I don't really feel like bashing, but I'm just not impressed with the PUA World Summit. It's day 2 of the seminar, and I'm hanging out in Long Beach instead. I'm contemplating hanging out with a girl at the OCJapanFair later, or calling up a girl I met on OKC and spending time with her in Santa Monica, or if neither of those work out, just hanging with a wing friend I made last night and day gaming in Hollywood. It's my weekend, and I don't feel like it's worth wasting on a 2 day seminar where I basically hear the same shit I've heard every year recycled into 30 min and then told to buy a bootcamp, DVD or e-book.
I get that these guys need to sell stuff in order to make money. But they need to earn my respect too before I buy a product. I'm seriously disappointed by how so many gurus walk up on stage, label us as all a bunch of 'frustrated chumps' who can't get laid, talk about how they're not into teaching routines or 'gimmicks' and can make us our best self; but talk nothing about HOW they're going to do it, and then walk off stage to sign people up for thousand dollar bootcamps, using the pretext of 'ask me any question'.
In fact, some douchebag PUA instructor saw me walking towards the back and invited me over to talk to him about my 'problems', he was offering to fix me. Right from the start I could tell he didn't care what I had to say, I could just dollar bill signs in his eyes, and even as I started to explain my story and what I do to game, he cut me off and began putting words in my mouth. (I find this HIGHLY annoying… how the fuck am I going to take you as a serious instructor if you can't even do a basic thing like LISTEN and not ASSUME shit). Still, I gave him a chance, I let him try to categorize me into some gay stereotype - whatever made sense in his mind, while I kept trying to talk about myself and where I'm at in the game (and I don't consider myself as having a problem communicating - I'm not introverted and I speak clearly). Not even less than 30 seconds, did he start pushing product. "OH yeah, I can help you.. I offer x service, and y service, let me get your contact info and we can talk more.." FUCK YOU. I got up and left in his face. If he can't even read me as a customer, how the fuck do I trust his advice when it comes to field game? HMM??
There's more though… what really drove me nuts last night is that almost every single instructor went home right after the seminar. WHY? There were SO many hot girls walking around. None of the instructors were out practicing their game… save for Vince Kelvin, who at least looks like he practices what he preaches.
But where are the other guys? I know they're not ALL married. At least Vince had an excuse to go home early, we know he's madly in love with his wife. But wtf?
EVEN IF these instructors had 10 different girls waiting for them to bang them at home, WHY didn't any single instructor think, "Hey, this is the single most important night of the year.. the PUA summit night, I should be a role model for these guys and show them some cool stuff in field?" FOR FREE. That would have made an impact.
So what if you have to give away a 'bootcamp'? It's a special treat for the guys who came to the summit. It would have made the summit worth coming to, and I BET, that would spike attendance for next year. If you do a good job, you can bet I'll continue looking you up for advice as an instructor. I might not be able to afford $3000 bootcamps, but you know what, if you have my respect, I might just save up a little and pay more visits to your private training seminars which are more affordable. At least you have me as a customer there, and I'll probably vouch for you online instead of bash you.
I really think the instructors all fucked up last night by going home instead of being out in field. Years ago, these men were supposedly the legends who tore up Hollywood and made PUA history. I guess they decided they're all 'GOOD' now and they don't need to use 'routines' or 'gimmicks'. Let's all just be 'natural' now. It's all about being your 'best self'. That's the direction of future pickup for you. Instead of showing each other how to be better in field, we're going backwards and saying things like 'just be yourself'. I rolled my eyes when AFC Adam stood up on stage and said "JUST BE YOURSELF" at the end of his 30 min speech to a standing ovation. Really guys? Did he really deserve it? I didn't clap. I think his star power just blinded everyone. Seriously, if you believe 'just be yourself' is the best advice you ever heard, do we need pickup anymore? Maybe we should all just go back to reading Deepak Chopra.
I'll only give some props to Badboy. Even though he had a shit presentation, and talked nothing about how to get good, he did a great job of ripping on the community. "When the FUCK did we start asking women to help us with our game? If I remember correctly, women give shit advice. Does a woman have a penis between her legs? All a woman is good for is FUCKING." Well said, mah dude.
