The CEO of F**k All: Why You Should Avoid Gurus

The other day, I saw someone post an Instagram reel about the day in the life of a CEO.

Now, I know some CEOs; people who are chief executive officers of fairly substantial boards, and I know what a day in the life of a CEO looks like for them.

But the person behind this reel is the only person in their business.

They’re the only executive officer on their board, so I don’t understand how they’re a CEO. It seems like a false flex to make their content look good, but from what I can tell, they spend most of their time doing photo shoots, in the gym, or talking nonsense on social media.

And I’m getting a bit sick of it.

Now, I obviously put myself out there on socials. It’s a way to showcase my book, the Stay Hungry podcast, Codebreak’s services, useful insights, my artificial intelligence company, what I’m up to, the lifestyle, the person behind the business.

I do that in the hope that the right people will resonate with my content and want to work with me.

But I’m not saying things that simply aren’t true. I’m not saying that I’m a CEO, even though we have more than one executive officer on our board, so I could be. At most, I’m just the managing director.

I’m just Joel.

This whole idea of standing next to a Lamborghini that isn’t yours, or in front of the Burj Khalifa on a ‘business trip’ when you’re really just making it tax-deductible? Or talking about a seven-figure launch when you actually mean seven figures in a currency where the exchange rate is three hundred to one on the pound? And referring to seven figures across the entire lifespan of your business?

It’s misleading.

This is one of the biggest scams in online entrepreneurship at the moment.

The rise of the CEO of Nothing.

These people often call themselves gurus, and you’ll find them everywhere. I’m throwing this out there as a word of warning. Because if you’re a business owner or entrepreneur and you’re ready to scale to seven figures, you’ll probably look for a mentor, a guide or a coach to help you out.

And that’s where the CEO of Nothing comes in. They’re like sharks. They smell the blood, and they come after the people putting their hands up asking for help to do something they’ve never done before.

These so-called gurus claim they’re doing it all the time, so you might assume they must be the right people to help.

But really, who is this person?

What does Companies House say about them? And what kind of accounts have they filed? Are their testimonials real? Do they show you actual messages, not just screenshots?

Have they got Trustpilot or Google reviews? How long have they been around? What’s their story? Can I speak to three of their other clients?

These are the steps you should take to avoid falling into these traps. I work with a mentor called Paul Mort, and I’m proud to work with him. He’s a fantastic coach. Of course, he has his own flaws, which he quite frequently highlights, but that’s why I work with him.

He’s a genuine guy.

But I’ve also met many gurus and CEOs of Nothing who are pulling the wool over people’s eyes, taking their money, and selling them a magic pill.

Once they have their hooks in, they sell the next magic pill and the next. They convince you that the first thing will work once you have the second thing, and then the third thing. Before you know it, you’re £50k in debt with them and not really any further along.

So how do you spot a CEO of Nothing?

Let’s start with the basics; numbers don’t lie.

If you go on Companies House and see that they’ve submitted micro accounts, that means their turnover had to be under £634k.

So if they claim to be a seven-figure business, why are they submitting micro accounts?

Another thing to consider is that when people say they’re a seven-figure business, they probably mean revenue, and even if they do mean within the year, it doesn’t mean there was any profit left at the end of it.

Don’t believe everything you’re told; it pays to dig a little deeper before investing your time and money.

Some other common red flags: they appear to live an incredible luxury lifestyle, but you’ll never see images of their home because they don’t have one, or it’s not as impressive as their Instagram makes it seem.

You’ll never see anything that looks like a business asset.

No staff, no office, no podcast studio. If this so-called guru is coming to you on video or Zoom, and the backdrop looks like a spare bedroom, I’d have alarm bells ringing.

I’m not saying that successful people can’t work from a spare bedroom, but it’s a red flag.

Another red flag is that they’re always selling courses about making money, but not selling courses around the tactics, strategies and reality of business.

