Celebrity entrepreneurs are essentially influencers of the online business world. They’re personality-driven brands that many times are built on invented authority.

These brands look good, but there’s no real expertise or mastery backing it up.

In the current climate, there’s nothing holding anyone back from declaring themselves an expert. Here in 2020, the internet is now the home of the self-proclaimed expert.

The problem being that once you put some fancy branding with some flashy photos around it, and then add in some shameless claims, it’s increasingly difficult to figure out who’s actually got experience and who’s a fraud.

A common refrain in business programs is “fake it until you make it” or “you just need to be a couple steps ahead,” which means we have countless personality-driven aspiring celeb entrepreneurs who are clueless about what they’re doing. Sure, they’ve claimed what they’re doing works, but there’s no way to verify that.

They’re building their businesses based on authority that they’ve invented out of thin air. Here’s how they do it.

Using Titles to Signal Power

When inventing authority, the personality brand is created to trap us into thinking this person is someone we can trust.

Many times it will start with sharing “credentials” they have, such as past experiences or titles. The problem being that these experiences aren’t always real. They’re carefully crafted to get us to think they’re something they’re not.

Plus, this industry loves nothing more than to create fancy titles to signal power and authority. This is why there’s an abundance of coaches and teachers that are just starting out with no experience that refer to themselves as the CEO. What they’re the CEO of aside from their fledgling business, I’m not entirely sure.

Worthless Certifications

Many times these individuals may have “certifications” to demonstrate their competence. While many certifications are valid, just as many aren’t.

Across the online business industry, certifications have become a cash cow for people who want to make more money.

There are many coaches at the top of this industry who’ve made up coaching certifications as a way to get access to people’s wallets. Unlike many other legitimate and ethical coaching certifications, these fabricated ones include little in the way of how to actually put your certification into practice as a business. Plus, when these coaches are done, they create a business to teach other people how to become coaches, essentially creating a coaching version of a MLM.

The result? Worthless certifications that sound great, but actually don’t mean anything in terms of real skills or experience.

One person I interviewed shared how when she started out as a health coach, there were so many certifications that made massive promises. She eventually enrolled in one after doing what she thought was a diligent effort of vetting it.

Overall, she found the program content was interesting and helpful, but more so on a personal level, which she found out was a common theme. Many women undergoing health, fitness and wellness certifications do so because they’re attracted to the subject matter and many times have some underlying issue such as an eating disorder, over exercising or disordered eating.

Having struggled with issues herself, she felt as though the program didn’t adequately address this safety concern.

The other thing this woman shared was that once the certification was done, there was little in the way of actual solid business advice such as how to find clients, manage a business, and so on.

However, what there was plenty of was a push to take the next certification, training, or specialties with the company and other “trusted partners”. Ultimately, this plants the seed of doubt that maybe you need to get this next specialty to set yourself apart before you start your business. She saw many of her peers continue this perpetual certification cycle for years to the tune of multiple five figures of investment.

Signalling Affluence with Images

Imagery is a huge part of the personality brand. Photos are used to not-so subtly tell us that this is someone we can trust. Depending on the brand, this is done in different ways, but clothes, accessories and even location come into play.

In Kelly Diels’ work on the Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand (FLEB) she shares how the first rule of these brands is to be beautiful. She details how FLEBs use “beauty, heterosexuality, and glamorous photoshoots signalling hyperfemininity as part of their outreach strategy.” Diels goes on to say that they do this to assert their authority and that it reinforces the patriarchal system in which we live.

The use of imagery is a key part of inventing authority and it’s used by all of the celebrity entrepreneur archetypes.

While what I call the Fancy AF Lady Boss may use a Paris photoshoot to showcase her lifestyle, a member of the Woo Crew may have photos done at sunset in the desert. Or the BFF Next Door may use images of their “everyday” life to show that they’re just like you.

But make no mistake, those images all have the same intention. To signal affluence, showcase their success and gain our trust.

Even if none of it is real. The dress may be rented, they may have maxed out all their credit cards to travel to an exotic location, and they’re nothing like the image they portray. Doesn't matter, because we're willing to open our wallet based on this image of affluence.

Results Not Typical Social Proof

Next up, are testimonials. The social proof of testimonials are pure gold, until it’s being used as a shady way to convince you that a would-be expert is qualified.

However, testimonials are easily faked, exaggerated and they’re often turned against us; they're the literal best case scenario. Many times, results in testimonials aren’t at all typical.

Six years ago, I had my name and image taken, and then a testimonial attributed to my name by a coach in Australia. My friend and client Megan Van Groll, recently had a similar case where she found her image being used all over the internet. In some cases she was a “stock photo” and in other cases it was clear the testimonials were completely fake.

That’s just the start of the problems here.  Testimonials often make big promises and share the results of one person that are unlikely to ever be replicated by another. They tap into our desire to succeed or be their star student, and thereby tricking us into trusting the person selling to us.

The “As Seen On” Hack

Public relations or PR, is often seen as a way to quickly gain authority, which is true to a point. As someone who used to spend my days pitching stories for clients to big-name media, I’ve seen how transformative the right media placement can be.

This is exactly why so many online “experts” use media logos to bolster their authority. But here’s something that very few people know. Many times those logos they’re using aren’t completely legitimate.

There’s a little-known hack that many “PR services” use to help their clients get logos to use on their media pages. By sending out a press release on a paid wire service, that press release will automatically run on a number of websites. We’re talking about major media like NBC and ABC.

Using those logos implies someone is a thought leader, yet many times there’s no actual thought leadership happening. In these cases, you can easily figure it out as there aren’t any media features they can point to in order to back it up.

Inflated and Creative Revenue Claims

The online business world is all about helping you make money so it’d follow that revenue is something that’s discussed often, and done so freely.

In the case that it’s done in a way that’s truthful and thoughtful, it isn’t a problem. The problem lies in the fact that income claims are frequently used as a way to signal authority and validity of the person’s brand. Having a certain “level” of business is seen as proof that they’re someone you can trust.

However, many times, income claims are inflated, exaggerated or entirely fabricated. This is done in a number of ways from reporting “cumulative” income, booked revenue that’s not yet in the bank, or “creative” math.

The flip side of these revenue claims is that there’s very little discussion around profit. Revenue is one thing, but what I really want to know is how much money you’re actually keeping. There are hundreds of business owners in this space with 7-figure businesses that are in debt up to their eyeballs and have very little take home pay.

While a business may “make” a million dollars in revenue, which looks impressive on the surface, the behind-the-scenes often isn’t something to aspire to.

Everyone’s a Freakin’ Coach

In this world, anyone can be anything they want. You could start a business tomorrow with exactly no business experience and call yourself a business coach. Add in some personality, and you’re ready to rock and roll.

In the words of my friend Stephanie Hayes who’s a business coach, “I want people to stop calling themselves business coaches. Everyone is calling themselves a business coach now, even if that’s not what they do as they think that’s where the money is. If you’re a funnel designer, call yourself that. It’s very confusing for clients as they need your specific skills, not another business coach.”

Beyond the obvious problems of getting counsel from people who literally have little to no mastery as coaches or teachers, there’s a much bigger problem that impacts all of us.

When people are inventing authority using any of the tactics outlined above it’s challenging for the rest of us to figure out who we should trust, and who we should avoid.

This results in people getting screwed over, and when people get burned, it does damage to everyone. Many times people are reluctant to get help that they actually need, as they don’t want to make another mistake.

Shame also comes into play. Most people who have shared their stories with me feel some level of shame about their failed courses, coaches or masterminds. Many times they blame themselves, when really it’s a much bigger problem.