Make Marketing Suck Less

Why You NEED Other People to Be the Messengers of Your Message

One of the biggest objections I hear about the 3 Word Rebellion is the idea that other people should be the messengers of your message. And I get why that can be terrifying.

You've worked on something for so long, it has been like birthing a child. It is your baby.

And at first, you are the steward of this message. It's just you and your 3 Word Rebellion.

It can be frightening to think about what can happen when other people start running with it.

What if people steal your idea? What if they take your idea and talk about it, but don't credit you with the idea? What if they take your idea and start making money from your message?

And meanwhile, in your head you're thinking, oh my gosh, I'm going to end up broke. No one is going to know about me. I'm going to live in a van down by the river and I get that point of view.

But I think there's something operating here that is far bigger. So let's talk about why.

Tune into the audio:

If you want to make an impact, if you want to build something bigger than you, bigger than your business, then you are going to need to allow other people to be the champion of your message, to be the advocate for the change.

The 3 Word Rebellion requires that you let others shine and let others lead.

So let's dive into why that is. But before we do, I want to acknowledge that your fears may be right. Oh my God, yes. Someone might use your idea, they might talk about it without crediting you and some people will even profit off of your idea. And I saw this on a lot with Simon Sinek and Start with Why.

When Start with Why became part of our dialogue all of a sudden I saw all of these coaches talking about how they offer “start with why sessions” and they'll help you find your why. And sometimes they did not even credit Simon Sinek's name, which the academic in me just bristles at that every single time because I'm like, cite your sources. Give credit where credit's due.

However, if you've done your job right, people will know where your 3 Word Rebellion originated. They will associate your name with your 3 Word Rebellion.

So even if there's somebody else doing start with why coaching sessions, they know where the origin of that idea came from.

Detaching from your message, letting it go out and have a life of its own has a bigger upside than what you might lose. And here's why, it all goes to this idea that Shawn Achor talks about in his new book, Big Potential.

In it, he says that there is a difference between small potential versus big potential.

Small potential is the success that we are able to achieve on our own. It's the success we're able to achieve by pulling up our bootstraps, capitalizing on our strengths and doing the work all by ourselves.

However, big potential is the success we can achieve with others when we initiate what he calls the virtuous cycle and according to Shawn Achor, the virtuous cycle is, and I quote a “positive feedback loop whereby making others better leads to more resources, energy, and experiences that make you better fueling the cycle again”.

Now think about Oprah Winfrey. What is she consistently doing? She is consistently making other people better through her work. She is lifting up other people's voices, showcasing their work, giving them a platform to speak from, which in turn has led her to become even more successful.

And for you, the small potential is what you can achieve by being the only steward of your 3 Word Rebellion.

Trust me at first, that's how it's going to start. It's going to be just you.

But what if your message is making others better? Then other people are talking about it, sharing it, being changed by it. It's only going to grow in more momentum, which means more resources, energy, and experiences are going to make you better and more successful.

It's kind of mind-blowing, right? Especially when we live in a culture that tells us we have to do it all by ourselves.

I saw an example of that of just this morning, one of my friends was at a speaking event and she texted me a message with a picture of a handout a speaker gave and on this handout it was a list of books that this speaker found inspiring that they have read and had impacted their business and lots of great books were pictured and one of those books was the 3 Word Rebellion.

Now I don't know this person, this person doesn't know me, but that's the power of a big potential of infusing your message with the intent that it is for others to share.

And yes, when you detach from your message it will bring you more attention, media, podcasts, speaking and it will bring you more clients and customers than you ever thought possible who are interested in your work.

But the really cool thing that detaching from your message also does for you is that you don't have to expend as much energy and time showing up to share that message.

Other people are doing it for you and holy moly, that means you are attracting the right people and you don't have to do so much work and in the long run that is going to free you up to do other things.

Especially if you are a multi-passionate or you are an innovator. You're like, I don't want to be married to this message for the rest of my life, but if other people are spreading it for you, you can do other work.

Going back to Simon Sinek, he's a great example of this. Start with Why is out there. It is spreading on its own. People are talking about that.

And what has Simon been doing? Well, he's been writing other books like Leaders Eat Last. He also has a new book coming out in June called The Infinite Game. I mean, he's been able to do other work because Start with Why is its own being and for me, I have no idea what's next for me after the 3 Word Rebellion.

Okay, actually I have a little bit of an inkling of what I'm gonna work on post 3 Word Rebellion, but I'm not ready to share that quite yet.

But 10 years from now I really liked the idea that I can be working on something else. And the 3 Word Rebellion, much like a child, can be out in the world doing its thing.

So tap into your big potential because that is where exponential success lies. Small potential will only get you so far.

If you want to make an impact, make a difference, you're going to need others to do it. Infuse your work with the intention of other people being the messengers of that message and make your message for your right people. And I want to leave you with this quote from Sean Achor's book,