So what you do is you stand on the side of the road, in a cardboard box/lemonaid stand, and it's painted with a sign that says "Join cult here".
Then you go on to tell everyone who's interested in joining that you'd be interested in taking over their daily autonomy, so that you may control what they think, what they do, when they pee, when they sleep, you control their wallet, you control their sex life, their love life, their marriage, everything. You control every aspect of their life, and all they have to do is obey and worship.
Then you hand them a clipboard with an application and a pen on a chain.
At no point do you try to deceive them. You openly tell them that your intentions are to abuse them, take their money, and have them worship false idols, namely you, while you take advantage of them and their family for the rest of their lives. Which if history has taught us anything, will probably end in a mass suicide in some sort of religious ritual.
Then just amass an army of people who joined for whatever reason. What could go wrong?