I am having a crisis of heart today.
I would like to apologize to anyone who joined the “Free Habit Creation Webinar With Leo Babauta” on my say so. I really did not expect it to be a sales pitch for a new program. I have participated in several of Leo’s classes and events and have regularly been impressed because I usually feel he delivers more then what is promised. Yesterday I was disappointed and ultimately a little angry.
I understand that “Free Webinars” are used to sell information products. I expected some type of deal to be offered at the end of a call. There always is. I did not expect less then 20 minutes of useful content followed by an aggressive push to get me “to sign up today.” For me it was entirely contrary to what I have come to expect from Leo. I mean he is the “open source blogging guy” that decided to give all of his content away and even invited people to steal his content! The whole thing made me sad.
What got me mad though, was the fact that I had suggested this event to you! I feel like it was a violation of our trust for me to suggest such a hard sell event without fair warning. I try to share and post items that I think will be valuable. I do not believe in presenting something as one thing, in this case a useful stand alone event on developing good habits, and delivering something different, a 45 minute (may have been longer I did not stay until the end) infomercial and tactics to get me to “sign up today.”
Part of the appeal of this event was that it was billed as a panel which included two other bloggers I also enjoy. The two of them never even had a chance to speak. Half way through his initial presentation Leo apologized for not even introducing them but still they never spoke. The program that was being offered for sale is supposed to be their joint project but by the time I gave up and hung up the two of them hadn’t said a word.
OK, we all make mistakes. One bad move does not make me throw a trusted friend (or even blogger) under the bus but because I suggested the event to you I feel violated. I really have looked to Leo as an inspirational guide in the blogging world. Here is a guy with no ads on his site, sharing his content freely and actually making money doing what he loves. I will not lie, I want the same kind of success. For this reason I have paid for his courses and have joined his Alist Blogging club for the chance to learn from him.
I saw Julie and Julia. and like many a part time blogger, I’ve thought about that kind of blogging success. I sit over here thinking my occasionally deep (at least to me !) thoughts and think wistfully about how my words are traveling around the world and possibly making a difference to someone who needs/wants/ is ready to hear what ever it is I have to say. I dare say every blogger who has ever hoped for more then Aunt Sally’s watchful eye on his or her blog has had thoughts along these lines. We don’t blog for fame and fortune but it taunts us never the less.
I am not even opposed to marketing and I even believe in getting compensated for my recommendations , (I have participated in a few select affiliate programs, although after last night’s event I have decided to step away from even doing that right now) but I do not want to be a part of something so blatantly hard sell. I am hopeful, for those that will sign up for the course that much more then what was promised is delivered. That is what I have come to expect from Leo but I won’t be spending any of my money to find out.
Out there in twitter world I believe this is called #EpicFail and once again I apologize for inviting you to one.
Oh my goodness! I want to give you hug and a cupcake with rainbow sprinkles on it.
You obviously have a lot of integrity, and only suggest things that you truly believe in. To feel like you (unintentionally) misled your readers must really sting.
But that is exactly the kind of integrity that creates The Big Success – so even though it kind of stings right now – yay!
Thank you so much for your kind words Andrea! And for reminding me of the big picture. I really needed to hear that!
Leo is an admired and well respected blogger.
“Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.” No? 🙂
I stopped by your site to thank you for your visit to Bliss Habits and for your wise words. As you can tell I was very disappointed, due in large part because Leo is such a great blogger… as I said, everyone makes mistakes… perhaps he and are even then! ( Not that I get into tit for tat counting of anything!) Thanks do much for lending your perspective. I do hope you will stop by again!