The Big Problem with Income Claim Marketing

By Maggie Patterson

All opinions in this post are my opinions and mine alone.

You can view our full disclaimer here.

First published June 7, 2021.

Last Updated: January 2, 2026.

Table of Contents

What is Income Claim Marketing?

The Lure of Income Claim Marketing

How Income Claim Marketing Screws Us Over

Spoiler: The Online Business Game is Rigged Against Us

Making the Sale at All Costs

Six and Seven Figure Success is Arbitrary

Buyer Beware: Income Claim Marketing is a Trap

Listen Now To This Essay On The BS-Free Service Business Show

I make six figures and you can too. I’ll teach you how to be a seven figure business owner using my proven method. We’ve all heard the income claims being used by celebrity entrepreneurs over and over and over again. In this episode we’re diving into what you, as a consumer, need to know about income claim marketing.

When you work in the online business world, there’s no escaping the constant stream of income claims being used to market and sell to you. It’s been going on as long as I’ve been in this industry, and the claims are just getting more outlandish as time goes on.

For example, when I arrived back in 2013, it was all about having a six figure business, but then that wasn’t enough and the goal posts have moved to building a seven figure, or million dollar plus business. And recently, I’ve seen multiple claims by people running eight figure ones and talking about how they can teach you to do that too.

Those claims keep growing as more and more people make the claims, and they need to up the ante to get your attention. But what are we even doing that we’re so focused on the pursuit of making money that we’re falling for this?

Here’s the thing. Most business owners in this space aren’t hitting the six figure mark, so it’s creating an ever-increasing goal that most people are going to fall short of ever reaching.  And that’s good for the people trying to sell this crap to us.

What is Income Claim Marketing?

Income claim marketing is the practice of using revenue or income outcomes, either explicit or implied, as a primary way to sell a product or service.

The underlying message is simple: I made this much money using this approach, and you can too if you buy what I’m selling.

Most often, the offer being sold is a method, framework, or system that promises to help someone replicate the same financial result, even when the context, experience, resources, or risk involved are wildly different.

The term income claim marketing was one I first heard used in reference to MLMs. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued warnings to many MLMs related to the claims made about how much money you can make. The FTC requires that earnings claims be truthful, supported by evidence, and representative of typical outcomes, standards that are routinely ignored in online business marketing.

According to MLM lawyer Kevin Thompson, in recent years, the FTC has “expounded upon its definition of income claims to include lifestyle claims or claims that included statements, pictures or other general references to large homes, vehicles, vacations and an overall lavish lifestyle.”

The first time I heard the term income claim marketing applied to online business was by Nathalie Lussier from Access Ally in 2017.

Since then, income claims in the online business space have become increasingly exaggerated and detached from reality.

In the current context of 2026, this type of marketing has become more than just misleading. It has become a significant contributor to broken trust, unrealistic expectations, and quiet financial harm for people trying to build sustainable businesses.

.

back to top
image of abraham lincoln

Why This Matters: The Lure of Income Claim Marketing

On the surface, income claim marketing may not seem like that much of an issue. Afterall, it’s become so natural, so normalized in the online business world, that we may not even realize it’s happening.

I know for me, when I first arrived in the online business world I found it refreshing that people were talking about money. As a business owner, I found these conversations appealing as I really didn’t have any frame of reference for how my business was really doing, or what was financially possible.

That’s where we get hooked. We’re suddenly drawn into a world that seems exciting and different. Where conversations about money are not just normal, but encouraged.

Many of us are taught from a young age that money is a private affair, and it’s not something you really talk about. A 2018 study from Capital Group found that “people are more comfortable talking about marriage problems, mental illness, drug addiction, race, sex, politics and religion than they are about money”.

In North America, money talk is seen as taboo, resulting in silence around money. An article by Joe Pinsker published in the Atlantic outlines why people do or don’t talk about money, and much of it comes down to class, race or circumstance. For those in the middle class, they often are silent when they’re facing economic precarity. For the Black community who experience a wealth gap of 1 to 10 with white Americans, the taboo is lower.

