I like to be a positive person. I teach my clients (mostly sales professionals and small business owners) to look at things in a positive light. For every complaint, struggle and frustration, there's an opportunity for growth and improvement. I could go on...but the purpose of this blog posting is to change directions a bit and encourage a small amount of healthy cynicism in your life.
I was on Twitter earlier today browsing useful business topics and corresponding with the Twitterverse, when I happened upon this post from @larsonllc:
Wow, I thought! $87 per hour. And this is from one of my followers, so it must be legit, right? (I generally try to follow reputable people, and routinely unfollow spammers or people trying to reach into my wallet without providing value or useful conversation.)
I followed the link, and it lead me to a "news article" that looked legit (after all, the heading is "United States News Daily"):
...but the more I read the more skeptical I became. It started sounding like a sales pitch, which is never really a good thing for a legitimate news story. Then I hung my head in shame and embarrassment as I read the small print under the "United States News Daily" banner, which reads "This publication is an article advertisement for Fast Profit From Home":
From this experience, I'm reminded that the internet is not only a great source of information and collaboration, but it's also a breeding ground for greedy, unethical and opportunistic creeps to prey on anyone willing to click...
Just be careful what you read, and make sure you keep a healthy dose of cynicism in your life. Don't let the unethical conduct of others turn you from being an optimist or from looking at the bright and positive side of things...but also don't let yourself be a sucker! Read the fine print, be skeptical and don't automatically trust those you don't know (or whose motives you may not understand).
Finally, for those who like to do internet advertising, hopefully this will inspire you not to cross that line from effectively getting people's eyeballs on your message to being dishonest and unethical.
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