A newspaper article at https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/be-wary-of-get-rich-ads-on-youtube-say-experts warned the readers to be wary of 'get rich' ads on YouTube.

There were lots of heated comments from both sides.

Many called them scams. And trainers blamed the students for being lazy.

What and who is right or wrong?

Truth and lies were mixed into the dough. Misconceptions abound.

The 'make money online' industry is not regulated by the government. There is no certification or watchdog.

That means anyone can claim to be a guru and teach anytime. You will hear a lot of BS. It sounds too good to be true.

Do these get rich scheme really help you to get rich? Or are they scam?

Let me say my piece here.

I am both a student and a teacher.

I have been scammed by trainers who manipulate buyers by using the fear of missing out (FOMO) and guilty of not buying to get people to buy into their program.

These unethical trainers overcharge and underdeliver. Some teaches methods that do not work. They care more about upselling you more programs than helping you make money.

They lied that it is easy when in fact it takes hard work and more money. They were inaccessible, arrogant and talk down on the students.

Fortunately, I Have been helped by some good coaches. Their fees were affordable. They were helpful, response promptly to questions and they were encouraging.

Their method works and I have gotten results from their coaching. They do not promise the moon. There are testimonials to prove their methods work.

There are good coaches and there are bad coaches. So not all are scams.

There are lazy students who don't get the results and blame the trainers.

And there are diligent students who work on it and get results.

So students should take responsibility for their success and stop blaming others for their failure.

I have people who come to me for help after spending lots of money on expensive courses. I asked one of them if she has consumed the training material.

She said 'no'. How do you expect to succeed if you are too busy to read the lessons? So before you start blaming anyone, ask yourself if you have read the manual and implement it.

Did you ask for help when you got stuck?

Do you know that most of the critics have never attend the workshop of the trainer that they criticised. What do they really know?

So their criticism is based on their past bad experiences with other trainers or from what they heard from others or their own biased.

For example, if they have been scammed by an African, they will think that all Africans are scammers.

Their comments were not based on their real experience. How can their comment hold water?

Kelvin Teo shared this:

"I think there are genuine coaches. There are also fake coaches.

Both groups have students but let's face it, most people won't take action even after receiving good value.

For those who take action, there will be successes, there will be failures - most probably wouldn't make it on their first attempt and give up because entrepreneurship is hard.

Because the pool of people who do not take action and those who fail is bigger than the success stories you get, coupled with one or two who come out to say that the strategies taught don't work/is a scam, the collective sentiment will therefore be negative."

I like to invite you to watch a 20 minutes sharing by CS Koh at https://www.facebook.com/chinsiongk/videos/10158340374334372

There is always a little window of opportunity. According to CS Koh, it is possible to get rich when you are in the right place at the right time. I agreed with him.

If you find the right coach that is a good fit, you strike goal. But only a handful of people will strike gold; majority will not. Those who fail are the one who make the most noise.

I know of a millionaire who taught his money-making method. He charged a 5-figure fee. Only a handful of his students succeed.

There is nothing wrong with his strategy; it works. Most student won't take action because it takes work, time and money. Any business won't work unless you put in the work.

Who are the people who made it?

According to CS Koh, the successful students are those who have the same strength as the trainer.

For eg. if the trainer preached that the way to fast money is to be a public speaker and sell on stage, he is not wrong.

If you enjoy the spotlight, this method will resonate with you. If you hate public speaking, this method will be very stressful and difficult to carry out.

The second reason why some students succeed is because they already have the foundation. They are not complete newbies.

All they need is a few tweak here and there and they are ready to launch their rocket ship to the moon.

They have enough value to offer to the marketplace. Do your study and check on the profile of those who furnish their testimonials to prove my point.

The truth is that any business requires a lot of hard work. But most trainers won't mention it because it is not sexy. The hard truth don't sell.

Between a weight loss pill or sweating at the gym, which would you buy?

Most people prefer to buy a convenient lie. That's why scammers make lots of money selling people dreams and lies.

Is it not said that the path to heaven is narrow while the road to hell is wide?

Give me 5 minutes to address 2 misconceptions:

The first misconception is that trainers should teach for free.

The second misconception is that trainers should not share their secrets.

Here one common sentiment that 'get rich' trainers should teach for free.

"If they can teach u how to get rich, they should be doing it themselves to enrich themselves. Why need to earn your money?"

Do you see Tony Robbins giving away his seminar for free? Or do you see any of the real gurus giving away their tickets for free?

They don't and they have good reasons for it.

Here's what Tracy Pang shared:

"the strategies or concepts that I will be teaching you has cost me some time to experiment to get you the results that you will be seeing if you implement the strategies. You will also spending some hours with me to learn the strategies. And time is an valuable asset for everyone as if it is gone, it will be gone forever. So in order to be fair to me and you to make up for the time loss, don't you think it is rightful for me to charge you for the strategies that is going to be taught?

Just because they can give for free does not mean they should. Rich people respects labour. They know their true worth. There is no free lunch. They believe they deserve to be paid for their work.

Giving away your knowledge for free is harmful to the students. It breeds an entitlement attitude. People do not appreciate the value of a free advice.

If you get a good advice for free, you probably do nothing about it. But if you pay $1K for that one advice, you will most probably take action to earn back your tuition fee.

That advice - simple as it seems - may be the result of the trainer's lifetime experience. How do you put a price on a simple advice that can be life-changing? Priceless.

The more invested you are, the more committed you are, you will get better result.

Here is another common sentiment:

"If someone knows a way of making money, he won't spend time trying to tell the world how to make money. He's definitely going to spend most of his time making money. Unless you are his way of making money"

Suppose you have discovered a way to making money, you can either do one of these:

1. hide this knowledge and keep making money with the strategy

2. share this knowledge with your students.

Maybe the trainer makes more money by teaching than by doing the business. But if the strategy works for the students, why fault the trainer?

Such comment comes from a scarcity mindset that if you discover a good thing, you should keep it yourself.

The truth is that there is abundance and there are enough resources for everyone on earth. The pie is big enough for everyone. You won't get poorer by sharing your knowledge.

Prosperous people have abundant spirits. They love to impart their knowledge. The truly prosperous people won't die if you don't want to learn from them. They have diverse businesses anyway.

Personally, I feel that most workshops are over-hyped, overcharged. A few days of training, no matter how good, won't change my life.

It is the daily implementation of the idea and practise that will change my life. Most of the thing I need to know, I can find it in the books and observing the experts at work.

But when I am stuck, I consult my friends for advice.

Personally, I set a limit to how much I am willing to spend for any courses. I have spent money on courses that I did not consume. So I have to restrain myself from buying when I have backlog of lessons that I have not yet consume.

I take full responsibility for my growth instead of blaming others for my failure.

Yes, there are good coaches and there are scammers. Do your due diligence. Find out from ex-participants. Check the reviews. Ask around.

If any trainers mention about quick and easy way to get rich, I will run away because there isn’t. It’s a lie.