Mike Cernovich explains how to build up your brand.
As I’ve become one of the 10 most influential voices this election season, media figures look on with jealousy. That’s a scarcity mindset. My own success does not preclude anyone else from being successful. (Vox Day gets far more blog traffic than I do. Stefan Molyneux has a far larger podcast. Their success does not detract from mine.)
Here is how you can become your own Mike Cernovich, Inc.
Focus on your fans/readers. End the pundit circle jerk.How often do you see me butt kissing anyone on Twitter? I don’t kiss up to pundits with hopes they will write about me. There are many reasons for this, some personal and some practical.
I dislike dishonest people, and pundits are frauds. Pretending to like vile people for a reach-around is how you destroy your soul. I also ignore them because it’s bad for business.
Imagine a pundit writes about me in an article. (That’s not hard to imagine. There are hundreds of articles about me. Everyone from Gawker to Politifact has tried to take me down, with the end result being us laughing in their faces.)
No one reads an article about me and buys my book. Throw-away quotes are of no value to me. Even a byline on a big site like the Hoaxington Post is garbage. How do I know this? Book sales data tells the truth….
If you want to build your own brand, here’s some advice:
Talk to “nobodies” who @ tweet you.
I don’t view anyone as a nobody, because we are all human and there’s no reason to think highly of yourself, and also because there are a lot of nobodies who are stealth somebodies. (You never know who you’re talking to.)
Write for readers, not editors and pundits.
Who cares if your work is cited by some dork? Being cited by Vox* or Gawker or BuzzFeed won’t build your brand up. Writing for readers will.
I can attest that since I met Cernovich last August, and since I began putting his advice about looking to help others into action, both the blog readerships and the Twitter following have increased dramatically. More importantly, I learned how important it was to allow others to get involved, to volunteer, and to help themselves by helping me, which has had a profound effect on Castalia, DevGame, Big Fork, and [REDACTED], among other things.
It was perfect synchronicity that I was interrupted by a phone call from one of my more important allies as I was posting this, as he was calling to discuss how Castalia can be of assistance to one of his projects, which assistance we are quite happy to provide. As per Cernovich, what we decided may turn out to be to Castalia’s advantage down the road, but if so, that’s just a bonus. Our only serious goal is to help an ally meet his objective.
What goes around comes around, and in ways one cannot reasonably anticipate. So, always actively look for ways to help your friends, your allies, and your supporters. Don’t be threatened by their success, celebrate it and cheer them on! We can’t all be number one in everything, but we can all be winners.
*In case it isn’t obvious, he means Vox the lame SJW site, not me.