As an example, a friend of mine told me about a speaker at a recent conference she had attended. She made a gabillion dollars.¹⁰³ She got on stage in front of hundreds of business owners and stated that the audience was wasting its time using social media and being on Facebook and Twitter. She said the audience was better off focusing on the branding practices of Coke and the other Fortune 50 companies. My friend said that you could see the look of panic on the attendees’ faces. The people who had been building real relationships online to help their businesses grow were now being told they were doing it all wrong by someone they aimed to be like. The speaker also admitted that she got to where she was today by lying to a buyer of one of the store chains to get her product placed. Oh, and the conference theme? Being your true self. Well done.

The problem with trying to emulate a “millionaire,” is that it isn’t a business. Making money isn’t a career. It’s the result of good business. There is a huge difference between a result and the cause of the result. You can fall into the trap of simply wanting to be rich, and the next thing you know, you’re sitting in a hotel conference room at a “free” seminar being told that the only way to get rich is to pay someone money to show you how to get rich. The smart cookies reading this will realize that the way the seminar leaders make money is by selling the programs on how to make money! Send me $5 in the mail right now, and I’ll send you step-by-step instructions on how to make a million dollars, $5 at a time! ¹⁰⁴

There will always be people who tell you that what you’re doing is wrong, as well as those who will tell you that everything you’re doing is right. Both should be avoided. Seek out opinions of people you trust who can give encouragement but also honest opinions. Now is not the time to ask your mom if your web site looks effective.¹⁰⁵ One of the best ways to find those people in business is through, you guessed it, social media. By building trusting relationships with people, you have at your disposal a potential large group of experts who can give you feedback when you need it the most.¹⁰⁶ I believe in positive thinking and goal setting, but being oblivious is a surefire recipe for failure. You can read The Secret all you want, but business doesn’t manifest itself. I saw an ad agency owner once credit the success of landing a large campaign to “manifesting it.” What a great way to insult his entire team, which spent countless weeks, even months, to get it together. I’m sure the team was manifesting a thank you for him.