Soul Sucking Titles, Celebrity Influence, and The Permanent Place Of Never Ready
What having to be an "expert" has done to us
Now that my eyes are wide open to all this internet indoctrination, certain words make them roll so far back into my head that you can hear them clicking.
Like, expert. 🙄
I can’t even type it without using the eye-roll emoji.
Expert 🙄
Uxpurt 🙄
Asspert 🙄
It doesn’t matter how I spell it; the label gives me the “fuck offs.”
Probably because that’s where it all started for me.
Brendan Burchard’s Expert’s Academy in 2012. 🙄
THAT’S where I was recruited into the dehumanizing business approach I call the “create shit to sell” model.
That’s kinda what the “expert industry” feels like – a recruitment.
By the mid 2010’s there were “recruitment centers” all over, hosted primarily by white 30-something bachelors, also known as thought leaders. Remember those? 🙄
Gary Vaynerchuk
Tony Robbins
Jeff Bullas
Ryan Deiss
Jay Baer
Lewis Howes
Brendan Burchard
I could go on for the next month… I literally have the bank statements to prove it.
I didn’t realize, when I was sitting in the chair at Brendan’s event, lapping up every listicle like it was a gospel choir singing to my soul, that I was enlisting in so much damaging shit.
It all felt so new + exciting.
OVER a decade later, this expert shit is so old it’s toenails have fallen off and its eyebrows have attached to its nose hairs.
I looked Brendan up to see what he’s doing now, it’s broad, a lot of human interest things, like friendship, but he’s also still peddling the same predatory path to profits that he was way back in 2012.
It’s called Influener Pro now 🙄 (influencer does shit to my eyes too), and reading what I could stomach of his sales page, put me back in the chair all those years ago.
Only this time, it’s not new + exciting. THIS TIME… I see it for the emotional razor blade sandwich it is.
Just read “what you’ll learn” for yourself. 👇
I could write a rant on every single one of these indoctrination-laced bullet points, but the bottom line is, this shit has nothing to do with being an expert, and everything to do with enlisting us in a toxic, predatory, and dehumanizing way of doing business.
Being an expert is nothing but online celebrity.
It’s not about mastery, deep understanding, or true craftsmanship.
It’s a godly figure on a pedestal…
Saying what sells…
Putting on a persona…
Having to always be on…
Drowning in transactional relationships.
Looking like they have it ALL figured out.
🤢
The label (expert 🙄) is nothing but indoctrination.
THE INDOCTRINATION:
BE A CELEBRITY!
Act like one.
Talk about yourself like one.
Introduce yourself like one (with a long-winded Oscar acceptance speech).
Be known as one.
Be seen as one.
Be talked about like one.
Be as glamorous as one.
Network with other ones.
Be aspirational, all-knowing, and authoritative like one… and squeezin’ MFers dry, in your sleep, at scale, charging 200x what you are now, will be easy.
TRUTH: Calling ourselves experts has put us in a permanent place of never ready.
We spend 1000’s of unpaid hours working through bullet points, blueprints, and modules, forcing ourselves into a boatload of decisions that end up crumbling into tiny fart particles before we even have something ready to launch.
We wait… and wait… and WAIT MORE… for answers to decisions we aren’t in a place to make, and when we don’t get them, we decide it’s because we’re not ready.
We’re not experts yet. 🙄
We don’t have it “all” figured out.
I have a theory.
Experimentation will cure us of our expert-laced, insecurity-filled starts, stops, and spirals.
I'm very intentionally approaching every part of this new "hot dog cart" era of my life + business as an experiment.
NO MORE 1000’s of unpaid hours trying to make decisions I’m not ready to make. I’m now figuring it out by experimenting.
This “hot dog cart” aspiration was literally born in my Branding In The Wild newsletter; it’s been a constant evolution week-by-week, and it feels so good to be approaching it like an experiment.
I mean, in what world would I have gotten from bullet point to “hot dog cart” without the permission to experiment?
I don't know where all the pieces will fall, I don't have it all (or really any of it) figured out, and that's the point - to live it, breathe it, try it on, and then be able to pause + reflect, and see where to go from there.
Is it the right time to upgrade your HDC subscription? Depends. Wanna get in on the October experiment?
If you need a safe place to heal your nervous system + build your confidence backup for this new era of life + business, this is a great month to join!
THE EXPERIMENT:
What would happen if we spent the month double-dog daring each other to be so honest it kinda hurts?
I have a feeling we’re going to be able to create some pretty epic ripples!
Here’s how it works:
Monday-Thursday, throughout October, I’m dropping a new chat thread with a double-dog dare we can all do on Substack Notes, and then having everyone drop a link to their Note, so the rest of us can go shower it with love and practice making the choice to be the REAL us.
No promotions. No backend offer. No time-consuming commitment.
Just a bunch of hot dog cart-lovin’ fools healing their nervous systems + rebuilding their confidence after years of toxic internet indoctrination.
If this sounds like YOUR kinda cart-sized, kick in the ass, dream come true experiment, you should be part of this! You’ll get access to all the double-dog dares we’ve already done, and at the end of the month, I’ll put everything in a simple Google Doc for you so you can rinse + repeat this YOU-shaped shit month after month… never left to stare at an empty note again.
If you’re on the fence, you can always ask
, , , , or why they joined.
This experiment is for paid subscribers only.
The investment = $15/month or $130/year.
To upgrade to the experiment, just click this fancy link + choose which plan makes the most sense for YOU! You can be face-to-face with your first double-dog dare in less than 1 minute.
To experimenting with what you want rather than letting them decide what you need,
Dre 'In Experimentation Mode' Beltrami
P.S. Speaking of who YOU are… have you taken my crazy accurate Brand DNA test yet? I promise I can’t read your heart or mind, but I bet you a Substack DM that you’ll get at least 3 major AHA’s outta of your results.
This Hot Dog Cart-sized initiative is so important, I would la la looove your help getting it into more of the hearts + minds who need it. If you have enough in your social tank, would you forward this to any friends or loved ones who need this pep talk (if you're on email) or restack it for your readers (if you’re on Substack)?
I can’t do this without you!
Can confirm - this has been such a struggle for me. My participation in this experiment has been soul-opening for me!
I so love your keeping-it-realness! Soothes my soul…