When Attention Beat Ability In this photo, my uncles Eddie and Morrie stand inside their business. Their extended family started small businesses. When those folded, they started more. The industries didn’t matter. It was about paying your way in America. Popularity on screens eroded quality work in the United States over decades. It’s made it harder to succeed in small business, despite the advantages of social media, tech platforms, and content marketing. What worked even back in 2023 no longer makes sense. We are in an age of transparency. By 2018, I was seeing a clear shift. Less competent people often beat those with greater skills because they were better at attraction marketing and seeking attention online. That era of popularity is now exhausting many teenagers. The idea that social influence, personal branding, joint-venture marketing, and popularity are new is itself getting old. These massive tech platforms are groaning under the weight of bad IT, corporate sludge-tech, and investor demands. The challenges are overwhelming enough that it’s time to act on new thinking. Corporate America and the technology industry can’t possibly be going in the right direction. What's next already arrived. I've been thinking of it as an experience sharing economy. We the liberation mechanics create and prosper together. Between the extended family in Roger's Park, Chicago South Side, and Hamilton ON alone. There must have been hundreds of small businesses. Everything from auto parts, junkyards, machine tool shops, law firms, and wholesale companies. Let's make that America happen again. Are you as tired as me of staring at screens. All day long trying to earn online? I got to hang out in Paris. Sail across the North Atlantic on a racing boat. Spar in Sifu Freddie Lee's Kwoon. Drive across Chile. Race my BMW on tracks in WI and MI. Ski in France, Italy, Utah, and Colorado. Throw parties and learn to cook from books. I want that life. Let's make it happen. If not now, then when?

This approach used to be called More Money Now. That was a paradoxical attempt at humor. The reason is that the fastest path to success is never to chase money, success, or online illusions. This approach, based on principle, is not something where you must copy me, an influencer, or a successful person who succeeded. Nobody succeeds by copying another. That's the fun house mirror approach marketers use to win. They trapped you in their illusion. Some know it's a trip. Others, as I said earlier, believe their version of diet pills is the secret to universal success. Given that nobody knows your secret answer, that lie is indeed merely noise. The signal comes from your own spiritual connection, emotional tolerance, and mental clarity. Getting that open wider requires a different sort of work. That's why I called this More Money Now. It requires less tough inner work. Freedom Business Mechanics Product: What, Who, Why Why the old approaches are a bad strategy Marketing, sales, and convincing approaches. That's a bad strategy in a world where nobody trusts anybody. The people who cut through are celebrities, big money players, or those with world-class reputations. The rest of the herd is stuck in the cheap seats. When the platforms were new, it was easy to cut through. That's how I succeeded. It was part of the strategy. We are in a new era. Spend less. Share more. Here's how to win despite the saturation of online media, marketing, and money. In the experience-sharing economy, the critical words are economy and sharing. Spend less. Share more. Sell less. Market less. Be more experienced. You can be brand new. Be honest about what you have. What do you truly have that's valuable? Successful people want to know this from you: - What do you truly have that's valuable? - Who gets value from you, given your experience? - Why does it matter, and in what circumstances? - Even a hint of hustle gets you thrown to the curb. It's that simple. What's not easy is getting to the answers to those questions.

When you chase influence, popularity, and success, you are likely to fail. Those selling it know this is true. They will tell you to keep going, join the secret inner circles, and that you are just not working hard enough. That’s a warning. It’s how real estate scams, terrible products, and bad services get sold at scale. We’ve always had these people. If you are still unsure, get real with yourself. Consider watching movies about boiler rooms and American hustles. Everybody has a period in business when these people show up on your screen. Typically, this is when you are in transition, at a low point, and most likely to purchase. They organize their strategies to find you so they succeed. Your wound is not their opportunity The gaping wound in the neck is your wound. It’s not their opportunity. Feel the pain of not knowing your own purpose, vision, or pathway. If you must go down this road, take all the free stuff. Nobody needs to pay today. For those who want to be in the inner-sanctum rooms, you are paying for their networks. Consider that they work together to get you to the table. Taking your money is the goal. Then, for those who succeed, you get money as well. That’s how it works. It’s as American as anything. This crowd cares about their passive income, their success, and being on top of the hierarchy. When you look deep at the stories, that becomes obvious. They follow the same formula. The story formulas are the biggest giveaway. It’s a way to avoid sharing experience or telling the real truth. Some of this crowd knows this. Some don’t. And you will be attacked by them and their followers when you speak your truth. That’s what I mean by friction. Stand in the fire of that judgment. Then your people can truly find you. My ancestors earned their money. They lived Napoleon Hill. Perhaps they crossed paths.

Find smart people. Bring humility about your limits. Refuse to play losing games with losing people. We never used social proof for our virtual revenue business. It attracts the worst clients. Those clients blamed us for their failures, refused to listen, and projected their failures onto our team. The before-and-after pathway to online success 1. Reciprocity — Give to receive That’s what happens in middle school. Kids struggle with this. Fair-weather friends. When you focus on popularity to earn, those people won’t have your back. You end up with fake friends who manipulate you. 2. Liking — Craving acceptance That puts you in the crosshairs of the sellers. They want compliance. Getting you to worry about being liked, normal, or accepted gives them access to your wallet. That’s how to sell crap at scale. 3. Social proof — Deceptive advertising The human mind wants shortcuts. When somebody says it worked, the image contains before-and-after proof, or you feel you can trust them, beware of social proof. It’s not relevant, but it works. 4. Authority characters — Inner-circle credibility In a complex world, it’s hard to trust authorities. Those who associate with people considered successful feel successful. Rather than feel confident, look harder at why you care. 5. Scarcity — Fear of losing The current world has too much supply. The way to get people to pay is to create demand. You know those stores. They are always going out of business, running short, or only have a few slots. 6. Commitment — Easy paths to success Once you pay, you want a result. That means you are more likely to pay again. The group reinforces that. It’s always fun at the beginning. Don’t pay for success. Stay in your reality. 7. Unity — Changing the world Most people crave purpose, meaning, and belonging. When that shows up and you feel down, it’s harder to say no than to say yes. That’s a way to create a movement of beginners who don’t get results.

The gurus did original things in the world. We are in sequel mode. Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, and Dan Kennedy created something new in the success industry. Those who followed them did not, in any real way. Know that, and you are further ahead than 98% of the people who use screens to earn. The marketing illusion created by later generations who learned from these masters is complete and utter nonsense. It’s never worked, even for them. The reason is that the screens no longer anchor us in any reality. It’s not an AI bubble. It’s an investor, corporate, and popularity bubble unlike anything the world has ever seen before. I’m just kidding. None of this is truly new. Here are the facts that distorted the work of people like David Ogilvy, Eugene Schwartz, and Trout & Ries on positioning. When you see anybody selling what these people did, that’s your first warning signal not to pay them. The pipeline wasn’t the problem Back in 2014, we used cold outreach and emails to build a solid revenue pipeline for an innovative medical informatics software and big data consulting firm. The founder and lead team were at the top of the industry. We brought them a real, validated pipeline of interested parties. The right people below the top levels. They weren’t struggling with lead generation, getting meetings, or signing deals. The issue was market resistance to any meaningful change. Rather than use social proof, authority marketing, or sales hustles, we helped them figure out why the US healthcare system back then refused to accept their better medical data approach. Being the non-expert at the table helped our team support this client. They were always frustrated. But at no time was my company blamed for what turned out to be their industry mess. They were early. Change was being refused at the board level. Getting a recommendation for my 2019 book was easy.