Thoughts On Tai Lopez?

[Arman]

People love to shit on those who are successful. Anyone who is interested in learning about marketing, entrepreneurship and sales copy should be following Tai. You don't actually have to pay attention to anything he says, but rather how he says it. Reason being, his marketing campaign was unprecedented in terms of views and youtube cover. He's really good at what he does. I don't know if he's a good teacher, but it's possible to learn by observation and seeing what people are doing. 

Yeah, he really heavily focuses on his mansion, money, hot girls and pressing on all this emotional points to make sales. He does it because it works and he's trying to make money. That's how sales works. People spend $100 on a shirt, but call an a $xx program a scam. 

Just because someone makes money by creating emotional investment doesn't make it a scam. Is it of questionable integrity? That's up to you, but it's a cornerstone upon which modern marketing is built. Lots of people get upset over clickbait titles, even when it's used on content they like by content creators they promote. Yet once you get over the second of mild annoyance and gain some perspective, you'd realize it's allowing more people to see the content, take in value, and create more revenue for the content creators. 

I've checked out his content in the past. I never bought any products and have no interest following him anymore, but if you check out some of the comments sections you'd see it motivates a lot of people. From what I can tell about his content, it is not particularly deep and you could probably get the same or more amount of information by dedicating yourself to personal research and picking up some good books. So is his content worth the amounts he charges? I've only seen the double digit price point, but I have no doubt that he also has price points at the ~$399 and ~$1000+ ranges - but those are pretty standard price points for the online course/coaching/product models. 

He's not going to be relevant and valuable for everyone. Just because he may be hitting on shallow points and using 'groupthink' desires to his advantage doesn't mean he is not creating value - perhaps even tremendous amounts of value to the community. If you're someone who has decent entrepreneurial understanding and maybe is a 'cut above', then Tai's content may be a waste of your time and money - but for someone who has been living in apathy without motivation, then to them it's worth every penny because it's allowing a kind of energetic slingshot which will take them to more valuable and more relevant content in time.

Once you get over your own ego, you'll realize he's actually kind of hilarious (not intentionally) in the way he operates and markets himself. It all becomes comical and the pursuit of money money cars cars women health smarts success - it's all kind of cute and absurd, but from this perspective you can also then analyse the dynamics of motivation, marketing, success and branding in a fun way. 

Edited January 12, 2017 by Arman

[Guest Annetta]

Haven't seen his stuff - use adblocker - only h3h3's reaction vids to go off of.

[Extreme Z7]

I'd personally refrain from calling Tai Lopez's business a scam although I myself don't find his content very useful. I believe that his business is genuine and that his intentions are genuine but in the end he's a (relatively) shallow guru with some relatively shallow content. Even just the average kid who likes to make self-help material for a hobby does a better job at giving valuable information than Tai. Case in point, this guy's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUizzYFAqgwZxuHnEfNWHFA/videos

[Leo Gura]

Spiral Dynamics proves useful here. Stage Orange consciousness tends to teach Stage Orange things in Stage Orange ways while emphasizing Stage Orange values which resonates with other Stage Orange consciousnesses.

Which isn't to say its good or bad. But just to give you a rough map of what's going on.

Mainstream self-help has to be aimed at Stage Orange or Stage Green, because there's just not enough higher stages around. And of course Stage Orange really cares about being mainstream because one of its greatest values is big success.

[ULFBERHT]

I really don't understand all the Tai Lopez hate. Yeah, he kinda appeals to what some would call the lower impulses, but you can't argue with his success.

Not only that, but different levels of personal development resonant with different people at different times. I didn't get into Leo's material because I watched a meditation video. I think the first video of his I watched was something more mundane, like productivity or goal setting or something. However, as I got more acquainted and started experimenting with the ideas being presented, I realized that the field is incredibly deep and full of opportunity.

I experienced the same thing following Elliott Hulse on youtube. I started watching him because I lift, but ultimately I learned from him the importance of character, inspiration, life purpose,  contribution, and self- reflection. Who's to say where I would be if I wasn't introduced to the more mundane things first before glimpsing the more complex realities of life and personal development? It's very easy for many people to become so overwhelmed by the depth of a project that they never get started. The point being, you gotta start somewhere.

It's also worth suggesting that Tai's mission may be fundamentally different from someone like Leo. If the dude has never meditated in his life and is not likely to do so for the remainder of it, it might not matter. If his vision is to share accessible bits of wisdom in a compact format that help people re-frame priorities, improve their business, start a business, earn more money, etc. then it seems like he's doing a good job.

I think we all need to take a step back and contextualize what we're seeing before we jump to a conclusion and make a negative value judgement against something we happen to not be interested in. Scams exist, many of them pollute the self- help community, but that doesn't necessarily mean Tai is one of them.

Admittedly, I will say that his brand of personal development is not my type. But before I go moralizing and stacking my soap boxes, I'm going to use this forum as a nice way to say something nuanced, because god knows I do enough moralizing and soap box stacking.

[alyra]

I've heard it said that one should not dismiss a master just because the master does some thing you don't like. To me when I look at Tai, I do notice that he cares about material things I do not - but I neither assume that this means he is materialistic at the core, or just a person who chooses to enjoy materialistic pleasures outside of his core. and I do not pretend to assume that he is entirely a fool just because I have the notion that one thing about his apparent character I find foolish. Instead I notice that he has a certain zen air about him which cannot be denied, has interest in sharing wisdom, and has confidence that his wisdom is worth it. 

 

the wisdom or attempt to convey wisdom that any of us speak to each other is only the reflection of reality - and not reality itself. if you do not want to hear Tai's content, then do not - not that complicated. if you do - then give him a try. it's that simple. no need to make it more complicated than that... so if it is more complicated, look for a way to minimize your inner conflict over it. 

[MIARIVEL]

@JoseM Here is the deal with anyone on the Internet in business trying to sell you something.

Say you are looking for a life coach. You come across one website or you tube channel that promises you the world and guarantees you the results over night, another website where you have been following a person like Leo for a while and you resonate with him, he is well known in the industry and you feel inside that his services and products can help but lets say you can't afford his coaching (you can always find a way to get the money if you really wanted to or, perhaps you stumble across another life coach who is not so well known and popular in the industry but you have done your research and followed them, their prices are afforable and your thinking.. maybe. 

It all comes down to how your resonate with the person or company who is trying to sell you something. If you think someone is a scam or crap, then don't even worry about it, don't waste your valuable time. If you think someone is great and you love them and want their products you will find a way to work with them, or if finance is an issue maybe find someone who has the product you want thats afforable but also do your reasearch before you buy from anything or anyone. 

Coke is a drink that most people love and will buy, they will never go out of business. However, I know what are in soft drinks because I have done my research and refuse to even drink coke or any soft drinks (my personal perspective). I don't think their a crap company, I just don't like what they are trying to offer me. I decided to invest a lot of money in my own health and nutrition course so I know what I am putting into my body. 

The way Tai Lopez advertises showing off his luxury life, he is targeting a specific audience, he is not trying to target people who don't want his product. There are a lot of people out there who show off their life, their riches and everything they own and have - that is them and they won't change for anyone. People who are desperate for a quick fix, quick results and will buy into advertisements like "I guarantee you" are the ones who are going to invest in programs and people like this. That is their choice. Most of us are smart in the sense we will do our research before investing time, money and energy into anything. Some people may think its a scam another person can swear he changed my life. The important question is: how do you feel about him, the business or the product?

[ULFBERHT]

Although, let's not forget that genuine scams do exist and often they assume the facade of a self- help or personal improvement technique (ahem Trump University, ahem).