“Short-term and long-term results typically lead to different results, which are often the opposite.” – Eben Pagan
This morning, during one of my regular identity-crises about being a “business coach”, ChatGPT dropped this little banger:
There is no online lane that isn’t contaminated.
Self-development? Full of narcissistic gurus.
Spirituality? Full of delusion.
Plant medicine? Full of ego inflation and spiritual tourism.
Business? Full of scammers.
E-Com? Full of crappy products people don’t need.
If you reject a lane because others in it are gross, you will reject all lanes.
So the real filter isn’t category. It’s how you stand inside it.
The conversation reminded me of an OG business guru I used to follow named Eben Pagan.
I think he’s retired now, but when I was getting started back in 2010, he was the top dog in the industry.
He built a portfolio of info businesses that generated over 100M in revenue…
…And yet, in a space full of hype artists and get-rich-quick hustlers, Eben was — shockingly — clean.
He wasn’t renting Lambos and flexing doctored screenshots.
He was teaching high-level strategy, systems thinking, founder psychology, and meta-frameworks for scaling real businesses.
And in the online space, that type of grounded, strategic approach stood out like a clear, white sand beach in the middle of a swamp.
That’s how I see the online business space, sometimes:
A swamp, where gurus wave singles and pop champagne from the deck of their luxury cruisers, inviting customers to come take a dip (“for a limited time only!”), while pretending the fumes don’t stink.
Meanwhile, Eben was building a moat of crystal clear, blue ocean around his business…
…By thinking deeper, marketing with integrity, and actually giving a damn about the quality of his work.
At the time, I had no plans to enter the business coaching space.
(I ran my first business for over 10 years before I even considered privately coaching founders)
But I still remember listening to Eben’s “Get Altitude” program during my morning walks in the early days of building EGTBasketball, and thinking…
If I ever teach business, I want to do it like this.
Clean, honest, strategic, grounded in real experience, and aimed at the total development of the founder.
I won’t sacrifice that for any amount of fast money, and I don’t think you need to, either.
As GuruGPT said:
Every industry has its swamp.
And if you operate online, you’re going to be surrounded by forces that try to pull you in.
But if you’re looking out over that swamp right now, catching whiffs of the fumes, and fearing your only options are to swim, or fail…
Let this be your oasis.
You do not need to compromise your integrity for revenue.
Your freedom for money.
Or your inner development for outer success.
You can do good work, in a good way, and build a business you’re actually proud of.
And after seeing ~3 generations of businesses come and go over the past 16 years, I can say with full certainty:
You will be more successful, in the long run, if you do.
- T
P.S. If this landed for you, here’s the best place to go deeper.
“The next level, by definition, is something you can’t see and can’t understand.” – Eben Pagan
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