by Ben Settle
They Are Frozen with Fear
At the Mere Thought
Of Even Just Being Themselves!
Can you imagine that?
People are too scared to even be their authentic selves.
(Much less exaggerate their personalities like 2Pac and others).
To give you an idea of how widespread this fear is, podcasters and influential leaders in the marketing world have invited me to teach their audiences how to be “authentic.”
Yes, it’s gotten so bad…
Men Literally Have to be Taught
How to be Themselves!
That’s why most men live their entire lives fearing what others will think or say about them. Their culture, their teachers, their friends, their family, even their parents have programmed them to fear being themselves, to avoid rejection, and to resist saying, doing, or believing in anything that causes pushback, personal attacks, and being challenged.
The result?
The vast majority of men have become incapable of being noticed.
(Much less respected.)
And this is good news for a Villain who sacs up and conquers this fear. Because when you know how to take your authentic personality and augment it (ala 2 Pac, Ice Cube, etc.)…
You Will Have No Competition!
Not in business.
Not in your professional life.
And certainly not when competing for dames, respect, money, recognition, opportunity, privilege, and all the other perks enjoyed by Villains unafraid of doing what it takes to stand out from the bleating herd.
But you may be wondering, how do you don this Mask?
Especially if you’ve gone your entire life paralyzed by fear of it?
The answer is simple:
Take Your Personality
And Exaggerate It a Few Notches.
If there’s an attribute about your personality you enjoy (especially a so-called “negative” attribute) don’t hide and suppress it.
Own it.
Blow it up.
And, have fun reveling in it.
For instance, I have made it no mystery to my website readers, customers, podcast listeners, and whenever I speak publicly (or privately) about the contempt I have for large crowds. I would much rather hang out alone (like most Villains, I quite enjoy my own company…) than with a group of 30+ people obnoxiously competing to be heard.
So, I don’t bother trying to convince people I’m social or fun.
Instead, I do the exact opposite:
I accept and brag about it when people accuse me of being crotchety, antisocial, and “Grinch-like.” The last thing I do is hide that negative aspect of my personality.
I Run with It!
That’s where the whole elBenbo persona (the Mask I have donned in business) came from. It’s an exaggeration of an aspect of my personality one of my ex-girlfriends used to complain about.
But, a couple warnings:
First, there can only be one Bane. One Darth Vader. One Joker. One Scarecrow. One Jason Voorhees. One Pennywise the Clown, and so on.
So, don’t try to copy another Villain’s mask.
Your Mask Must Be Unique to You
And Your Personality.
To copy is to be a fraud.
And to be a fraud is to be completely inauthentic.
Plus, trying to be (for example) another Bane, will just water down the Mask for you both. (While pissing Bane off…)
And the second warning?
Your personality should be lovable. My elBenbo Mask is (I like to think, at least) somewhat lovable. He’s not likeable, necessarily. In fact, many people hate him. But, he is lovable. And if you paint yourself as an evil, abusive sociopath with no conscience, it could work against you.
So, when it comes to donning your Villains Mask, remember:
If you have a flaw, don’t hide it, run with it.
Make it noticeable and unique.
And then own it.
That’s how you create a Villainous Mask that transcends you and still be 100% authentic. Do that, and you’ll have a mask people either love or hate, with zero indifference.
And that’s what you want.
Because at the end of the day…
Indifference Is the Death
of All Persuasion and Influence!
So, don your Villains Mask of Authority, and do it soon.
Only then, a true Super Villain of Persuasion can you be…
Chapter 7
-
The Sexiest Influencer of Them All
“If you’re good at something, never do it for free.”
— The Joker
The Dark Knight
In Sin City: A Dame to Kill For , the Villainous femme fatale Ava Lord uses an extremely potent principle that can make any Villain more persuasive, more respected, and more influential… while also granting you a peace of mind and sense of security most people will never know.
Here’s what happened:
Ava’s Mission was to have her wealthy husband killed, and frame her ex-lover Dwight for the deed, so she could get all her husband’s wealth. But to do so, she did not try to use money (she had lots of it). Nor did she try to use brute force (she had a driver who could have done that). Instead, she used a far more powerful force at her disposal.
And, that force was…
Specialization!
In her case, she used her sensuality and her sexuality.
