Transcription
So I saw a video the other day come up for my suggestion feed, um, called "Samuel Leeds Exposed." It was done by the BBC. Let's talk about it.
So a recent YouTube guru teaching buying houses and real estate with no money down recently got exposed. His name is Samuel Leeds. And what surprised me about this was this expose was actually made by the BBC, which basically just made me click on the video. And I watched the entire thing. Some crazy stuff.
So this is kind of gonna be slightly different from other videos I've made in the past. It's not really directly SMM related, but it's more of my current, I guess, rant highlighting the issues with the infra product space. And I feel like a lot of people would benefit from me making this video, so I'm gonna speak on it.
So to give a very, very brief summary, basically, someone that was upsold to Samuel Leeds' coaching program, coaching and mentoring program, actually for thirteen thousand pounds, right, killed themselves. Because sadly, like, what happened was he took out a loan to secure his place for this mentorship program and didn't get the results that he wanted or was advertised to him. And, you know, sadly, he eventually decided to take his own life. Which is quite crazy when I actually put it into words like that.
This was brought up to the BBC, and the BBC conducted a whole investigation on Samuel Leeds and made it into an expose. And it highlights, kind of, a few of the very key issues within, kind of, like, the info product mentoring, kind of space. So three of my biggest issues personally with, kind of, all of this is the fact that, you know, there's three main tactics that they use to try to sell you on these courses. Now, it's they either get you through, like, a free webinar or a free two-day event over a weekend or something. And they use things like urgency to get you to buy on impulse. And, you know, these free webinars or events are constantly, constantly trying to upsell you onto different programs, different courses.
Now, there are people that do well, and there are people that don't do well. And I feel like it's such an easy space to get into, just because anyone can just book a hotel room in, like, let's say, the Hilton or whatever, and run some Facebook ads and get like 400 people in a room quite easily. Like, I promise you, it's actually not that hard to do. So, and, you know, like, just speak to them for a day and then close people on courses valued up to like 2,000 to 3,000 pounds sometimes. And ultimately, what happens is, you know, you're just upsold onto this essentially, like, dream lifestyle that the person speaking on stage has. And then you're taught that you can get the same results if you buy their course.
Personally, I've been upsold on these events as well. The first free event I went to, I actually paid 2,000 pounds for a course for like a weekend training boot camp because I really liked the way they sold to me. And I was just like, yeah, to be honest, like, I just kind of saw her as an investment in myself. And I knew full well that the value delivered in that course probably wasn't going to be that worth my time, just because most of the stuff they talked about at the free event, I already knew about. But it's just like that kind of curious kind of, not to see what they have in store. So, yeah.
And also, the way I see like buying courses and stuff, you're gonna waste money on courses and on BS courses, it's just like inevitable. But it's like the money wasted, it still means you're probably gonna buy one or two great courses. Like, for example, Apple Agency Incubator, which in my opinion, is worth way more to me than the 2,000 pound course I paid for. But, you know, like, without trying to narrow down different courses, there's really no way to determine which courses you would be suited for. So, yeah, it's not something I regret. But after attending that free event, I did feel like very, just drained because they were constantly trying to upsell, upsell, upsell. But I mean, you know, I don't have any hate towards that person, me, just because like, in my opinion, everyone wants to get this, and it's completely understandable why they upsell you. But just some of the tactics, like being exposed by the BBC, which I really kind of had a problem with. And that's what I'm gonna talk about today.
So just wanted to put out there, like the way they sold to this poor man is unacceptable. The guy came into the free consultation or whatever, or like the discovery meeting, essentially telling the rep like, you know, like, you might need to take out a loan for this mentoring program. And it's just like, you should learn more peace signing people up to like a mentorship program where they're taking out a loan for. Because that just shows their naivety in terms of business. Where it's like, if you want to invest in yourself, perfect, that's honestly amazing. But do not take out a loan. You know, like, but the way they kind of upsold it was like, as soon as they heard the loan stage, the sales rep or whatever should have just cut the meeting then and then just say like, you know, I don't think this mentorship program is for you. And you really shouldn't be, you know, like, taking, making financial decisions like that. But unfortunately, with the current state of the industry, that's like, kind of standard practice almost. So, yeah, that was very, very sad. And to be honest, this accident could have been just, this incident could have just been entirely prevented had they just taken the right ethical measures when it comes to selling. And to be honest, they should have given the guy a full refund as soon as they realized there were more issues and complications with his case. Very, very, very, very sad situation.