For example, if they’re telling you how to do a seven-figure launch but not telling you how to successfully launch your next masterclass, they’re two different things, and the first one could be full of hot air.

The other red flag is no verified track record.

Nothing on Companies House, Google reviews or Trustpilot, no case studies of people you’ve actually heard of or seen before or can actually speak to.

And the biggest red flag? They sell the dream, not the result.

That is actually a marketing tactic. My job as a marketing expert with a marketing agency is to sell people their dreams and move them away from their pain. That’s what marketing is.

But there are realistic dreams, and then there’s telling people they’re going to make millions. When you get someone telling you that, you need to ask whether they’re painting a realistic picture or massively inflating the possibility of what could happen.

You’ll see a lot of this from the CEOs of Nothing.

So how do you spot a genuine mentor, coach, business partner or supplier? First, how easy are they to find? Do they have a website and reviews? Do they have a genuine track record?

Who have they worked with? Have you heard of them? Have they got case studies? Will they let you speak to them? Are these testimonials real? Can they verify them?

And, crucially, have they built anything other than their personal brand?

If you visit my Instagram, you’d see a lot of pictures of me and my dog. There are some professional photographs, some nicely cut videos, and some images of me at the football.

But there are also pictures of me in the office, and a link to my business where you can see the company, the office, even take a Google tour of it if you want.

It’s real, not made up in my bedroom with AI.

A real mentor, a real coach, a real business partner, or a real supplier will talk to you about risk versus return and demonstrate how they’ve helped people in a similar position to you.

They’ll show you real results and how that happened. And they’ll identify some of the weaknesses and opportunities you have in your business.

The CEO of Nothing, however, will fill you full of hype and hot air and make you feel like a million dollars. But it will all be about that guilt trip of “you must invest to succeed” rather than real financial logic.

They might say things like: “I’m not a numbers person, I don’t really like numbers, but I know I can get you to seven figures,”. Or: “Maybe next time we’ll be doing the photo shoot together,”.

That kind of nonsense.

Good coaches don’t pump you full of hot air. They give you actionable advice to help you build your confidence. They won’t give you an unrealistic timeframe, such as: “Do this, this, and this, and in 30 days you’ll be a millionaire.”

They’ll tell you to set your own timeframe based on your own responsibilities and limitations, and help you overcome those limitations.

The word ‘hacks’ should be a red flag, too. A real mentor doesn’t do ‘hacks’; what they’ll probably do, which you might find difficult, is simplify things.

They’ll cut out the crap and make you focus on one thing.

That’s how you can spot someone who really knows what they are doing. And that’s how my mentors work with me. They’ll go right in on the jugular instead of empathising with all my excuses and filling me with false confidence.

Flashy events are another chosen tool of the CEO of Nothing. You’ll know the type of events I’m talking about because the speakers don’t even have their own businesses. They’re all just influencer types.

They might sell online courses or the odd thing, but there’s nothing behind it. They don’t have employees, they don’t have anything tangible to fall back on.

There’s no resale value to their business.

Instead, go to events that have real headliners, real business owners, real networking opportunities, real chances to listen to stories that inspire you.

Sometimes it’s hard because some events have a mix of good and bad, but go through the red flag list we talked about and really think about what’s in it for you.

The biggest red flag of all?

Astronomically high prices for very vague promises, with bonuses that don’t really amount to much. Just ask yourself: what am I actually going to get? What value am I going to receive?

Is this worth it?

When you find the right coach or mentor, you won’t be sitting there thinking: “I need to tell this person I’m making millions.”

It will be the opposite. You’ll be thinking: “I can learn from this person, and they won’t judge me.”

That’s how you know you’ve found the right person to support you.

Don’t miss the next episode of Stay Hungry – we’ll dive into straight-talking insights on business marketing, growth mindset, and the realities of running a business. And if you want to take the hassle out of your marketing, we’ve got you covered with our done-for-you service.