billionaire now. And the race to the bottom on on your offers... you know, "Hey, a 72-month guarantee for 99 cents." How do you not play in that game? Like how do you play in your own game? How do you bob when they weave? Right? How do you look at where the crowd is going and say, "Well shit, you know the whole purpose of marketing is to stand out from the crowd and be the choice for the customers that I want. Well the way to do that is not to do what everyone else is doing. And it's not to do it the way that everyone else is doing."

Like so if you see a whole bunch of people in your space doing high-volume automated you know type of messaging, outreach, something like that... maybe time for you to think: "Hey you know what? What we should consider... maybe some personalized, targeted strategies might work here." Right? Like let's go that route.

And I just I personally I have found over the years when I when I find myself in that space where I'm following you know everyone else... you're usually using like a playbook that worked for somebody two years ago, three years ago, four years ago. And everybody else is fucking doing it. Like it's some coaching program that's professed it for a long time. And now you're doing what everyone else is doing. And the person who's getting the best returns are people who are either taking that and drastically personalizing it to their business, or people who are just doing something completely different.

Now like full circle: What does it take to take some of those things and drastically personalize it to your business? It takes understanding the principles of why they work. Right? So this this whole thing is kind of like a loop to me. And I... it's a long... it's kind of a long podcast to talk about a single LinkedIn post. But the LinkedIn post represents something to me. And it's a... we are descending... like we are going downhill on the credibility of social media. That doesn't mean social media is not going to work like to drive business. But it does mean it's going to change how it works.

And I can just tell you personally, I've made a significant change here in recent months and said: I'm getting out of the traditional online like the way that we've been marketing and the way that we've done thing. And I'm just going to start creating content that feels authentic to me. The shit that I want to talk about. It's going to inevitably be about sales and about you know growing businesses and probably some other stuff. But I'm going to do the stuff... like create the content that gives me energy. I'm going to trust that that's going to allow me to build credibility and an audience with the people that I'm aligned with. And I'm going to trust that that's going to at some point lead to revenue and lead to business with the people that I want to work with and and the right people over time.

That's why I've shifted how I'm doing the podcast. I'm in the middle of shifting what we're doing on YouTube. And we're going to continue to change. That's how I'm going to going to adjust. That's how I'm going to go left when everyone else goes right. Right? Like I'm going to think about not "is this the perfect hook for my specific target market and my niche and you know a vertical and can I create post after post after post after post for that specific audience." I'm going to think: What do I want to talk about? Yes I want there to be some relevance to a general market. But I'm not operating within like "Hey these are the only three pillars that I'm creating content for and it always has to be featured, it's got to be a CTA, it's got to be direct response driven." Like fuck it. Like I'm I'm gonna... I like to create content and we're going to create the content that we want. And um like I said, trust that it builds the right audience with the right people.

And I share that just as an example of how I'm thinking about this space changing. And I I'm not Nostradamus. I can't tell you exactly what it's all going to look like in 12 months. But I can tell you it's not going to be the fucking same. So I hope this is helpful. I hope it's thought provoking. And you know if you're thinking about principles over tactics, trusting your intuition, and how things are going to change and you're going to continue to differentiate and stand out over the long term in a um in in this market... and I and you give some more thought to that... then I've hopefully done my job today. So, hope this helps. Adios.