It wasn’t the best chat up line.
Or one of my finest moments.
But it got the dance and the girl.
I mean, who can resist, “You may have seen me playing tennis at Wimbledon”?
Kind of true, mostly not.
Some would call it nerve, others bare face cheeked, the girl soon discovered it was a fake but hung on in there for a dance or two. Actually the writing was on the wall because the music we swayed along to was by Milli Vanilli, an Eighties band that famously faked singing on their records using unknown backing singers and taking all the glory themselves.
Guess no harm was done even though I wasn’t being quite honest or accurate in what I was saying.
Thing is it was a nightclub and pretty much everyone else was doing the very same (how do I know if she worked at an undertaker’s or not?) and also I wasn’t misrepresenting myself in the outside world to gain an advantage which is what the modern faker is very adept at doing.
People aren’t self-made anymore, they are self-termed.
This is me…NOT!
Perhaps you use social media like me.
I have a personal page and pages on Twitter and Facebook.
As I’ve been operating for a good few years now I attract friend requests most days. A while ago they seemed to be made up of everyday folks with usual day jobs and various interests and a small range of normal business people and those in my sphere.
Then it changed. Around a year ago normal went out of the window.
Now everyone has a self-styled specialist title or role.
Fair enough, so have I in a way, but I make no boasts or predictions of who I will be. I tell everyone just what I do.
The thing is that what appears to be active like a once dormant volcano is to artificially (and inaccurately) elevate your status with a term that can’t be true or even possible yet.
In the last three days for example I did an experiment and checked out the statements of those seeking to befriend me.
One was a ‘best selling author’, one was a ‘visionary‘, another a ‘famous energy master’ and then there was the usual ream of ‘Internet blog kings’ and ‘world renowned Internet marketer’ declarations.
Was it true? No!
Why be false?
I chose a small selection of names and did some research.
If they were indeed as they stated, best selling or famous, surely there would be a lot of coverage on the net, be featured on numerous sites and articles, have a large number of references to their work, and I would expect their own site to come up, read testimonials, see peer respect, and even video of them in action or some trail of mentions as proof of their status.
Guess what? Nothing!
Of eight I picked out at random none had any profile to speak of bar their existing social media ones with a hundred or so (or less) followers.
In short, they faked their achievements.
Why do this?
I think you know the answer; it’s a sad part of modern life.
Faking it before making it
Faking is a contemporary con that’s become widespread.
Call yourself something you’re not (yet) because it elevates who you are, meaning you can earn more money or get money in the first place. In the early days many people employed this tactic to gain an (unfair) foot in the door and since it worked for a lucky few everyone jumped on the band wagon.
It’s like the heyday of every restaurant advertising ‘homemade food’ or ‘made from fresh ingredients’ or ‘great atmosphere’, thinking they were the only ones saying it, but they were all copying.
These establishments may have been right as they had plenty of customers who could testify that their food was delicious but the modern human faker generally can’t. They made it up.
They may want your money, or want to sound important, or to create the persona they dream of being and are pretending they are that soul already to get in the skin of their future success, or they could just be full of self-importance or plain fibbing through their teeth.
They’ve not earned it or justified it, they are faking it before making it like a good chancer does.
Should YOU fake it too?
Again you will guess my response to this.
Absolutely not!!!
Have some dignity and self-respect and a large does of integrity.
There’s more to quick money (if it actually ever brings any your way) or being noticed for some lovely label you put on yourself.
There’s earning your ‘guru’ status or ‘ inspirational speaker much in demand’ quote after many years of hard graft and demonstrated experience rather than ten seconds of typing on a computer.
And there’s letting the world decide how good or big or popular you are because when you’re found out it’s your reputation that goes down the pan and with it the ‘friends’ you told you were a leader of tomorrow who will soon disappear today.
If you fake you don’t have enough self-belief and worth to simply be you and share those amazing talents and abilities you have in abundance.
You think you have to make people believe who you are because you don’t believe who you really are underneath.
THAT PERSON is never a fake!
They are talented, and special, and wanted and needed and have a major contribution to this world leaving a legacy by being themselves wherever they go.
You never have to fake it to make it – you make this world by being you and being here.
And that’s the biggest truth no-one can ever change!
How many fakers have you come across online or in person? How do you feel about the fake-it-to-make-it ideology? Is it ever justified or do you think we can all see through the false people among us? Let me hear your thoughts on this subject!
Patrick Mahinge is a prolific digital marketer and "serial webpreneur". He runs multiple profitable niche websites and blogs monetized through affiliate marketing and advertising. Patrick generously shares his expertise in affiliate marketing, blogging, and online business through his Facebook group of over 5,000 aspiring entrepreneurs.
