What would happen if YOU spent the next 27 years in jail?
My guess is that most of us would be forgotten within weeks of entering. POUFFF, in the shadows forever. And yet, while everyone is fighting for attention online (as a free man), “Madiba” Nelson Mandela was able to grow his legend, attracting the attention of the entire planet, without even being able to say a word, because he was censored in prison.
How has he done this? Yann Brainy will tell ya’
If you haven’t watched the movie A Long Walk to Freedom, which Nelson Mandela himself wrote, I highly recommend it. There are several lessons in it to help you online. Some are easy to see, others more subtle.
(FOR EVERYONE WHO READS THIS – I’d like to make it clear that I didn’t shed a tear, I’m a MAN)
Before his incarceration, he was already an influential figure; people knew he was fighting for something, a just cause, and he had chosen his side – to bring freedom to his people, no less. Naturally, people tend to take one side or the other when someone expresses an opinion and chooses a stance. When he was imprisoned, he already had an asset of his own – an audience.
The equivalent of influencers, online entrepreneurs who lose their social media accounts without having an email list, fans, or audience they own. His audience enabled him to grow his legend. His message, his cause, was taken up by his audience, who in turn spread it around the world.
After a while, musicians, politicians, actors and activists started talking about him and his cause:
”Free Nelson Mandela”
Several different sources talking about you can get people talking about you, as they’re curious and will go and see for themselves what exactly it is. More attention on you. Even in the 1980s, a song by this title ‘’Free Nelson Mandela’’ was played at the Wembley Stadium concert, which was broadcast to over 600 million people to tell his story.
And even the United Nations wanted to impose sanctions against South Africa, the United Nations! It’s as if a celebrity in your niche decided to talk about you and your company.
Pretty much free advertising IMO. Pretty sure he got a STELLAR ROI on this. Some marketers shout loud and clear that they’ve achieved a ROAS of 2, 3, or 4 times with their front-end offer on FB, often accompanied by fake screenshots. My take on this? I don’t trust someone who shows their online income, then sells something about it. Never, EVER.
The more people talked about him, the more the myth grew, and since he couldn’t speak, there was a lot of speculation about him – some even said he’d become a symbol of justice, talked about his legendary calmness, wisdom, and patience. His cause, his myth, was made much bigger than he was.
….AND SPOILER ALERT
When he was released from prison 27 years later, he became the first President of South Africa. UNLEASHH THE KRAKENN! There’s no bigger CALL TO ACTION you can have than this, nor a conversion event.
He kept the same F*CKING goal for more than 30 years. Many people online are unable to do something for more than a week these days. But for the minority who do want to do this (which is why you are on Yann Brainy’s email list I guess), those want to build something for the long term, build impact in this world (NO prison INCLUDED, don’t worry), consider building your first info-product the right way with IP24:
P.S. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society… It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Nelson Mandela
Yann Brainy
www.yannbrainy.com