Those were her Specializations that allowed her to persuade and influence everyone from her driver to beat up and protect her from her enemies, to getting her ex-lover to kill her husband, to even getting the cop assigned to her to break protocol and eventually kill his partner (and then himself) to help protect Ava and her secret.
That is the power of Specialization.
Everyone loves a specialist.
Everyone trusts a specialist.
And, everyone is susceptible to a specialist’s persuasive wiles.
This is true whether it’s a specialist who does great good (such as an oncologist who specializes in helping children suffering and dying from cancer) or whether it’s a specialist who does great evil (like the depraved rapist Dr. Larry Nassar who specialized in helping athletes for the USA Gymnastics team, and molested dozens of those patients at his office and gym…)
Frankly, Specialization is such a powerful tool of persuasion and influence…
It Works Even if You
Do Everything Else Wrong!
For example:
Many years ago, there was a video of an interview with a nerdy-looking guy who was a world champion (i.e. specialist) at a certain video game. This is a guy who dressed like a schlub, looked like a schlub, and lived the life of a video-game playing schlub. The kind of guy most women would not even glance at and would most likely laugh at. (Or just ignore and hope he doesn’t try to speak to them). I’m talking about someone who spends his entire life in front of a screen and is about as naturally charming as Beavis & Butthead.
Except, for when it came to his craft.
Most video game nerds display zero charisma, power, or confidence. And they are far more likely to mow a Villain’s lawn or fetch his lunch, than to be a Villain themselves. Yet, in this interview, this nerd… this specialist … not only had the body language, confidence, and swag of a Villain, but he had a beautiful girlfriend who clearly adored and respected him on his arm, too.
This simply doesn’t happen to video game nerds.
But it did to this one.
And the reason why is because…
He Is the Best in the World
At What He Does!
That’s the influential and persuasive power of Specialization.
In business, Specialization lets you charge more for what you sell (a brain surgeon charges far more than a general practitioner). It automatically gives you more prestige, status, and respect (a lawyer who specializes in helping Hollywood celebrities gets more money, prestige, status, and respect than a lawyer w
ho takes on anyone as a client). And it makes you instantly have more credibility and believability in whatever it is you specialize in —
Whether You Deserve It or Not!
In your personal life, if you’re a specialist, you are the one everyone asks for help with regarding whatever you specialize in.
In your professional life, if you’re a specialist, you will have the kind of iron-clad job security no piece of paper from a University can even come close to giving you.
And in your business life, if you’re a specialist, you will automatically be in the all-coveted “catbird seat” — the place to where money and clients effortlessly flow. In fact, in some cases…
People Will Even Hire You
On the Spot!
And, do it without price, salary, or fee objection.
All because you specialize in what they want done.
So, if you want to be more persuasive, specialize.
Just as Dr. Curt Connors (the Lizard in The Amazing Spiderman ) specialized in genetic biology and had the trust of the Chief of Police and school authorities… just as Wilson Fisk (The Kingpin in the Netflix Daredevil series) specialized in all things business, and thus had the good faith and admiration of an entire city’s political leaders… just as Saruman the White in the Lord of The Rings stories specialized in magic and was the highest ranked wizard with the attention and respect of the entire White Council… just as the Joker in The Dark Knight was the only one the ultra-violent mob factions in Gotham City had enough faith in to get the job of killing Batman done (and paid him half their fortunes to do it)… if you specialize in that which you want to be known for, you will have all the prestige, influence, and persuasive hold you wish.
And, in many cases, you won’t even have to do much to earn it.
It will simply fall in your lap.
Such is the raw power of Specialization.
Chapter 8
-
The Diabolical Goal-Setting Method that Never Fails
“We too are on a quest to better ourselves, evolving toward a state of perfection.”
- Borg Queen
Star Trek: First Contact
In the novel Forrest Gump , Forrest becomes an astronaut, goes to outer space, and crashes on an island in New Guinea. There he meets a tribe of cannibals, led by a Villain named Big Sam. Big Sam is Yale-educated, and even pokes fun at Forrest’s stint at Harvard.
The Villain also teaches Forrest how to play chess.
And Forrest — who has a natural talent for chess — continually beats Big Sam.
Each time they play, Big Sam gets closer to beating Forrest. And with each game, it becomes clear Big Sam intends to eat Forrest when he eventually does win. Inevitably, Forrest falls into a trap and knows he’s going to lose and has to think up a way to escape.
