What does it mean to be an influencer? Does it mean that you’re trending on social media? That you have a lot of followers on some app? That your popular in your local social groups? Not really, the word has been perverted, like almost all words, lately and doesn’t mean what it once did. You want to know people that were influencers? People that changed the world around them? People that made their mark on history?
Hitler, Edward Bernays, Nathaniel Rothschild, George Washington, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, these were men that all for better or for worse changed the world that we see around us today. They are true influencers, now granted none of us will likely ever get to the rank that they did. We’ll most likely never have an entire nation listen to our every word and hear out carefully structured thought (even if they think it’s their own) but we can still learn a great deal from them.
We can still learn to become influencers and with the reach of things like blogs, podcasts, and self-published books have a much bigger impact then we ever thought we could. Realistically you could influence millions if you do it right, even tens of millions. It takes time and effort but if you want to change the world around you, it you want to affect things, if you want to have influence then you need to learn and master and constantly study the influencer skills.
Influencer Skills #1 – The Money Skills
What are the money skills? The money skills are the skills that will get you the most amount of money in the most efficient and effective way possible (aside from inheriting it or winning the lottery). The skills are copywriting, sales, and marketing and they all have to do with understanding human nature and then manipulating it to get people to make a decision that’s in your favor. Generally to purchase a product or service but it encompasses more then that.
It could also be having someone sign up to accept a lead magnet, it could be persuading someone that your widget or service is better than all the other, largely identical, widgets or services out there. Sometimes it may seem crash or even cheesy and sometimes it is but at the same time it’s incredibly effective for swaying hearts and minds. Who knew the late night infomercial guy probably has a better grasp of human nature and how humans work then the vast majority of psychologists and the like out there? But it’s the truth.
And don’t get me wrong sales is way more then buy now or used car salesmen. It can be slick and subtle as well. Politicians sell, religious leaders sell, ideological leaders sell. I’m selling you right now on that these skills are worth investing it. And by “sell” I don’t mean trick I mean convince. It’s a basic part of life and copywriting, sales, and marketing offer different ways of going about this. Understanding and mastering them will make you more persuasive and better able to influence others, putting it lightly.
Influencer Skill #2 – Story Telling
We all love a good story. Something that I’ve been noticing more and more is business books and companies focusing on story telling. Granted it’s usually a cheapened watered down version but still it says something that they’re coming to story telling to convince more people to buy their widget or service. They recognize the power that it has. I’ve said before that if you want to influence and change the world then tell stories that do so. Fiction has more power than non-fiction ever did, at least when it comes to books.
Stories allow you to convince people without them knowing what is going on. At first that might sound dark and it certainly can be, but really it’s just the best way that humans learn and therefore the easiest. Story telling can make abstract principles and ideas concrete, ironically bring them down to a more real level, even when made up or modified for narrative. We’ve all seen stories of hard worker A, poor child B, or target demographic C used by politicians at speeches and campaign rallies and to good effect.
Fiction authors have known this for a very long time. I won’t get too deep into the science here but storytelling works on a very deep level of the brain. If you’re good at telling a story you can enrapture an audience who will get so caught up in the narrative that they don’t notice anything they learn. Again can be used for bad things but that’s true of anything powerful and potent. Learning the finer points of story telling will make you far more influential and therefore powerful.
Influencer Skill #3 – The 3 R’s
Alright so 2 r’s and a w but 3 r’s sounds so much better. They are reading, rhetoric, and writing. Reading I’ve talked about in depth before, stating that it essentially gives you superpowers and I stand by that. Literacy is a powerful and underutilized tool. Most don’t understand how much power those who use it have over those who don’t. There’s a reason that slaves were never taught to read. Because it gives them power and agency, power and agency you won’t have if you refuse to do it.
Then there’s writing. Writing will help you clarify your thoughts and make them more exact. Writing everything you can think of then going over it for editing will allow you to better craft meaning with words, not just on the written page but when speaking as well. Becoming a good writer helps you to cut through the clutter and get to the point. In your writing of course but also in your thinking and your speaking. It’s an essential tool to becoming an influencer.
Finally we come to rhetoric perhaps to most famous of them all. We know that good orators have always been influential both Churchill and Hitler above were good speakers. But even in the modern age this has a big effect. Public speaking, being able to stand in front of a group of people (or behind a recording device) and convince them that you ideas and ways of living are best is an important skill. To sell them through speaking to large masses essentially. Yet one more influencer skills to master.
Becoming An Influencer
As I’ve been saying I don’t mean influencer in the social media definition, which to me is inferior. I don’t mean girls who post half naked selfies to “build their brand”. I mean it in the historical sense. Neither me nor you may ever reach as many as a president or prime minister but we can still reach many, especially with the tools we have at our disposal now-a-days. Writing articles for our websites, podcasting, uploading videos to BitChute or another broadcasting platform, releasing books through distribution services, and so on and so forth.
Even if you have no desire to influence others you should still spend some time cultivating these skills, if only so you understand how it works. These skills will still serve you well in life and are ones you’ll want to develop as a man anyways. So take inventory, see where you’re lacking, and shore up your weak areas. Maybe you’re great at sales one on one but once you get in front of a crowd freeze up. Or maybe you’re a great speaker but can’t write a letter to save your life. And so on and so forth. Figure out where you need to work and then get to it. Simple as that.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
