The End of the Guru?
Written by Lane Romero-Reiss on Nov 1, 2008 9:53 pm
Read More: Article Marketing | Leadership | Marketing | Personal DevelopmentGurus of all kinds can be found in all corners of the internet. There are credit gurus, sales gurus, internet gurus, business gurus, network marketing gurus and yes, even love gurus. They represent themselves as experts in their fields and are happily passing on some of their knowledge to you. Many of them will share much of that information for free. But while they may serve you some complimentary appetizers, you can rest assured the meal will not be free.
This is not an attempt to denounce the practice of selling quality information to people seeking it out. This is, after all, what attraction marketing is all about. Only those people who have shown a strong interest in the information will purchase it, and they will almost certainly find value in it. I believe this will become harder and harder to duplicate as a business model over the next ten years, though. The reason why is simple: the internet.
You see, the internet is the perfect medium for disseminating knowledge. More and more people are picking up on the fact that knowledge sells. Someone like Robert Kiyosaki or Brian Tracy might dole out a certain amount of free information which leads hundreds upon hundreds of people to buy a training series.
Many of those people will want to profit by sharing information, too, but they know they will have to give just a little more value than Robert or Brian did, in order to compete in the marketplace. So, they will give just a little bit more information for free, and some of this will be paraphrased from the training series they purchased. Some writers are better than others, and may even improve upon the original concepts.
Over time, more and more people will be positioning themselves as experts in their field, building upon concepts and ideas originally set forth by the gurus. The knowledge will spread through an ever expanding group of aspiring leaders, and eventually all the concepts laid out in the expensive training series will be available on the internet for free.
Will this spell the end of the guru? Probably not entirely. There will always be individuals who see the big picture better than others, and position themselves in a way that others will look to them for answers. By the time their training series has been sufficiently picked through and made available for free, they will be on to their next seminar, providing new value to their fans.
If you're not a guru, don't worry. There are so many people looking at new ways of doing business right now that you don't have to be THE expert in your field to help a whole lot of them and profit in the process. In my next article, I'll discuss some of the important changes taking place in the marketplace, and how you can align yourself to make the most of it.
Lane Romero-Reiss
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Comments: 6 
About the Author: Lane Romero-Reiss
Member Since: 09/23/2008
Industry: Personal Care
Primary Web Site: http://Lane.monitium.com/monitium/BN.aspx
Interesting...............
I think you bring up an interesting point, but I have to disagree with you. Even if thousands of people become "experts" in an area there is always going to be a certain number of people who stand out above the crowd.
Not only do these people usually have the magnetism that make people hang on to their every word, but the gurus do just as much, if not more, to stay ahead of the crowd. The real gurus tend to know every nuance of their business and not only that- how to deliver it.
The industry that we are in is ever changing and ever growing so even if a lot of information eventually gets out there for free, that information may no longer be the best out there.
To your success,
Jen
Hi Jen, I appreciate your
Hi Jen,
I appreciate your comments. I actually made a similar statement in the second to last paragraph. While I don't think the guru will disappear entirely, due to the reasons stated above, they will have to make way for the next wave of entrepeneurs, who will learn to leverage their knowledge with others. My next article will get into more detail about this.
Lane
interesting
Along the same thougth as the comment from Jen, there will always be True Gurus - those rare people who do what they do best beyond the level of what is known as 'unconscious competence' - these are the leaders who know without knowing: they have had so much exposure and years of experience in what they have done that their perceptions go beyond 99% of anyone else in their particular industry. Malcolm Gladwell's book, 'Blink: The power of thinking without thinking' is a very interesting study on this topic.
I think the point worth 're-phrasing' is that perhaps too many people are calling themselves guru's and thus making the moniker a pedestrian concept... but this too shall soon pass!
Darren Stehle
http://MLMProfitsByAttraction.com
I disagree with Jen
Whois a guru?
Is it the most knowledgable person in a field? No it isn't.
A guru is simply a person who has some knowledge in some area and with good strategic marketing strategies has been able to position themselves as the go to person in that field.
While I agree that guru's tend to have a good knowledge of their area and go a long way to position themselves, I do not agree that they are more knowledgable than others, they are just able to market themselves better.
An ok product with brilliant marketing will always be percieved as better than a great product with lousy marketing.
The people who will be the recognised gurus tomorrow will be the ones who are able to position themselves in peoples minds not necesarily the most knowledgable.
That has always been the case and it's not likely to change.
Thats my tupence.
To your success,
DJ Sobanjo
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I look forward to reading your next article.
Being a professional pointer is duplicatable
Thanks Lane for a great insight...
Most people try so hard to become the next ''guru'' or the next ''heavy hitter''.
We don't have to change who we are to be successful.
Being professional pointers is what works for most of us.
I appreciate you,
Daniela Riess