“Anything that isn’t opposed by about 40 percent of humanity is either an evil business or so unimportant that it simply doesn’t matter.”
—Russell Baker
Let’s reverse engineer that: How to “matter?”
Be “opposed.”
If you’re not loathed, you can’t be loved.
If you show me Authority Builder who has no audience (or has an audience that generally doesn’t care about them), I’ll show you someone afraid to take a stand.
Is this you? Here’s how to fix it.
Do you follow the rules of polite society?
You know: Don’t run anyone off. Don’t offend. Don’t rock the boat.
You can be loved by everyone or you can be relevant to your market. But you can’t be both.
Everyone who has ever done anything that matters has made enemies.
You know…. Haters.
Who are yours?
If you don’t have any, I know one thing: nobody loves you, either.
I don’t want to go all “chicken or egg” on you here, but if you don’t have anyone that loves you, go and find some people that can hate you.
Who should love you? Okay, who are they mad at? You get mad at them, too.
Pick up rocks and throw some at their enemies. Publicly. Loudly.
Complain about the people your target audience complains about. Agree with them about how bad those other people are.
Tell them they’re right to feel that way.
Separate the wheat from the chaff. Who’s the wheat? Who’s the chaff?
Tell them. Point them out. Glorify them or shame them.
Who are you to say so? The one who’s not afraid to break a few eggs in order to make the omelet.
You’re the bold truth-teller your audience wishes they could be.
You’re the one people talk about. Disagree about. Debate about.
Don’t fear opposition. Strategically embrace it.