I got scammed $18,000 by a guru.

I didn’t go to that event to learn business.

I went to prove something.

• To my parents, who thought I was wasting my potential.

• To the teachers who said I talked too much and dreamed too big.

• To the people at school who laughed behind my back.

To myself - because deep down, I didn’t believe I had what it took.

But if I could just build something real...

• Make money.

• Escape the rat race.

• Win.

Then maybe I could silence all those voices.

So I walked into that hotel conference room like a soldier heading to war.

Bright lights. Loud music. High-fives between strangers.

People were there to escape.

The speaker knew exactly how to sell to that pain.

He promised freedom. A proven path. Certainty.

All tied to a high-ticket program.

I took the bait.

$18,000. Loaned. Transferred. Gone.

What I got back?
No real strategy. No accountability.
Just fluff. Platitudes. Stuff you could Google in five minutes.

And the Facebook group?

Filled with lost, wide-eyed people like me.
Posting things like:

“Just invested in myself!”
“Let’s gooo”

We weren’t students. We were customers.
And we were being milked.

One by one, the posts slowed. Then stopped.
The group went silent.

And I was left sitting in the aftermath - ashamed, broke, and alone. Again.

After that, I made a quiet vow:

Never again.

No more gurus.
No more coaches.
No more promises from strangers who fly first class off your desperation.

So I did it all alone.
Every email. Every hire. Every mistake.
I duct-taped my agency together and hoped it wouldn’t fall apart.

I was proud of the grind -
But if I’m honest, I was stuck.

Every month, I watched people with less skill, less experience, less heart blow past me.

Why?

Because they weren’t doing it alone.

They had mentors.

People who’d already walked the battlefield I was blindly stumbling through.

Eventually, the inevitable happened - 

• Clients left.

• Ops broke.

• The team burned out.

And I had nothing left in the tank.

So, out of desperation, I took one last shot.

One more coach.

But this time, it was different.

She wasn’t loud.
She wasn’t selling a dream.
She listened. Diagnosed. Advised.

So I followed her lead.

Six months later, we hit $100K/month.
But more importantly - we did it with structure.
With systems.
With sanity.

That experience reframed everything:

Mentorship isn’t the problem.
Picking the wrong person is.

The right mentor doesn’t just share advice.
They shape your environment.
They guide your thinking.
They help you build a version of success you didn’t think was possible.

And once you experience that, you don’t go back.

Here’s what I’d tell anyone early in their journey:

• You don’t earn credibility by doing it alone.

• You don’t move faster by making every mistake yourself.

• You don’t need more hustle. You need better direction.

There’s no prize for struggling in silence.

If you’re stuck, ask yourself:

Who has already solved the problems I’m facing right now?
 What would change if I stopped trying to figure it all out by myself?

That’s not weakness. That’s strategy.

Not every mentor is a guru.
Some are real operators - quiet professionals who’ve built things the hard way, and are willing to help the right people skip the worst of it.

Don’t wait until you’re out of money, out of time, or out of energy.

If you’re where I was—
Exhausted, uncertain, doubting everything—
This is your turning point.

You don’t need more motivation.

You need a guide.
You need structure.
You need someone who’s already done the thing you’re trying to do.

Learn faster than I did.

Yours truly

-Nigel Thomas

P.S. This Tuesday, 3rd June, I’m doing a free masterclass on how I booked 296 calls in 101 days on LinkedIn.

Want to join us? Reply “masterclass” to this email