Look, I'm not against being natural. I'm also not a woman basher... (but I really think all the girls had a shitty presentation... especially Erika Awakening who came off really weak after a really strong motivational speech by DJFuji -- who I'll spare.. he did a good job. But yeah the women sucked.. and it reminded me of why I don't listen to shit my own wing girl (who's free) tells me because most of it is judgmental shit that gives you fucked up inner game beliefs - read my previous posts if you're curious).
I'm in support of being one's best self. All my posts are about being better at life, I try to do tons of things to be a better man -- study Japanese, ride a motorcycle, learn bartending, travel the world, learning Bboy dancing, networking a lot in my career, etc. In terms of being my best self, I work hard every day to get there..
THAT'S WHY I have a lot of pride in myself. I respect myself A LOT. I don't like it when others try to put me in some category and think they know what will work for me. I can say that's probably my worst side, and I know I butt heads with a lot of people on this issue. I don't care if I stand alone on the issue either, to me, I feel that if you want me to be your friend or your customer or partner for life, you need to stop assuming shit and listen to what I have to say. Even if you disagree later, that's fine. At least we know we have differing opinions and I can respect that. Maybe some day I'll come back and say "..oh, maybe you were right". You might do the same.. but at least I'll respect you more for taking the time to at least listen and get to know me at a real level instead of a superficial level.
And show me your stuff.. there's NOTHING wrong with doing that. You have NOTHING to lose. Even if you're a great instructor, and you fuck up in front of me, at least I saw you at a more human level. You at least are true to what you preach, and I'm sure we'd both laugh about it and just move on quickly to the next set. If I like what I see, you'll be sure I'll be in contact with you for at least more training, and I don't care if you charge for that.
I see the money in the trainings for all these instructors. I'm starting to think bootcamps are extremely worthless. A testament to that is how the prices seem to go further and further down each year -- this year I think bootcamps were $200. Of course, for the best instructor, it was still thousands. Why? What's the value? Maybe I don't learn from someone 'top notch' but maybe it's his 'student' for a lower value. (And plus in a lot of these bootcamps, you never get the 'top guy', it is always a student).
You're essentially paying a guy thousands of dollars to stand around and point to sets for a couple hours, saying stupid shit that they themselves read for free on the internet, back in their heyday. You could do that with a friend. I did that -- LAST fucking night when there were NO instructors around; I found some serious wingmen and we pointed and shot all night… for 5 hours. It was some of the best fucking training I ever did. 2 Hot Japanese girls numbers, hung out with 2 hot Austrian girls, met a really cool black chick, made a serious impression on an engaged latina chick at Forever21, made a fool of myself countless other times. We laughed at how we found some instructors sitting alone by themselves looking really choded out. One guy even tried to shit test me as if he was some great guru only to come up really weak when it came to approaching a hot latina. Where was your game pal??
ON TOP of it all, I earned my wings respect. They earned my respect too. Shoutouts to Gigsaw, Sam, Johnny Laguna & Chad Cox for really pulling though last night and keeping me driven in field. You guys are fucking amazing. Hopefully by the time I finish writing this post, I can sarge with you today again.
Final thoughts, I'm not saying I'm the best, I'm not saying I'm a fucking stud because I approach; all I'm saying is I'M NOT FUCKING IMPRESSED. If this is the future of the pickup community, then count me out... I'd rather just go out with my own friends who'll do a much better job of pushing me to be my best self (and I'll save money too).
- Cloud
Sweet post.
ReplyDeleteTen or more years ago, the community was a different animal. The community was a lot less commercial. Remember, it was Mystery who did the first ever boot camp.
The community was by and large a group of people who were not trying to turn a profit. Instead, they were trying to improve their lives, answer questions, figure shit out.
Today, there are a million and one gurus peddling their products. We need to realize that when it comes to making money, the seller wants to ADVERTISE a product that is EASY to digest, EASY to learn, CONVINCING at first glance to potential consumers. This means that a certain portion of modern Pick Up MAY BE WATERED DOWN.
I'm not saying that every product is shit. All I'm saying is that some "evolutions" in Pick Up are not to improve PICK UP, but to improve MARKETABILITY.
Be careful what you consume, guys.