What watching water circling the drain taught me about my business…

I’ve received a DM from a 20-year-old life coach... let me repeat that: a 20-year-old life coach offering me his method of manifesting the life I am dreaming about — for a monthly fee, of course. It was a stark reminder of how widespread the “guru” phenomenon is, and how many barely competent people are trying to cash in on it.

Turns out, a crisis, job uncertainty, or a market dip and hordes of “enlightened” individuals crawl out of the woodwork, eager to sell you their golden-ticket, three-step method for taking your business or life to the next level. They throw around half-baked inspirational quotes and vague “recipes” for success in posts accompanied by a photo of a half-naked human in a hammock with a laptop on a tropical island. Not to mention the videos where self-proclaimed business geniuses talk about shifting your mindset and hustling harder than the hustle bros and boss babes combined — without actually giving you any actionable points, but with a link to a three-day course that has just been discounted to a mere £999 from £5000.

Maybe we allow others to lead us because that removes a bit of responsibility. Maybe, for some, it feels safer than doing it on our own. Or perhaps using such a thing simply makes us feel better in times of crisis. But the lesson from this “phenomenon” is this: peddling advice is easy because there is no accountability for those who dish it out if we fail. It’ll be on us — because we didn’t apply ourselves enough, or we apparently have a mental block created by fear of success, or any other psychology-adjacent BS that’s trendy in that moment.

The shake-’n’-bake fixes we get are nothing more than quick pain relief. And as such, they’re only a surface-level aid, not a cure for the underlying problems. Those courses, podcasts, and three-step wonders only make us feel like we’re doing something. Because, for some reason, sitting down and actually thinking is deemed pointless or “not productive enough”.

I’m not judging from a pedestal. I’m with you if you’ve ever gone through a course, bought a book, or followed someone who claimed they had the answers — only to realise along the way that it was at best not for you, or at worst a scam. In nearly two decades of my business career, I’ve read, heard, and been told almost every piece of business advice under the sun. And let me be clear — some of it was genuinely epic once I filtered it through my own circumstances and reframed it to work for my way of running a business.

I’m not writing this to rant, but to urge you to keep your eyes open for red flags. I’ve seen many fall for utter BS (present party included), paying their hard-earned money to the charlatans of the business world, hoping it would move the needle.

So here is my one and only suggestion on this matter — in the hope that it will save you money and precious time. If you’re looking for inspiration or solutions in others, be critical, sceptical, and maybe even a touch cynical. You’ll recognise a true mentor by their actions: taking the time to get to know you, challenging your ways of thinking, and making you deeply consider your circumstances. Then they’ll offer insights and push you out the door to find your own solutions.

You have all the answers you need.

So, whatever messages you allow in, keep only what truly nourishes your version of success — what is organic to your way of leading a business — and “lovingly” let go of the rest. Finding your own answers will always be more effective than any guru’s shortcut ever could.