Are business mentorships a scam? Was the $200,000 we spent on mentorships ourself a waste of money?
Below is the truth about mentorships and the "make money online" world. There is actually a very clear rule for whether you should (or shouldn't) sign up for a mentorship programme.
I’m also going to expose the one type of mentorship that actually is a scam.
Full Disclosure
We run a mentorship company. You're on our website promoting our services!
So you might think, "Nice try, Diddy. Why are you making a video on this then?"
It’s to save us both time. By the end of this article, I want you to either be ready to book a call with us or to rage-quit the idea of online coaching entirely. I want you to be like the thousands of people we’ve helped grow their businesses.
The Two Types of Clients: A Tale of Two Mindsets
We’ve all seen the meme:
It's close to the bone because its a fundamental truth about success.
I recently heard a Coffeezilla interview with an anonymous reviewer of Sam Ovens (one of the OGs of business consulting). The reviewer was miserable. He had a "know-it-all" attitude, claiming the training was "rubbish" because it only taught business basics he’d already read in books.
If he had spent that time applying the methods instead of writing anonymous reviews out of jealousy, he’d be too busy making money to complain.
The Synthesis of Success
Sam Ovens' program was essentially a synthesis of the top 20 business books in the world condensed into a consulting offer. If you actually apply just one of those books, it levels up your life. To synthesise 20 and call it "rubbish" suggests the problem probably isn't the course.
We bought that same program. It cost a few thousand dollars, and we can attribute roughly $1,000,000 in revenue to what we learned. Same program, two different results.
The Lesson: You can be the guy in the gym telling the pro bodybuilder he’s doing it wrong while your own physique looks like a dehydrated sausage. I used to be that guy—high in knowledge, low in execution.
Why "Make Money Online" Works (And Why It Doesn't)
Is the fitness industry a scam? We all know someone who follows every fitness influencer, listens to every podcast, but stays out of shape. Why? Because they don’t go to the gym.
If you earnestly follow any program—regardless of the quality—you will get an ROI. You are the missing piece. It is the intersection between you and the program that creates results.
"How Do I Know It Will Work?"
If you have to ask that question, it probably won't. You are the thing that makes it work. I have yet to have a negative ROI on any purchase I’ve made—even from "scumbags" or bad teachers—because I took the information and executed.
- Mindset determines execution.
- Business is a vessel for personal growth.
- Personal limits apply a limit to your bank account.
The Role of Therapy and Subconscious Scripts
If you’re blaming the algorithm, your ex-wife, your boss, or "racist companies" for your lack of progress, you are likely stuck in a victim mindset.
Mentorships compress time. They are a multiplier of your effort. But if your effort is zero, then $Multiplier \times 0 = 0$.
The "Why Don’t You... Yes, But" Game
In the classic book Games People Play by Eric Berne, he describes a psychological game where someone presents a problem, receives solutions, and rejects every single one with "Yes, but..." until the other person gives up.
The "winner" of this game gets to keep their victim identity. They get to say, "See? No one can help me."
The Shame Cave
When you have every tool at your fingertips—including AI that can practically do the work for you—and you still don’t move, the shame becomes unbearable. To protect yourself, your mind creates stories: "The mentor was a scam," or "I’m shadowbanned."
If you feel you need excessive handholding or are constantly in crisis, you don’t need a business mentor yet—you need therapy. Therapy is a phenomenal investment for clearing the "brakes" off your personal finances.
How to Spot a Real Scam
While most "scams" are just cases of low execution, there are real bad actors. Here is how to spot them:
- The Plagiarists: "Mentors" who rip off other people's work without understanding the principles. They have a Fisher-Price stethoscope but never went to med school.
- Fraudulent Activity: Pyramid schemes, undeclared affiliate links posing as reviews, and contract breaches.
- Hidden Revenue Models: If it’s not clear how they make money, be wary. (e.g., "Commission-free" trading platforms that sell your data to hedge funds).
How we make money: You pay us, and we give you a clear set of contractual deliverables and a lifetime guarantee to help you build a 30+ client coaching program. It's all public.
Our Results-Driven Approach
We reject 70% of applicants.
Why? Because we aren't a "done-for-you" agency or a standalone course. We are the guide with the SatNav. If you won't take the SatNav out of the box and plug it in, we can't help you.
We filter for people who take personal responsibility. We want our success rate to stay high, which means we only work with people who are ready to do the reps.
The 4-Step Path to a Real Business:
- Product-Market Match: Nail your offer and your niche.
- Sales Mechanism: Build an automated system that runs in the background.
- Client Experience: Provide an amazing result so clients stay for months.
- Take off the Brakes: Deal with your limiting beliefs and hang-ups.