Any time you put yourself out there some members of your audience are going to chime in with their unsolicited advice.
And they’re usually wrong, lack appropriate context, facts and have little understanding of nuanced thinking.
Which is why you should ignore them.
Case in point, my last article about me sticking it to Amazon was met with an overwhelmingly positive response. More replies than any other article to date this year.
And then there was this one response…
“You were a little too fired up in your last article. Frankly, I was quite taken back by your ‘making Amazon my bitch’ message. It didn’t play well with me and I don’t think it will play well with the rest of your readers who are women. Surely you could’ve have said something else like you simply resent Amazon’s practices.”
– Paula
The irony is rich here. Every other reply was positive and an overwhelming amount of them were from… wait for it…. Wait for it…
WOMEN.
Case In Point:
“You my friend are a genius.” –Lee
“Yes! This is pure brilliance. Just shared this with all my clients.” -Brenda
“Chalk up a victory for the underdogs!”
-Vanessa“Love it. Pure wizardry.” –Joan
“Well played sir, VERY well played.”
-Jeanette
Plenty more like these in my inbox but you get the point. So yeah, while I could’ve said something else it wouldn’t resonate with my audience. In fact, 99.9% of you would see right through it because that’s not me or my style. Your’s Bruly doesn’t sugarcoat things. And pride myself on being 100% authentically ME.
Why do I respond to unsolicited advice the way I do?
I’m glad you asked. It’s a lesson I learned from the great American philosopher Howard Stern. And I suggest you follow his same wisdom.
Back in 2012, a guy named Evan from Burlington Vermont called Stern’s show to give Howard constructive criticism about the show. Here’s a portion of the transcript that illustrates my point.
Evan: “I want to give constructive criticism on the show.”
Stern: “Not necessary.”
Evan: “It is. You need feedback.”
Stern: “No I don’t. I don’t need any feedback. If I listened to feedback, I’d be doomed. Your feedback is irrelevant.”
Evan: “How dare you.”
Stern: “For my entire career I didn’t ask people their opinion on my show. I don’t care what you think. I care what I think.”
Evan: “That’s hurtful!”
Stern: “The way I became an innovator was to IGNNOORRRE the feedback.”
Evan: “Yes you do care what I think.”
Stern: “No you’re irrelevant. A show that everyone loves is not my show. Most people don’t like my show.”
(The caller then proceeds to tell Howard to F off and they hang up)
I’m not a Howard Stern fan but when I heard this call I immediately appreciated Stern’s approach. He is unapologetically his authentic self- 100% of the time. And love him or hate him, his success is undeniable.
Stern is the world’s highest paid radio host. There’s a wealth of riches in his advice and I hope you follow it.
I know I have. It’s something I learned a long time ago, no matter what you do, not everyone is going to like you.
But here’s the thing…
You don’t need to everyone to like you. Blaze your own trail by being your unapologetic authentic self and the right people will like you. That’s how you build YOUR audience.
My Stadium Status methodology to amplify your results is perfectly aligned with Stern’s philosophy of ignoring the unsolicited opinions of people who haven’t done what you’re doing (yet seem to want to tell you how to do it).
Actually I take it a step further by ignoring what your competitors are doing and ignoring the haters. I talk about this in-depth in Chapters 10, 15 and 23 and we will set up methods for you to do precisely that during our complimentary coaching call you receive as a bonus.
Cash in on that offer here or don’t because well, I’m not for everybody…