From talking about how much someone made with their last launch to how they hit a big milestone to showing that you can trust them because they make so much money, in the online business world money talk is constantly there.

As the taboo around money is broken, we gain a certain sense of freedom and possibility.

On one hand, I’m very much in favor of normalizing conversations around money, especially for women and non-binary people, as well as marginalized folks.

However, there’s a dark side where the money talk only serves to reinforce the failings of our current system. As alluring as it is, we need to proceed with caution and recognize that not everything is as it seems.

back to top

How Income Claim Marketing Screws Us Over

From my perspective, income claim marketing is one of the most toxic practices in this industry as it’s screwing us over on multiple fronts.

For starters, income claim marketing reinforces capitalist power structures. When we constantly focus on how much money people are making, we naturally start to sort people based on that. We view money as a measure of a person’s worth over their inherent worth as a fellow human.

The result is that we listen to online business owners based on how much they claim to make, not on the merit of their ideas or their character. We exalt people making seven or eight figures even when they’re downright shitty humans.

On top of that, there’s been an increased push to do business ethically, and on social justice. Yet, I see many of the business owners who claim to have their values rooted in these things engaging in income claim marketing. At best, this is incongruent and at worst, it’s shady as hell.

image of electricity voltage

Spoiler: The Online Business Game is Rigged Against Us

At the very heart of income claim marketing is the belief that we can’t market or sell our offers without it. Telling your potential customers that you make six or seven figures is a way to shortcut gaining their trust.

This has been a go-to tactic since the industry's inception. Sharing how much money your business makes is seen as a way to assert your authority and reinforce the idea that “if I did it, you can too”.

The only problem is that we can’t necessarily do it too. Especially when very rarely are any of the unearned privileges from whiteness to wealth are ever disclosed.

Many times, these income claims are deliberately fabricated, exaggerated, or embellished to make them that much more enticing. They are lies masquerading as so-called "proof".

In recent years, we’ve seen this in action as people expose photoshopped or AI-generated Stripe screenshots, fabricated dashboards, recycled images, and vague “proof” intentionally stripped of context.

None of this is accidental. It’s designed to bypass skepticism while still triggering desire. And from my point of view, it's a major contributor to the current trust recession in the online business world.

The game is literally rigged against us.

We’ve had to learn the hard way that more often than not that the celebrity entrepreneurs making these claims are the only ones getting richer.

Multiple times per week I hear stories of people being sold into coaching programs and courses that make big income-based promises and fail to deliver. Where people barely scraping by are pressured and manipulated into spending money they simply don’t have. They’re told they’re worth it, and that they need to play big to make their dreams happen.

back to top

Making the Sale
at All Costs

The name of the game is to make the sale at all costs. A number of tactics are commonly employed to handle objections and break people down so they say yes.

For example, with many coaching programs, the price isn’t even displayed on the sales page. If you’re interested in getting the price, you need to book a phone call.
On that call, you’ll meet with a sales coach whose job it is to get you to say yes using high-pressure tactics, from offering a “discount” if you join immediately, to asking you to commit and provide credit card information over the phone.

Over the years, I’ve had a glimpse into what the behind-the-scenes of these calls look like. From scripts that encourage you to insult the prospective customer, to encouraging people to apply for an additional credit card to make the purchase, to coaching them to borrow money, to offering financing options, to offering to split the payment across multiple cards.

While the tactics used on these calls may shift and evolve, the goal is always the same: convince the buyer that they need to invest at all costs, then figure out how to pay for it.

From my point of view, if anyone is coaching you on how to pay for what they’re selling, that’s a warning that should be heeded.

An article in the Guardian detailed multiple instances of people being exploited during the pandemic, including one in which a UK-based lawyer, Lucy Wheeler, was contacted by more than 20 people seeking to get out of a contract with the same business coach.

As Wheeler explained in the article, “They were getting next to no benefit or coaching. For some, the monthly instalments were more than their mortgage payments. Those involved were putting the payments on credit cards, or had borrowed money from the family, and many were hiding the escalating debt from their husbands.”

