Exposing the Small Business 'Guru' Scam

Once again, the small business buying industry demonstrated the “gurus” lack any credibility or integrity.

I had an email this morning about a prospective buyer interested in a business I have listed.

This happens everyday but this inquiry was different. We’ve never utilized the site where it came from and I’ve never given authorization to post my listings on their platform.

I had no plans to use this site in the future due to the complete lack of credibility in the owner.

And yet, the site clearly has posted my listing and sent me the inquiry.

It gets worse.

They have membership tiers where you pay to access features and supposed “off-market listings” on the site. So this guru is now profiting from taking listings without authorization, re-posting them, and charging a fee to access.

I’m not a lawyer and not going down the rabbit hole of the legal issues here but they are numerous.

In an industry desperate for honesty and integrity, these gurus are the loudest voices. They buy followers, contradict themselves constantly, inflate their resumes, promise the impossible, and charge you for the privilege of learning from a false prophet.

I won’t share the name of the “guru” behind this new listing site but you likely already know who it is and if not, you can find it with 30 seconds and a search engine.

I see people in my feed daily who interact with the accounts of these gurus. They praise the insights and post themselves reading their books. You are the suckers.

Here’s my challenge to you for 2025. Before you take advice from someone claiming an easy way to riches. Search “their name” and the phrases “scam” or “fraud”.

If you find multiple results, it’s a bad sign. It’ll be pretty easy to verify the negatives being shared and determine for yourself if you should follow their advice.