An Opportunist in Sheep's Clothing

Sometimes "help" is disguised as something else.

As we have all experienced at one time or another, things aren’t always as they appear: the seat at the stadium that looked great when you bought the tickets that ended up having an obstructed view, the shirt purchased online clearly lacks quality when delivered, or the countless online reviews that aren’t from actual consumers. Regardless of what’s being sold, many clever disguises are designed to distract, confuse, and divert our collective attention from reality.

Lately, I’ve seen this online with opportunists hiding behind a seemingly helpful veil. The most recent example was seen in a promotional products forum where someone sought advice on where to get information about selling their business. To be clear, many people offered guidance and recommendations without any avenue of self-benefit in return. Suggestions like speaking with other people who sold their businesses to understand their experience, contacting firms that specialize in exactly what the original poster was seeking, and several who offered to share their experiences to help avoid any potential pitfalls.

However, a few took the opportunity to sell the original poster on their particular company as a solution. Instead of offering to truly help, they focused on how their brand of “assistance” benefitted themselves. What’s even worse, in my mind at least, is that the people selling their solution did it under the guise of lifting the original poster to achieve their dreams and hit their goals. What makes this absurd to me is that this “help” is offered while having zero idea what those dreams and aspirations might be – something I doubt mattered to the opportunist in sheep’s clothing. All the opportunists cared about was how the guidance they offered would benefit themselves.

It’s taking under the disguise of giving.

Honestly, it makes me ill when I see people asking for genuine help only to see a few folks – ones who market themselves as givers – use the moment to selfishly try and take while pretending to offer altruistic assistance. Beyond the obvious self-serving nature of the "help," the damage it does to both the short and long term reputation of their brand is difficult to repair. Not every cry for help is a sales opportunity; sometimes, it’s just someone asking for advice, comfort, or guidance.

I don’t know what action, if any, the original poster took after the multitude of helpful – and a few selfish – suggestions. My hope is that they followed the advice to explore their options and have conversations with experts in the field, but I’ll likely never know. What I do know is that if you’re going to offer help when someone asks, it feels better to do so from a place of service. In my experience, the greatest gift is serving others without expecting a damn thing in return.