This story isn’t unique. And while it unfolded during the pandemic, the economic reality of 2026 has created a similar, and in some ways riskier, level of vulnerability for many people. With less buffer, fewer safety nets, and more pressure to “make it work,” walking away becomes harder, not easier. That makes people easier to manipulate and slower to pull the plug when something feels off.

Tightening credit, thinner personal savings, and rising costs mean that a financial misstep that might have been recoverable a few years ago can now carry long-term consequences. This structural shift is exactly what makes income-claim marketing more harmful than ever.

Meanwhile, people are still being sold into coaching programs and masterminds with the promise of not just recouping their investment but of rapidly jumping to six or even seven figures. When those promises don’t materialize (which is far more common than the marketing suggests), the fallout is real.

Instead of “success,” many people are left with significant debt, the emotional weight of feeling they failed, and the lasting impact of spending money they simply didn’t have.

And in the rare case where someone pushes back by asking for a refund or questioning the results they were promised, they’re quickly blamed. It’s their mindset. Their attitude. Their lack of commitment.

Instagram and Threads are full of celebrity entrepreneurs telling people they’re playing small or need to take responsibility, without ever acknowledging that their own inflated promises drew in people who were never a good fit to begin with. Instead, anyone who pushes back is dismissed as a “hater” which is a convenient way to deflect accountability rather than examine the harm caused.

While researching episodes for Duped, I once sat through a full webinar by a celebrity entrepreneur we’d received multiple complaints about. What followed was textbook DARVO: denial, reversal, and outright blame-shifting. She insisted she wasn’t the scammer and that anyone who felt misled had “scammed themselves” by buying with the wrong mindset.

In that framing, there was no room for accountability, only a neat inversion in which the seller was the victim, and the buyer was at fault for believing the promises she herself had made.

A current and very public example of this is self-proclaimed "Money Queen" Amanda Frances, who's receiving very public critique after joining the cast of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Frances' website is a masterclass in the use of income claims and magical thinking, and she's now dropped an iced-coffee cup that reads "scam artist and cult leader" in her shop as a way to refute the claims.

If this has happened to you, I want you to know it’s not your fault and you're not alone. While I firmly believe we all need to become better consumers if we’re going to work in this space, we need to understand that the status quo of online business is often rigged against us.

back to top

Six and Seven Figure Success is Arbitrary

Speaking of failure, I regularly chat with fellow online business owners who feel they’re failing because they’re not hitting the six-figure mark. It comes from being measured against a benchmark that was never realistic (or particularly meaningful) to begin with.

The $100k milestone isn't a metric of business health; it's a marketing-driven milestone designed to give you something to aspire to.

Despite the hype, the percentage of businesses that hit the $ 100,000-per-year mark is relatively small.

According to the most recent research from the U.S. Census Bureau and the SBA Office of Advocacy, the median income for unincorporated self-employed workers,  the group most representative of solo business owners, was between $40,000 and $50,000 in 2023, nowhere near the six-figure dream often promoted in online business marketing.

Revenue data tells the same story. The Census Bureau’s 2023 Nonemployer Statistics show that firms with no paid employees, the vast majority of which are sole proprietorships, are overwhelmingly below six figures.

The data reveals that about 88–90% of unincorporated nonemployer businesses report under $100,000 in annual receipts, making six figures the outlier, not the norm.

The Census doesn’t track “average owner take-home income,” but between what people actually earn and what their businesses earn, the point is clear: that six-figure benchmark so many coaches and creators sell as the default outcome is disconnected from reality.

While I firmly believe there can be considerable financial upside to being your own boss, we need to stop buying into the BS dream of a six or seven-figure business as being inevitable. The data underscores how out of step the dream being sold is with the reality of business ownership in today’s economy. In a moment marked by economic instability, widespread job loss, and limited margin for error, selling six-figure fantasies as the baseline does real harm.

Is making six or even seven figures possible? Yes. But we need to proceed with honesty about probability, tradeoffs, and who those outcomes actually work for.

back to top

Buyer Beware:

Income Claim Marketing is a Trap

blue scribble

As I write this, I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that as consumers we’ve got choices.

We can choose to continue doing business with people who use their income claims to drive their marketing and sales, or we can recognize it as a red flag.

