Ok, folks, I’m struggling with this one because it’s a bit controversial but I’ve got to do it!
You see, here’s the thing…
When you’re trying to get people to read your stuff, the last thing you want to do is put a downer on it by being negative!
I get that… and agree with it!
However, sometimes, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do and tell it like it is.
And today’s one of those days!
The problem with six-figures!
The ‘raison d’etre’ behind The Cash Trail is to help anyone who wants to break out of average to do something different with their lives!
And to be fair, there are tonnes of excellent, high-value resources out there that can really help.
Unfortunately, for every tonne of good stuff, there’s also a megatonne of shit where people just try and sell garbage to make a profit, rather than providing genuinely useful information their customers can actually benefit from!
These fake opportunists are everywhere…
You’ve probably seen them.
They’re the ones pushing ridiculous schemes for ‘clickbait’ that you just know they’re not using themselves (nor have any intention of using) because they can sell the ‘how to’ programme which is actually what makes them the money!
To put it another way, teaching others to make a fortune online has become one of the most dishonest niches there is, mainly because of the sheer number of so-called experts trying to sell methods or strategies THAT MIGHT SOUND GOOD IN THEORY BUT DON’T BLOODY WORK IN REAL LIFE!
Explaining exactly what I mean here is probably worthy of another newsletter in itself, so I’ll keep that for another day, but for now, just avoid the ‘Make $3,000 With This Never Before Seen Affiliate Marketing Strategy’ type stuff you see on YouTube, etc!
So what’s this got to do with the six-figure brigade?
Ok, before I put my head above the parapet, don’t shoot the messenger!
There are plenty of creators who have had some success and may well have inside knowledge or information that can definitely be useful if they decide to share it.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
In fact, even if you’re only a little further ahead than the next person, I highly recommend distributing your knowledge, because anyone who’s in the market to learn, will be keen to hear what you’ve got to say (this is what the creator niche is all about after all and long may it continue).
The problem is in the way some of these creators SELL their stuff and using the ‘six-figures’ line is the classic misdirection to make something sound much more successful than it is.
Now, a quick caveat here…
When selling virtually anything, you absolutely should make the biggest possible claim or promise you can that’s actually achievable.
This is what a good headline is all about and if you want to read more on the subject, check out this article I’ve written here.
However, there’s a difference between making a big promise and deliberately misleading!
To explain what I mean, let’s dig a little deeper.
When someone says they’re making six-figures, what is it they’re actually asking you to believe?
Funnily enough, when you stop and think about it, it’s obvious.
They’re trying to convince you they’re making anything up to £999,000.00 (or dollars, or euros, whatever)!
And to be fair, if they were, it’d be pretty impressive.
The chances are though, they’re probably not because anyone getting this kind of result would be shouting out their numbers with a megaphone!
Of course, on the other hand, they could simply be saying they’re making a minimum of £100,000.00!
Or are they?
Even if it’s a one-off, it’s common practice these days for creators who’ve had a little success to extrapolate figures and make them seem like they’re typical!
For example, if someone pulled in over £8,334 in a month and it was the first time they’d done it…
… times that by 12 and boom, you’ve got six-figures a year!!
However, now think about this…
Since I started dabbling in using the internet to make a living, I can genuinely say, with my hand on my heart, I’ve pulled in over six-figures a year, every year!
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Well here’s the problem…
Six figures could be £1,000.01!
Not so great then, is it?!
The thing is, when I’ve got my copywriting hat on, if someone tells me they’re making over £100,000 a year, why would I say they’re pulling in six-figures?
Specifics sell so it’s much more powerful to say £167,769.42 (or whatever the amount may be)!
Even if it was only £100,000.01 (again, not too shabby), I could easily say they’re averaging around £8,300+ a month, which sounds great and is still absolutely true!
To put this into perspective, some of the clients I’ve worked with are genuinely making more than a million pounds a year, sometimes multiple millions but I don’t say they’re pulling in seven-figures!
Let’s face it, an income of say, £2,056,657.59 is actually nine-figures but it’s much more exciting to see the real numbers, so why fudge it?
The answer is because much of it’s BS!
When it’s genuine, the numbers don’t need to be ‘disguised’!
Now don’t get me wrong, if someone’s claiming they’re making six-figures, and they’re at least a half-decent human being, they might well be successful enough to share something worth learning from.
And who knows, they could possibly be making a £100,000 a month, year, or whatever…
But it’s unlikely.
So you should be wary.
And you certainly shouldn’t get sucked into believing they’re the oracle, the number one in their field, or that their product or service is unlike anything else out there because the chances are the numbers have been fudged!
Completely unrelated sidenote for writers – if you’re interested, that last sentence contained the three uses of the word there (they’re, their, there)!
The key is to sort the wheat from the chaff
Now you know what to look for, you can evaluate whether the ‘six-figure’ creator is offering you real value and whether their claims genuinely give them the credibility for what they’re trying to sell you.
Six-figures MAY be a red flag!
But it’s not set in stone.
If you still feel the offer’s good after you’ve checked out the numbers, then go for it, learn from whatever it is they’re sharing.
But if you smell BS (and very often you will), take it with a pinch of salt, click the little ‘x’ in the corner of your screen and get the hell out of there!
So what’s the take out of all of this?
- Well, in my view, six-figures is a fudge!
- Specifics sell so why not use them?
- Big numbers are worth sharing (as long as they’re real of course)!
The genuinely successful ‘top dogs’ don’t tend to use the term six-figures because they can claim the actual numbers… the real deal!
Ok yes, they might occasionally use the term ‘seven-figures’ or even eight, because the implied million+ is impressive in itself, but in general, they’ll tend to use the specific figures (especially when multiple millions are involved) because it sounds so much better!
Of course, it doesn’t mean that what they’re selling is necessarily a good fit for you…
They might be so far ahead that they’re out of touch with your particular situation and that’s when the six-figure brigade MIGHT, just might, be the best person to learn from.
But that’s another subject altogether!
Who’s Jeff Cowtan? Copywriter, occasional blogger and fledgling YouTuber! As long as I can remember I felt if other people could be successful, why can’t I?! It’s why I love helping others with the same mindset as me to break away from convention and realise they don’t have to trade time for fixed amounts of money, in order to get where they want to be!