Clout — to ball up, amass.
Perhaps clout is actually more important than money.
1. Don’t be disingenuous
The first simple thought is this: don’t be disingenuous. Everyone is honest in different ways; just stick to your own gut in terms of what feels right, and don’t do what you feel is “wrong“.
The tricky thing is this; there will be certain times, when you speak what are you personally believe in, and, others will hate you for it. In other words:
There will be times, in which you say something honestly, and are not disingenuous, yet you will be hated for it.
Why is this important? If you desire to build clout, you need to build deep trust with other person. The suspicion that everyone always has, especially when it comes to the Internet:
Why should I trust you?
I know for myself personally, when I hear somebody say something very very unpopular, or unorthodox, my ears perk up and I’m actually more prone to listen to the person. Why? A lot of people who are “nice“ are actually very disingenuous, and have hidden motives. Or in other words, put more trust in the asshole, than a nice guy. Why? It is impossible to fake being an asshole. It is very easy to fake being a nice guy. Similarly speaking, whenever you’re traveling, in the Middle East or in India, never trust anybody who says “my friend“.
Also, with our own personal relationships, real friends don’t call each other their friends; we just consider them as an extension of ourselves.
So, if someone tells you, “I am so happy that you’re my friend”, be very suspicious. They are more likely to use you as a dependency, rather than being a true friend.
2. Think at the decade plus level
With Elon Musk, his success is at least 20 years plus. He has been building SpaceX and Tesla for a very very long time. It did not just happen overnight.
I wonder if I actually agree with Peter Thiel; rather than “iterate “your way forward, better to set an interesting and audacious 10+ year goal, and pursue it with great vigor and tenacity.
Why is it so difficult for people to think long-term? My theory is that it is just not that encouraged; also to think long-term is not natural. We see others right now with social media fame, and we want to emulate it. But if you think long-term, all social media platforms will soon die sooner or later.
Do you remember my space, Napster, Flickr, live journal? Blogger?
Even young kids, don’t use Facebook.
Even in the world of photography, when I started off, it was all about Flickr. Now, nobody uses Flickr, and it is all about Instagram. But, sooner or later, people forget what Instagram is as well.
3. Own your own platform
Whwb I was in middle school in high school, xanga was popular for blogging. But finally one day, they deceased their services, and all the content which was created on Xanga was deleted.
I am very happy that about a decade ago, I created my own website. Erickimphotography.com, which was registered through 1and1.com, which is now rebranded as ionos.com
I am very happy that my website has lasted until now.
Be very suspicious about building your own empire on foreign soil.
For email newsletter, sendy.co — which is what I use here.
For website and blog, WordPress.org
The least bad service provider right now seems to be bluehost.com. I use ionos.com and don’t love it, but at least it works.
4. Think video and vlogs
We trust faces and voices more than abstract text.
Make a YouTube channel for the sake of building clout, not money.
For example, even my friend Timothy Flanagan told me:
You had me sold on Cambodia after your first video!
Note, after the first VIDEO, not blog post, article, newsletter, etc.
5. Why do we put more faith in video than text or photo?
Video because real life looks more like video than text or photo.
I also like shooting vlogs on GoPro hero 10, ultra wide, 1080p, 24fps, disable blinking and disable front LCD because I can vlog and steam my thoughts without being self conscious.
This is what I’ve learned:
When I shoot a vlog and I can see myself in the LCD screen, if distracts me, and I cannot flow my words and ideas as easily.
Also, it is insanely small (fits in your front left pocket) and you can vlog yourself or thoughts whenever inspiration strikes!
6. Overthink your importance
When I first discovered how influential I was, I was surprised. That top guys in Hollywood and Silicon Valley knew me, followed me and admired me — huge compliment. And this is what I discovered:
My level of clout was always that high, but I didn’t realize it until AFTER I discovered the information.
Thus the lesson: don’t be humble.
Humility is a vice.
Bragging isn’t the opposite of being humble. And to brag isn’t necessary. Just think in your own mind, solo, individually —
I am insanely influential, and whatever I say and share can and WILL influence the top dogs.
Thus, don’t sell yourself short. Don’t censor yourself.
7. Clout for the sake of what?
Ultimately what do you want to do with your clout? If you see your clout as a tool?
I say—
Use your clout to change the minds and souls of others.
Also, my strategy:
Share the knowledge ideas and information I wish I had access to when I was a kid, teenager, starting off, etc.
For example, I would say my purest self was probably when I was either 12 years old, 14, 16, or 18, certainly before I went to college. In some ways, college corrupted me a little bit, and certainly life post-college corrupted me even further.
What is purity? Purity is:
Your own individual beliefs, before you learn to self censor yourself through “political correctness”, “woke talk”, etc.
Also —
Your mode of thinking BEFORE you gotta worry about the stressors of making money, “making a living”, etc.
8. You already got clout
This is the thing; everyone already has clout, simply it is different depending on where you live, who the people you have access to, the technologies you use, etc.
Therefore, rather than desiring to wish you had access to clout of the elite in society, rather, take extreme pride in the clout you already got and leverage that to the maximum.
Also, if you think about your clout as a ball, something which you amass and make bigger, to make the ball bigger is to gain clout is a gradual process.
9. Seek the elite Spartan 300s
One of the big biases that we have is that we think that having more followers is better. However this is false. Think yourself: would you rather have 300 followers, or 1 million followers?
Now this is the nuance; of those 300 followers, would you rather have access to the 300 elite spartan warriors, and assuming that those 1 million followers were a bunch of Persian slave mercenaries?
Or —
Would you rather have the world’s most beautiful woman (one human being) as your wife, or access to ten million “average” women?
I would prefer the first (Cindy).
Don’t seek more followers for the sake of more followers. Very much like if you’re a bodybuilder, you don’t seek more weight for the sake of more weight. The goal is to increase the weight of your muscle mass (skeletal muscle), NOT the weight of your fat (adipose tissue).
Numbers lie.
10. Practical assignments
- Make your own self hosted website via bluehost.com and WordPress.org. Name it your first and last name .com (or first name last name photo .com)
- Make a YouTube channel and start uploading videos and vlogs. If you got a Google or Gmail account, you already got a YouTube channel. Just go to YouTube.com/upload and start uploading. Just use your iPhone, iPad or smartphone front camera. Or just use the video function of your standalone digital video camera. I used to even vlog on my RICOH GR III 28mm.
- Install the Google Amp Plug-in for your WordPress.org blog. Learn via https://amp.dev. For your theme use the Newspack theme.
- Open source it all. Make your photos and videos and audio freely open full resolution to download, no paywalls, etc. Open source as a life approach.
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