It’s important to note here that I’m not here to shame anyone for talking about money, far from it. For me, it’s a matter of motivation and of context.

But if you’re considering buying from someone whose marketing leans heavily on how much money they make, here are a few grounded questions worth asking before you hand over your credit card:

  • What exactly are they selling? Is it a skill, a service, or an outcome?
    If the promise is primarily about income, not capability, strategy, or decision-making, that’s worth pausing on.
  • Is there any clarity around who this doesn’t work for? Truly ethical marketing includes limits. If everyone is supposedly a perfect fit, that’s a warning sign. No program or coach should claim to work with online business owners, coaches, creatives and influencers. Look for specificity.
  • What proof is being offered, and what’s missing? Screenshots, lifestyle photos, and vague testimonials aren’t the same thing as explaining how results were achieved, under what conditions, and over what timeframe. If you're looking at their lifestyle and you want that, check yourself immediately.
  • Are they teaching you how to think, or telling you what to believe?
    If disagreement is framed as a mindset problem rather than a reasonable question, that’s not support it's control designed to shut down your critical thinking.
  • Would this still feel like a good decision if the income outcome never materialized? If the answer is no, that’s essential information, especially if you don't have the money to invest right now. 
  • Are they encouraging you to spend money you don't have? Are they normalizing going into debt? Watch for language that reframes financial risk as bravery and hesitation as fear. When being responsible is cast as “playing small,” and borrowing, financing, or “finding the money” is framed as commitment.

  • Are they willing to answer your questions during the sales process, or do they rush past them? Pay attention to how questions are handled. A legitimate business should welcome thoughtful questions about scope, expectations, risk, and fit. If your concerns are brushed off, reframed as fear, or treated as resistance that needs to be “worked through,” that’s a sales tactic. You’re allowed to understand what you’re buying before you buy it.

At a very minimum, expect people to be transparent with you about the price before you have to engage with them, respect your questions rather than treating them as baseless "objections," and give you adequate time to make a thoughtful decision.

From my perspective as a business owner with 20+ years of marketing experience, anyone who teaches you to make more money based on how much they make is suspect. If they’re relying that heavily on the lifestyle and living the dream, versus actual substance, you're likely to find yourself duped and in debt after you buy.

I also recognize that for some of you, people talking about how much money they make is a possibility model. It’s aspirational. I’m not here to kill your dreams, but to encourage you to think carefully about what you really and truly want.

Before I entered this industry, I was extremely content with how much money I was making and exceeding any expectations I had for myself. While this industry helped me see a different path ahead for my business, it also started to brainwash me into thinking that making more money would drastically improve, well, everything.

It’s taken me years to untether myself from the seven-figure business dream and to settle into something that feels right for me. That’s a relatively boring business where I enjoy what I do. It’s a comfortable, but not fancy life. And yes, it’s getting a great deal on anything we do buy, because why pay more?

I also want to recognize that, as someone with an immense amount of privilege, that choice is a luxury. Your reality may be very different, and I want to honor that.

My point here is that you should decide and design it for yourself because revenue isn't the only metric of success.

Finally, as a business owner,  you can commit to not using income claim marketing in your business. I know it may feel necessary, but it’s not. There are so many other, proven ways to build trust with potential customers.

In recent years, I’ve ceased talking about how much money I make as I don’t believe it’s at all helpful to anyone. The conditions of my “success” are unique, and without 86 disclaimers and a full profit and loss, it would be misleading and incomplete.

Now, when I’m marketing and selling masterminds, I don’t make any claims about how much money people will make if they work with me. The first version of my mastermind, launched in 2016, was called Double It, and it was focused on helping people double their income. While many people did, not everyone did, so it wasn’t sitting right with me.

Removing that claim from my marketing hasn’t impacted my sales, and in many ways I believe it’s helped as I’m attracting people who aren’t just interested in making more money for the hell of it. They’re focused and committed to what they’re doing, and they may make more money as a result of strategic choices they make, not because I have a guaranteed system.

I share all of this to show you that your business can be successful on your terms without sacrificing yourself on the altar of income claim marketing.

back to top
yellow scribble