Maybe it just seems like Marie Forleo is popping up in every nook and cranny of the internet. You may have not even heard of her, but she is all over my email and she's on Facebook (who isn't?).
Marie Forleo runs an online business school for women, she does youtube videos that she calls Marie TV, and she promises women a better life. She does this on Facebook, through intermediaries like Amy Porterfield, a savvy online marketing expert from California. After Porterfield's Facebook mention of Forleo, I received an email from Lewis Howes of Inspired Marketing touting, who else, Marie Forleo.
Then I got an email from Derek Halpern of socialtriggers.com. After that it was Liz DiAlto, a fitness and lifestyle coach. According to Halpern, he gets compensation for each person that he directs to B-School, so I would expect this is the case for the others as well.
Since the initial forays, Amy Porterfield has been sending regular emails touting Forleo's online business school, and since I checked out Forleo's site I have been getting regular emails from her too. Can anyone here say full court press? I knew you could.
Forleo is a smart, attractive, and like Amy Porterfield, a savvy online marketing expert. Porterfield credits Forleo as a mentor. On her videos Forleo will tell you about her journey from Seton Hall University to Wall Street, to fashion magazines, to personal coaching, and now to MarieForleo.com. It's quite a story. She now lives in the west village in New York City.
Forleo is definitely a determined and hard worker. She's definitely paid her dues. And now she offers you the same opportunity from what she has learned on her way up.
Forleo is a big-time name-dropper who is only too happy to tell you of her associations with the rich and famous. Her Marie TV videos are sprinkled with a Sarah Silvermanesque smattering of profanity. She brings great energy to her work and in all earnestness she promises that you too can have the fabulous life that she has built for herself. She even throws in some of her new age spirituality.
She doesn't promote any get rich quick schemes, but she does sell a view that if you work hard enough and you are focused enough, you too can achieve great success. She recently sent out an email that links to her website, highlighting 26 success stories. That's a nice number, but how many are not "killing it," as Forleo likes to say?
One of the most positive aspects of Forleo's work is her commitment to charities that align with her vision of a better world. They look like good charities. How much Forleo contributes is not mentioned.
She is also generous with free materials. Like other online marketers there is a host of emails that link to videos that present potentially helpful information. I have learned from Marie Forleo, and I believe you can too. I'll give her some praise, not only is she a compelling presenter, in one of her videos she even quotes one of my favorite contemporary Christian writers, Max Lucado. However, given the overall spiritual content of her work, it is obvious that she quotes Lucado appreciatively from a stance of religious pluralism.
The problem with the paid program aspect of MarieForleo.com is that for every success story there are many others whose lives are not appreciably better. Maybe they haven't worked hard enough. Maybe they weren't talented enough (Forleo was valedictorian of her class at SHU). Forleo has passion, drive, focus and discipline; not everyone does. And it is difficult to believe that everyone who enrolls with Forleo has a glorious success story.
Not everyone has a glorious success story. But that won't stop Forleo from selling her vision to whomever will listen. She says "it doesn't take talent or luck to succeed." I am skeptical of that claim. Forleo believes that if you have the right commitment to success, you will make it. Really?
Some will profit, many won't, but there are worse ways to spend a few bucks. Perhaps those who pay the $1,999 tuition are extraordinary people. However, Forleo says that you don't have to be extraordinary except in commitment to your goals. Somehow, I have a hard time believing that's all it takes.
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