Hope is the #1 Product That Sells

It's crazy how creators are making more money from "how to make money as a creator" courses than from their entire creator careers. The same goes for other professions as well. Entrepreneurs who couldn't make successful businesses are teaching people about entrepreneurship. And then there's a guy who keeps popping up on my Instagram ads with his marketing course; I am pretty sure he has made more money by selling this course than from his entire marketing career.

Hope is a powerful thing. If you can sell the hope of making money, people will buy it very easily. I see FAANG bros selling their DSA courses to college students, and these college students buy them, hoping they can also get into FAANG if they follow the course. This is where the problem starts. Life is not that easy. You see hundreds of thousands of people buying these courses, but how many of these course buyers actually make it to FAANG?

The fitness industry might be the OG of selling hope. "Get six-pack abs in 30 days!" Yeah right. Those before-after pictures look great until you realize they're selling you a dream that took them years to achieve. But hey, people keep buying because who doesn't want a shortcut to that beach body?

It's wild how this has created this weird pyramid of hope-sellers. Someone buys a course, makes a tiny bit of success, and boom - they're selling their own course about how to succeed. It's like a never-ending chain of people selling hope to the next person in line. Most of their income comes from selling the course itself, not from actually doing what they're teaching.

The self-help industry is another goldmine of hope-selling. "Transform your life in 7 days!" "Become a millionaire mindset!" These gurus are getting rich by telling you how to get rich. The irony is lost on most people desperately looking for that secret formula to success.

The worst part is not just about the money people waste. It's the time they spend chasing these promises instead of building real skills. It's the emotional rollercoaster of getting hyped up by motivational content, trying the "proven method," failing, and then blaming themselves because hey, it worked for others, right?

But here's the thing - selling hope isn't always bad. Some courses do provide genuine value, some mentors actually know their stuff. The problem is when hope becomes the only product. When someone's biggest achievement is teaching others how to achieve things they haven't done themselves.

So next time you see that Instagram ad promising to teach you the "secrets of success," remember - if their main income comes from teaching you how to make income, maybe think twice about where you're putting your hope and money.