Infected Internet
why everything online is turning to sh*t
I make it Gospel to not interfere in the lives of others. And, this policy has been one of those things that have eliminated most of the problems in my life. Too often, many issues we have between other people is simply because we get involved in things that don’t have any business to do with us, don’t affect us, we don’t get any result from it…
Sure, the intentions may be good but sometimes (I would argue MOST of the time) its best to let people be and not interfere until and unless they ask you. Nobody likes the solicitor (except maybe some sales guys that like hearing a good pitch from time to time).
Although most people have good intentions when they do, I generally despise people who get involved in my business or ‘give me advice’ when I don’t ask for it. I don’t like being told what to do, never have, never will.
I used to be an angry kid growing up, and although my anger has been tamed (more or less); I still get the occasional boiling of the blood vessels from time to time. This is because we are under the illusion that we can control anyone or anything outside of ourselves. We can’t.
We work so hard to instill good values on our children, then they turn around and do the opposite of whatever we were trying to teach them. And, don’t get me started on women, you natural rebels you.
And, that’s why many pitches and offers online go to deaf ears. It’s not just me but its most generations starting with Millenials who don’t like ‘being told what to do’. They like buying, sure, but they absolutely despise being sold to or told what to do.
So, the great question of the 21st century is: how do you get people to do what you want without telling them what to do and making them despise you or do the opposite. The secret is in one simple word: INVITES.
I’ve noticed hard selling does work. I’ve used it when I was still getting my ‘sales chops’. But, the problem with Grant Cardone-like hard selling is that soon after the purchase, you’re going to get massive buyers resistance and have to do a whole bunch of things to validate their purchase and confirm to their fragile egos that they made the right decision. Not pleasant. An uphill battle.
The best thing — taken straight from the movie Inception: making them think it’s their idea.
I’ve done a lot of cold outreach over the years. In fact, by now I’ve probably reached out to over a million people using cold emails, DMs, calls, and pitches.
I’ve also been pitched to a whole bunch of times. And, most of the time, it falls on deaf ears. Even if the offer is enticing, people generally have their defenses up. And, unless you have some form of “fame” or a pre-existing ‘file’ in their head from which they remember you:
someone spoke of you earlier
they’ve watched or browsed through your content
they’ve heard of you before or many times before through you’re content or someone else
It generally doesn’t work. That’s because, and it’s so weird to say this … the information and the ‘offer’ doesn’t matter. WHO you are to them is more important.
We humans have been fascinated and intrigued by stories since we were living in tribes. We sat down by the campfire with our elders and heard stories that shared the lessons and values of the tribe long before ‘science and fact’ was invented.
Stories have a magical way of lowering our guard down. Our conscious mind focuses on the words and our unconscious mind derives the lessons. Stories are a mode of information download that by-passes many of our psychic defenses and goes straight through to the subconscious which guides and control 99% of our decisions in waking-life.
The other thing is non-neediness. It worked out in my favor that I didn’t like or want to do cold outreach. That I recognized all the ‘ads’ and ‘dms’ that looked the same with the same offer and pitch.
…and automatically, the default answer was always “no”… almost like it was out of habit.
So while most brands try and fight this endless uphill battle of pattern interrupts:
Influencer content
Great visuals
Short skits (aka Stories)
etc.
The savvy ones that stand the test of time and reside in the minds of many simply by their names and evoke a reaction play a whole different game. A VOLUME game, a long-term game. A quintessential, ubiquitous game.
Grant Cardone = Sales
Tai Lopez = Lamborghini
Iman Ghadzi = Agency
Andrew Tate = Masculinity
They hijack your brain and connect their names to a pattern (archetype) that already exists in your head about what something is. They become synonymous to something that you already have a folder in your mind about. An ideal. Then, they constantly show up through the current and streams of the attention-deficit digital age through content, ads, podcasts, books, and of course other people talking about them (like I am now).
So, if the hard selling isn’t working for you. It’s time to ask: what opinion does my main audience already have that I can intercept and inject myself into. And then, how can I connect my name (brand) to exactly that.
It’s always better to be known for ONE thing and keeping it simple. The word “niche” comes to mind when I say that.
And, as I’m thinking about what I want my “one thing” to be…
I would say its being an *anti-hustle* “sacrifice your 20s to live the life you want in your 30s entrepreneur”…
That fits my character arc pretty well. I find ways to attract opportunities to me and make it work. I build my skills on things I’m interested in and constantly test ideas. I focus and prize my personal evolution and journey and see all of ‘reality’ as one big playground dedicated to making me evolve to my highest self.
I see myself positioned as the opposite of everyone that got their business models and “do this” mindset and ask you the questions about you. Who you are. What your goals are.
I despise and spit on anyone that thinks “its easy”. Anyone that preys on your greed to earn lots of cash for little to no work. Anyone that tells you “anyone” can do it. anyone CAN, but should they?
The first question I ask you when you set out on this online business world is… who are you? What do you want? What are your goals?
And I demand an answer beyond “make a whole bunch of money.”
Because although its a beautiful and noble goal, its by no means a shortcut. In fact, it’s probably the long-cut. Because only and solely focusing on your money taps into one feeling: greed. And it takes a whole lot of it and whole lot of wasted hours to get to where you are going.
I share with you what marketers like me on the other side are doing to hijack your mind and your attention and show you ways to spot it. In a way, I train your mind to be more resilient to the very messages I create and sell for my clients.
Why? because I demand you go a level deeper and know thyself. I demand you tap into an infinite source of energy locked deep within you that knows how and where.
Don’t you remember that feeling?
Something about us that we often fail to use and neglect is our feelings. They are the greatest measurement tool there is. Your memories are stored not objectively, but because of a feeling it triggered. The stronger the feeling, the more clearer the memory.
Your frontal lobe, this big massive “logical” center sits on your emotional brain.
And there is no way you can win this game until you master your own thoughts and feelings. Because the low-vibration feelings make you susceptible. Make you vulnerable to those ‘greed’ messages for only $27 that have no business working for you at all. That’s why most people that buy, never even open. Distracted, guided my mis-aligned feelings.
I very much believe in a game of elimination. Peel back the layers far enough, remove all the noise and things that no longer serve, make way and create space and automatically something fruitful will grow.
That’s why I hardly talk about adding more in your life. I talk about subtraction. Because by removing the weeds, by watering the plants in your life that you ALREADY like is how you multiply all aspects of your garden of life. Understand?
If you want to succeed in your life. If you want to win at everything that you do and touch. If you want to live a story that few ever do and some will ever dream, you must eliminate. You must create space. You must quiet the mind. You must know thyself.
Todays lesson is non-responsive.
Like momma would say, “think before you speak.”
I’ll go a level further, do nothing. When you get the urge to respond to something, don’t. Do less now. Let it pass you today.
See a post that makes you angry that you want to comment on? Don’t.
Feel the urge for a cigerette? Don’t.
Practice not-responding. It’s not often the things we do that get us to success, its the things we don’t do.
Like Trump who’se never had a drink in his life.
Before you add, you must subtract. That is step one.
_Shakoor