I hate that I fell for this.

Back in 2022 I had a ‘guru’ drop into my DMs. She seemed genuinely interested in me and my business, although looking back she was very persistent. If ever I didn’t answer one of her questions she would follow up with a DM saying ‘Leanne??’. Then of course I would reply.

After this backward and forward she said something like ‘I would love you to be a case study inside of my programme.’ Well that did it for me! Asking me to be a case study by this woman, must mean that she sees something special in me! I remember rushing downstairs to my hubby and telling him that THIS woman who is an expert in her field wants to have me inside of her programme as a freaking CASE STUDY. Obviously we had to get the money together to make this happen (despite doing a house renovation).

So I signed up. Of course I f*cking did.

And guess what, I now know that she sent that message to EVERYONE.

And it wasn’t even her I was speaking to in the DMs.

Now I like to think that I’m pretty savvy when it comes to being able to tell a robot or a ream member a mile off, but in this case I just didn’t see it. She had trained her team very well clearly.

Knowing that I fell hook, line and sinker for the ‘case study’ BS, stirs up emotion in me. I’m annoyed, embarrassed and ashamed. You see that for a moment she made me feel like I was ‘special’. And as a school girl who was never picked for anything and never felt ‘special’ enough, I have to say I enjoyed this validation from her.

I got into her programme and it was obvious that I was just another name and number.

This is hard to take when you’re in the vulnerable position of trying to build your business and put yourself out there in the online space.

The people running these programmes need to realise that there are humans on the other end of the money that is hitting their Stripe account.

We have feelings. Please don’t treat us like another sale.