But to be honest, I also wanted to say something that, this, I know this point I'm about to make is going to be highly controversial, and you can hate me if you want. And but this is personally just my opinion and my opinion alone. And it's that, you know, you, the entire blame for this situation cannot be a comp, entirely placed on Samuel Leeds and his team. Now, here's why. Because in my opinion, when something like this occurs, it's more of the straw that broke the camel's back as opposed to being like, the entire cause for this incident. Why I mean by that is, for someone to take out a thirteen thousand pound loan who is already in debt, they have bigger personal issues that's, that's like aside from this. And they kind of saw this as a way out. Where it's like, you know, if I pay for this mentorship program, I will learn how to get on the real estate market with no money down. And this is going to be the solution to all my financial issues. But to be honest, for someone to be in that position, they must have bigger mental problems and other personal issues that I don't even understand myself. And there's no way that it would be conveyed on a BBC expose. So it's just like, this unfortunate incident of him being upsold to with unethical practices is a combination of, like, you know, his personal issues and the upselling. I don't even have to put this into like coherent words, but like the upselling was like the straw that broke the camel's back. And to be honest, as a human being, if you're a Korean adult, there are certain responsibilities you need to take for your own financial actions. So it's just like, you know, the blame cannot entirely be placed on Samuel Leeds in my personal opinion. But definitely, what he did was highly unethical. And his sales rep and his company should definitely be reprimanded for what happened. And I definitely, definitely think like, you know, it's just a [ __ ] up situation. I don't even know how else to put it to be honest. Like when I saw that video, it was so, so sad to me how someone killed themselves because they were upsold onto a course essentially.
So one of my friends and subscribers actually went to one of his free two-day trainings. And he described it as like, it was very, very just hard-selly. And I completely understand. I mean, most of these two-day events, the whole point of them is to upsell you onto a course. Because honestly, it, it costs a lot of money to hire out these venues and run these ads. And, you know, it's just like, why would they do something that's entirely for your benefit? Because business is in such a way where it's like, you know, you're always, it's, it's a give-and-take kind of situation. You think I'm gonna give you all this free knowledge and then just not try to extract any value from you? Of course not. That's not how the world works. Like, but I do think the biggest issue is you need to kind of be more transparent with it. Like, yes, I can give you all this free information, but at the end, I'm gonna ask you, you know, do you want to join this more higher-level course where I teach more in-depth knowledge? And if you say yes, perfect. If you say no, completely fine. And, you know, if the fact that I'm gonna try to sell you on what I believe is an amazing course, you know, like, and you don't, and you're turned off by that, and you don't want to go to the free event, also completely fine. You know, so I think transparency is like one of the biggest factors that's needed.
But the thing is though, like, to get people in the door, you kinda can't be too transparent at the same time. Because just like how I said, you know, in my last week's bonus thought SMM a video, it's like, if you just hold someone up front, like, okay, cool, yes, you can have the private jet, yes, you can have the Lambo, yes, you can have the mansion in like five years' time. But during this five years leading up to that stage, you're going to be working your ass off every single day, Monday to Saturday, no breaks. It's gonna test your mental health, it's gonna do all of this. It's just unattractive. This is the offer. If you were to make it very, very realistic, it's just like, mmm, it's just such a [ __ ] offer because you're essentially telling someone to put themselves through hell to potentially have a chance at reaching their, you know, financial goals or life goals or whatever. So, yeah, it's not the most attractive offer. But [ __ ] some of us are still buying into it, you know.
But anyway, it's going back to the BBC's expose. And when I saw that, honestly, that [ __ ] hurt. Because you know how these free events and like free boot camps essentially or how it works is is predicated on exploiting, exploiting sounds are very, like, a very strong word, but it's to trigger buying behavior through impulse. And that's often not really like a great qualification process. So I think one of the big solutions for this kind of problem, this industry, is just by being like, just by putting a more intense and rigorous qualification process for anybody that tries to sign onto a mentoring program. Because a mentoring program and a coaching program is, it can get very, like, personal at times, you know, sometimes you're teaching someone to solve them like deep-rooted personal issues. And definitely not everyone is ready for that. And not everyone is ready to make the financial and the time and effort commitment required to reach whatever goal they set for themselves. So, yeah, like these kinds of incidents should never, ever, ever occur within this industry. Because to be honest, anyone that gets into this industry initially, I at least, I truly do believe their intention is to make an impact on other people's lives. Because without that, without your intentions being in the right place, there's just no way of succeeding. Because subconsciously and through your body language and things like that, you're gonna communicate, you know, your own greed within yourself. So definitely, definitely these in these in this, these incidents should never occur. And, you know, you need a better, more rigorous qualification process to kind of prevent these things from happening in the future.
So, yeah, slightly more on a tangent from the kind of videos I normally do. But I do think it was my perspective is necessary. And I really didn't want to speak on this topic. So if you enjoyed this video, give this video a like and subscribe for more SMM related content in the future. Again, condolences to the families affected and the friends affected. Because, you know, one person taking their own life doesn't just impact the mother, father, but also impacts like best friends. And it can severely, severely traumatize someone, you know. So this situation is [ __ ] beyond belief. The industry, the info product industry as a whole, nice Tim proof. And the some of the practices nowadays I see going on is just, is not entirely correct in my opinion. And personally, I wouldn't be taking those approaches. So, yeah, I'll see you guys on tomorrow's video. Bye guys.