“There are decent people who make an interesting product, but they were overwhelmed by a wave of scammers”

Valentin Petukhov, blogger, creator and owner of the YouTube channel Wylsacom:

– I bought for very decent money the most expensive version of Hussein Hasanov’s course “Thinking a Millionaire”. But I didn’t go through it, and I couldn’t, because everything there worked extremely crookedly and askew. It was promised a complex process of immersion in the topic, tasks, but in fact received a crookedly working site launched much later than promised in time. These were videos recorded with very mediocre quality, where, for example, a lavalier microphone fell off, which everyone was too lazy to return back. I did an experiment and got the expected result. This is where my experience of interacting with similar courses ended.

I have an extremely negative attitude towards the infogypsy business, but you can’t call it an outright scam, which is what the people who arrange it use. Judging by the latest stories, a lot of money is spinning there, the business is very profitable. Everything is sold on credit, installments and with the promise to earn a lot of money at once.

Of course, there is some kind of information product there, and therefore there are not a large number of calls to the police or for a refund. People just get frustrated and that’s where their experience ends. In this business, there are decent people who make an interesting product, but they were overwhelmed by a wave of scammers. And I have no idea how to restore the trust of the audience.

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Julia Zagitova, Secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia:

– I took both courses and intensives from different bloggers: in the range of payment from 1 thousand, maximum – up to 80 thousand rubles.

In terms of quality, all training methods are different, the market is absolutely alive, and the more expensive the products, the better they are made. I liked the most expensive training because it was based on many useful tools, and because I met a lot of cool people.

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Anastasia Gorokhova, image expert, stylist, professional shopper:

– I haven’t paid attention to this for a long time, but over the past six months I have mastered online the basics of financial literacy, investing in cryptocurrency and real estate.

Watching the lifestyle of leading online courses, I stopped considering myself a blogger, because they actually work online 24/7. And I’m not ready to devote such an incredible amount of time to this.

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Daniel Homenok, food blogger:

– Took courses in video and photo editing. It was very helpful to improve knowledge and skills.

My wife and I came with a proposal to hold a marathon about losing weight with an emphasis on the psychological moment, and the cost of the course was supposed to be from 30 thousand rubles. And this is a significant amount, for someone it is a month of work. We said, “No, I’m not interested.” Often the price of such marathons can be lower, but then everything is taken by the volume of people participating in it.

Raw, low-quality proposals appear as follows: a major blogger proposes a new course or marathon, and, as a rule, this course does not yet exist, it is still only in words. A blogger launches a topic and looks at the reaction to his proposal, and if people are willing to pay, then a pre-sale is launched, starting capital is collected, for which a normal ready-made rate appears later.

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Evgeniya Boytsova, chief physician of the dental clinic “Astevita”:

– I’m not the student who constantly only learns – paid and free. Studying is a tool for achieving goals that I have clearly defined, and it is important to immediately understand whether I will receive the necessary knowledge and skills, and then I will be able to systematically introduce new things into my life – professional or personal. Without a decent result, I do not enjoy my studies. At the same time, I always know exactly how much my investments paid off, which over the past few years have exceeded 3 million rubles.

I started with “How to develop … instagram / brand / personal brand”, then added courses on femininity, weight loss, business management and my profession. And now I myself have become an online coach in these areas and even receive income.

Sometimes study serves only to maintain or expand the social circle. Recently, she spent 200 thousand rubles to increase personal efficiency and realize her values. Including because, in order to understand how people think, who, like me, know a lot, but are ready to pay so much for their development: thinking, feelings, emotions and actions that provide the necessary result. The absence of fear to go to such expenses for oneself is no less important result than achieving the goal.

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Mikhail Nefedov, blogger:

– All these marathons, courses, intensives are just water. And the water, where you are forced to believe in something, they promise to fulfill all desires and all the like, there is no point in going through.

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Anastasia Balashova (Nastya Ryzhik), vlogger, tiktoker, instabloger:

– I took time management courses – I always have a lot of tasks, and before that I simply didn’t know how to structure the day correctly. I also studied editing to improve the quality of videos. Now I am engaged in oratory, working on diction, speech and public speaking skills.

The goal is always the same – to become better in those areas that interest me. I do not spare money for my own education, because I love to learn. This is the main engine of progress, but on one condition: if knowledge is quickly put into practice and skills are already formed from them. This is what I need right now to further develop the blog. Then the training sooner or later, but pays off. And in general, it’s a great success to get out of blinkered ideas about life and expand your worldview.

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Lilia Abramova (Tatar FM), video blogger:

– I have not studied courses or the like myself, nor have I taught others, although I probably have something to share. In my opinion, in the blogosphere, 99% of this is done by “gypsies”, roughly speaking.

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Alexander Gorny, blogger, Crimea:

– Blogging courses, marathons, trainings, maybe someone needs them, but I have always relied on personal experience and mistakes, not allowing me to deform my understanding and perception of the blogosphere.

Group “Direct speech”