The Unspoken Secret to Online Success: Silencing Critics

Okay, let's get real. What is the real reason you're not creating videos of yourself speaking and sharing your ideas with the world? What's the reason most people don't? It's because of the nasty comments. The trolls. And I'll be candid with you, they do exist. It happens. I've had a lot of nasty comments over the years. In just the last three weeks, someone wrote in, in the description, in the replies, and said, tj, you're ugly. Tj, you look like a reptile. That was the second third person said, tj, you're scary looking. Now, did I enjoy those comments? No. But you have to put it in perspective. For any one negative comment, I typically get a hundred, sometimes a thousand thousand positive comments. Now, if I just decided tomorrow I'm never ever going to make another video online, would I stop the negativity? Yeah. Would I protect myself from nasty people from this toxic stuff? Sure. But there would be a huge price because there are benefits from speaking online. Yes. In the last three weeks, three negative comments. None the previous six months. But every single day I get positive comments from places where I speak out online, whether it's this particular forum or the Udemy platform where I teach a couple of million students around the world every single day on that platform, I typically get 100 students who give me positive five star reviews and say things like, TJ, you changed my life. TJ, you really helped me get that job with the training you gave on interview skills. Tj, I nailed that last speech because of your help, so that warms my heart. So you've really got to factor in the pros and the cons. For me, the pros so far outweigh the cons. You got to make that decision for yourself. There are a lot of benefits that will come to you. People giving you praise online, people telling you you changed their lives, and I'll talk about something else. It makes me feel a little uncomfortable because it's hard to talk about this subject without coming across as arrogant or sanctimonious or boastful. But if you're willing to speak out online, a lot of good things can happen to you, including money. We don't all end up rich guys, especially if you don't have specialized skills like being able to found a tech startup that goes public, or if you don't have the drive to work a thousand hours a week at an investment bank or a law firm. I don't have those skills. I'm not a programmer. I'm not some entrepreneurial genius. Who's figured out a way of having a thousand employees work for me. I'm really just a guy who with a very small company. But because I was willing to take criticism from people seeing me speak on video last year, I did make a million dollars and will this year too, just from speaking out on video. Now, it's not get rich quick, but it does work if you really stick with it. Learn to ignore the criticism or look at the criticism within the context of all the good feedback you get. So I'm urging, I'm begging you, not promising you a million dollars, but I am begging you. Try speaking out on camera. Try helping other people with your insights. And the occasional criticism comes ignore it. Learn from it. Laugh at it.