The more haters you have, the more successful you are.

Dear friend,

This is an essay on ‘haters’. I will attempt to psycho-analyze the mind of a hater, why haters hate, and how we can respond to haters.

Why do haters hate?

This is my theory:

Haters hate in order to feel more powerful.

I don’t necessarily believe that all haters have low self-esteem. Haters often hate in order to increase or augment their self-esteem. There can be haters with low self-esteem, medium self-esteem, or even high self-esteem.

But this is always the problem with haters:

Haters judge their own self-worth by comparing themselves to others.

Thus inherently, a hater is a small person. They cannot independently create their own self-esteem.

Be glad if you have haters!

First of all, this is a simple idea:

You can judge your level of success by the number of haters you have.

If you have no haters in life, it probably means you live a very boring or uneventful life.

Average or generic people don’t have haters. Why? Because they don’t do anything or say anything that ruffles the feathers of others. I call this type of person a ‘sheeperson’ (sheep+person). They are harmless; nobody is threatened by them.

In life, we want to be wolves or eagles; not a sheeperson.

I love the internet.

I love the internet. To me, it is the best invention of all-time. It has given us unlimited access to thrive in life; in terms of information-access, as well as our ability to publish and share ideas and knowledge.

Yet, there is this false notion that the internet is full of (mostly) trolls. This is false, because the internet is full of EVERYONE. But generally most people “lurk” (don’t leave comments on the internet). Most of us simply use and consume the internet; we don’t really care to leave comments on YouTube or random internet websites or blogs.

Why do we think the internet is over-represented by trolls or haters?

Who leaves a comment? Generally an extreme person.

For example, if you watch a YouTube video, the two types of people who usually leave comments:

Person A who extremely LOVES the video.
Person B who extremely HATES the video.

If you feel ‘meh’ about the video, you aren’t going to leave any comment (most people).

Thus the internet gives us a false and distorted view of reality. We get the false notion that the internet is full of very strange and extreme people. But once again, the problem is that the average or ‘normal’ person won’t leave a comment. Even for myself, I don’t think I’ve ever left a comment on YouTube.

Being an entrepreneur means to take risks (or not to be afraid of haters)

The sad thing is that I think a lot of potentially great photography bloggers or entrepreneurs don’t, because they are afraid that they will be “judged” or “hated on”.

And the truth is this:

As an entrepreneur, or a risk-taker, haters come with the territory.

Once again, an internet entrepreneur can probably judge their level of success via how many haters they have. Better to judge your own level of success by counting how many haters you have, instead of counting how many lovers you have.

I am probably the most hated photographer on the internet; and this is something I delight in! It is good because it means that I’m not boring. And to me, the only cardinal sin you can make as a creator on the internet is to be boring.

Thus, to be more successful, seek to be less boring.

How to be less boring

To be less boring means to speak your mind, to not censor yourself. It also means to take personal risks or to have ‘skin in the game’ via your opinion (this is why I admire Nassim Taleb so much– because he calls out charlatans by name). This is why I also admire Kanye West, because he speaks his mind without censoring himself.

Most people are afraid of sharing what they really think in a public forum. Most people will only tell what they really think when they’re tipsy after a few beers. But most people don’t have the huevos to say what they really think on the internet, with their real identity attached to themselves.

And for myself, if someone decides to hate on me with their real persona attached to their hate, I respect them. I ignore all anonymous trolls and haters, because they have no courage or spine to attach their real identity to their hate.

Conclusion

Anyways, my carpal tunnel is starting to act up, so let me conclude with some takeaways:

The more haters you have, the more successful you are.
To become successful as an entrepreneur means to speak your mind frankly, without censoring yourself.
All anonymous trolls and haters are small and weak people. Laugh at them, because they are beneath your contempt. Our rule is this: never respond (either positively or negatively) to any anonymous troll or hater on the internet.
If someone hates on you to your face, or on the internet with their real name, respect them. At least they have ‘skin in the game’ (Nassim Taleb).
To be more successful, put yourself out there more. There is no such thing as a ‘right’ or a ‘wrong’ opinion– there is only such thing as an ‘authentic’ or ‘inauthentic’ opinion. Speak your mind frankly, honestly, without censoring yourself.

THRIVE ON!
ERIC

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ERIC KIM x LEICA MP + 35mm Summicron ASPH + SF 20 flash + HENRI NECK STRAP

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