Deception by omission of truth part 3

AKA How I got sucked in, lost money, and learned lots of things not in the class curriculum

This is part three of a three-part story. Find part one here and part two here.

How did I get sucked into this marketing tornado, I wondered? I am an intelligent woman with a successful business and twenty years’ experience in a successful corporate career, where I dealt with marketing folks all the time! For heaven’s sakes, I was in sales for many years; how did I not see it coming? Honestly, I think it was the big not-good-enough inside me that allowed the wizard to suck me in; my belief that someone else knows better than I.

If I had taken time to really look at my business, to examine the growth I had experienced in my first year, I would have realized things were already going very well and there was no hurry to put something else out into the world. I believe many of us have a false belief that someone else is smarter, braver, more caring, or simply knows more by virtue of having gone around the planet more times than us.

In the spirit of my favourite movie, I would like to share six lessons I learned from this experience; my spirit of intent is my story saves you from walking down some supposed yellow brick road in search of a wizard like I did.

Things I knew and wish I had listened to before I caved:

First lesson: Anytime someone attempts FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) marketing, I should walk away. I know this now, and if we are honest, I knew it then. The buy right now or miss out ploy is bogus and motivates through fear. Did I really believe I would be sent away if I reached out the next day, credit card in hand, to sign up? Be brave enough to walk away when pressure is being applied and I am not certain; if an answer is required immediately, that answer should always be “NO”.

Second lesson: Before investing in another course, research the person, the business, and the course itself for feedback. A simple Google search would have shown me that the seller had extensive marketing and sales background. Had I stopped for a moment to engage my brain, I would have realized I was being expertly sold via fear tactics.

This is not my style of marketing as it does not feel good to me; why on earth would I pay someone to teach me how to make my clients feel bad? The slick talking, pushy people are not who I want to trust with my money, let alone my business reputation.

As the Scarecrow learned, experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth, the more experience you are sure to get.

Third lesson: Lead, don’t follow the path. I should have been the one asking the questions in our conversation. I was the buyer and he, the seller. I should have asked him how he was going to earn this large asking price, instead, I let him steer me into telling him why I needed his services. I should have asked him to defend the significant asking price, or show me how he could assist; as it turned out, I did his work for him.

Is there a refund policy? What if I am a week into the training and it does not resonate? Do I get some or all my money back? These are some of the questions I should have asked in order to be able to make a solid decision.

Follow your heart

Fourth lesson: Pay attention to what my gut is telling me, don’t ignore it. “This person reminds you of someone else; someone who let you down in the past", it was saying. When the mind pulls up a picture of someone unrelated, they are usually related. It is the guts’ way of sending a warning signal.

Hey! This old person in our memory banks is like this new person! Run, don’t walk!

Fifth lesson: Before I spend money on the magical solution the Wizard is promising, I should do some more research; break down the problem I am trying to solve into smaller pieces. Search YouTube and Google for solutions; ask friends in similar businesses how they approached the problem.

Do I really not have all of the information I need? Are there truly more than a few pieces missing?

Sixth lesson: Look for a local solution first. Once I truly know what I am missing, I truly know what I need. Check to see if someone in the local community offers the services required, then get references from people I know and trust, because…

There’s no place like home…

I hope the telling of my lesson learned helps you make solid decisions in the future, so you don’t have to throw away your hard-earned cash into the tornado like I did.

Patricia Meier