Joe Vitale - Self-help Guru or Enemy to the Poor?

Joe Vitale, also known as Mr. Fire of "The Secret" fame, is a self-help guru and millionaire. Is he helping you to get rich, or is he just taking all of your hard earned money?

Dr. Joe Vitale is probably best known for his appearance in the movie The Secret. He also produces a series of self-help books and audio. Vitale has made a fortune from his self-help endeavors. He frequently comments on the wealth that he has amassed from selling his books, audio, programs and personal appearances. He claims that if he can do it you can do it too. My question is, is he really a self-help mastermind, or is he just a masterful marketer taking money out of the pockets of people who want more money.

In the past I was able to borrow a few of Dr. Joe Vitale's audio programs, The Missing Secret and Zero Limits. One of them was educational and I found it very helpful, but the other annoyed me to the point of wanting to strangle Mr. Vitale. Dr. Vitale seems to dance back and forth between giving good information that could actually change your way of life and massive self-promotion. The latter is what annoyed me so greatly. I never actually finished listening to the program, because his constant self-promotion distracted me so much.

If you've ever watched the movie The Secret, read the book, or explore the works of any of its teachers, you've probably realized that there is good information to be had. If one takes the lessons and applies them within their own life, it can actually make a difference. Dr. Joe Vitale is likely the most recognizable face involved with The Secret movement. While his works have some valuable lessons, it seems he's frequently contradicting himself in an effort to line his own pockets.

Dr. Joe Vitale's programs, the secret to attracting money, costs $119.95 plus shipping. It may just be my personal thinking, but if you have $119.95 to blow on a self-help program, you probably don't need one that's going to get you more money. It seems to me that anyone truly needing to attract money isn't going to have over $100 to plunk down on a program like this. But this is how Joe Vitale makes his millions, taking money from those who can afford to buy his programs and leaving everyone else in the dark.

In his works, Dr. Vitale claims that anyone can follow his steps to achieve wealth and happiness. He claims that not only is it easy for everyone, everyone should know the secrets and implement them. He frequently tries to convince the listener that anyone can become as wealthy as he is. However, he makes his programs so expensive that those who truly need them could never afford them. The Secret to Attracting Money is a conservatively priced program, some of his offerings can cost $699 or more.

If Joe Vitale really feels that everyone deserves wealth and happiness, why does he make his programs unattainable to those who need it most? For someone like myself, I could never justify spending $100 or more on a self-help program, unless there was some absolute carved-in-stone guarantee that it would make me money. However, there is no such guarantee with these programs. Interestingly enough, Vitale flatly says in one of his programs that if you fail, it's your fault, not the program's.

With the current economy and so many people out of work or struggling to make ends meet, these seeds of knowledge Joe Vitale offers seem wonderful. They could change lives and eliminate poverty. Unfortunately, when you can barely afford to feed yourself, how do you come up with hundreds of dollars to buy a program to make your life better?

It seems that despite his claims of having the key to unlimited wealth and happiness, he is reserving that key only for those who already have enough wealth to send a chunk of it in his direction. It seems a contradiction and even though I can tell the man truly has something to teach that's worth learning, I can't help disliking him being a participant in the greed and selfishness that his teaching say we should all avoid.

So, do I think Joe Vitale is a fraud? No. As I said, he has some good things to teach. The first program of his that I was able to borrow really opened my eyes, and I was changed by the lessons it offered. However, I think that he is a contradictory and perhaps hypocritical man in the fact that he offers the secrets to wealth and wonder only to those who are already well off. If he were truly wanting everyone to learn his lessons and share in the bountifulness he claims is available, perhaps he should lower the cost of his programs to a price that could be afforded by the common person.