When you’re a freelancer, whiling away your hours as a solitary figure, trying to collect a few shekels and interest an editor (or three) in your work, it helps to have a few online resources in your corner. Mediabistro is a new (old) friend of this sort.

Mediabistro offers resources for freelancers and other media professionals. They publish blogs analyzing the mass media industry, like FishbowlNY. They offer a host of other benefits too that provide far more value to me than let’s say, Maine Writers and Publishers.

I decided to re-up with Mediabistro a month ago, and I’m already reaping benefits, not the least is that FBNY (their tagline is, “Turning the Page For New York Media) offers up daily blogging prompts, if I want them. Like yesterday—if not for this FBNY post extracted from the core of America’s elite media center, the Big Apple—I never would have known that old “friend” Dr. Oz had a good year in 2014. I am so happy for the good doctor, and an apt exemplar of America’s hustling culture. Oh, and so happy for him that Oprah gave him his big chance. It’s a given that if Oprah deems you important, then you most certainly are. She’s one of America’s king (and queen) makers that’s for sure.

Dr. Oz, practicing good hygiene, while toasting Oprah.

Two years ago, I wrote a well-trafficked blog post about Dr. Oz. I merely wanted to make a case that you don’t need Dr. Oz (or Seth Godin), just your own personalized blueprint for reinvention. I offered a few tips that would also save you money—since God knows Dr. Oz doesn’t need your cash. Here’s what I offered for a prescription via that Feb. 2013 blog post, free of charge to my readers, btw:

I hate to come across as harsh and burst anyone’s bubble, but there’s no easy way out when you are hip-deep in the Slough of Despond, or in the midst of a bad situation. Here are a few tips that, unlike Dr. Oz’s brand of self-help, won’t cost you anything other than effort.

1) If you’re heavier than you would like to be, then you need to cut your calories and ramp up your activity.

2) If you can’t find a way forward making $8.00/hour, the stars aren’t aligned against you—you’ve got some skill deficits and need to figure out how to minimize them, or get some additional training.

Of course, celebrities like Dr. Oz, for whatever reason, feel the need to exploit and manipulate their followers. In fact, the more they do, the more followers they seem to attract. It’s all really quite pathetic, in my opinion.

3) Save your money, or better, take the cash you were going to send to Dr. Oz for green coffee extract or red palm oil, or some other supplement or quack cure, and invest it in a $10/month gym membership at a robo gym like Planet Fitness.

It’s worked wonders for me, when I originally lost nearly 60 pounds in 2009. I’m back there, as I’d put on a few pounds and now, I’m back doing what works. Oh, and I’m down 13 pounds this month and I’ll be running a 5K on February 16 and my first sprint triathlon in June.

I actually admire guys like Dr. Oz. Not only does he have a great head of hair and a fat bank account, but he’s not encumbered by conscience like those of us who worry about screwing over our fellow Americans. Banksters, politicians, and some members of the media industry aren’t burdened by any outdated sense of right-or-wrong, either.

Of course, we know how this story will continue playing out, don’t we? Ever-gullible Americans will continue to hand over shekels to hucksters like the Oz-man, Tony Robbins, and others. It’s easier than doing the necessary work and taking the risk of going it your own way.

Most people don’t know that Dr. Oz chose medicine over the NFL.