Anyway, here is the punchline:
Big Sam isn’t just frightening because he wants to eat Forrest.
He’s Frightening
Because He Knows
He’s Going to Win!
And Forrest knows it, too, which makes him needy.
(After all, he needs to win or become lunch…)
Big Sam, on the other hand, doesn’t get needy or emotional, because he doesn’t need to win like Forrest does. If he did, he’d have been the mistake-prone one, and probably would never win.
Question is, how did Big Sam create this mistake-creating neediness in Forrest?
Answer:
Instead of focusing on winning (which he couldn’t control), Big Sam focused on getting better at the game (which he could control), and that…
Made Winning Inevitable
For the Villainous Cannibal!
And so it is with many great Villains.
Such as the Borg in Star Trek .
Their goal isn’t to take over the galaxy, it’s to constantly better themselves, which allows them to assimilate more worlds, continually grow stronger, and capture more ground. There is zero neediness or worrying about if they will win. To them, it is inevitable. And so they focus on getting better, stronger, and more “perfect.”
Another example is the Villain Glass from Unbreakable .
His life’s Mission is to find the hero he is — by destiny — supposed to battle. And to find this hero he spends his life committing terrorist attacks to draw the hero out, without worrying or stressing if he will find him, knowing it’s inevitable.
The point?
Whether it’s Big Sam wanting to eat Forrest, the Borg taking over the galaxy, or Glass finding the hero, these Villains all have one thing in common with many of the great negotiators, marketers, salesman, and other great influencers:
Outcome Independence!
Here’s what that means in “plain English”:
Don’t focus on what you can’t control. (The outcome.)
Instead, focus on what you can control. (The process.)
So, if you want to lose a bunch of weight, don’t focus on losing 50 lbs. (which you can’t control). Set a goal to eat right each day, to exercise regularly, to be more active, to work on balancing your hormones (if they are out of whack), to get better sleep, and to lay off the booze and sugar.
Unlike the number on the scale, these are all things you can control.
And focusing on the things you can control (and not on the things you can’t)…
Completely Eliminates
Anxiety, Fear, and Frustration!
And, makes reaching your goal inevitable.
Here’s another example:
If you want to find a hot, pleasant, “ride-or-die” woman who wants nothing more in life than to keep your belly full and your balls empty, don’t focus on “finding that woman” (which you can’t control). Focus on your Mission, consistently going to the gym, improving your confidence (specializing is a good way to do this…), working on your business, chatting up women you find interesting, not being needy, observing what the guys who already have the kind of woman you want do (as comedian Dante Nero says, “don’t ask the deer how to hunt it, ask the hunter”), regularly going to places the kind of woman you want is likely to spend time at, and being the highest value man you can be.
One more example:
If you want to make six or seven figures per year, don’t focus on making the six or seven figures (which you can’t control). Focus on consistently making yourself a better, more “promotable” employee. Or (if you have your own business) consistently sending attractive offers to receptive leads, with back-end offers and systems in place. Or to consistently save and invest your money, while continually educating yourself about investing.
Whatever your ultimate goals are, the message is clear:
Whether it’s finding a woman, a better job, having more money, or anything else…
Focus on What You Can Control,
And Not on What You Can’t Control.
This is how you create true Outcome Independence.
It also helps build Superior Confidence (since it ensures victory 100% of the time).
And because it attracts people to you, seeking out your help, and making them more open to your influence… it will make you a Super Villain of Persuasion, too.
Chapter 9
-
How Villains Create Luck out of Thin Air
“I lived my entire life waiting for this moment. I trained, I lied, I killed just to get here. I killed in America, Afghanistan, Iraq... I took life from my own brothers and sisters right here on this continent! And all this death just so I could kill you.”
- Erik Killmonger
– Black Panther
My Persuasion Secrets of the World’s Most Charismatic & Influential Villains book revealed how Patience was like a “superpower” of influence. It’s one of the rarest attributes of modern man. Frankly, a Villain with Patience is a Villain who has control over other men —
Including Having Control Over Men
Who Themselves Have Control Over Other Men!
And guess what?
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This all-powerful attribute has a cousin just as rare and just as powerful, exemplified by the devious Villain Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. To see what this great superpower of persuasion is, study her monologue (midway through the movie) outlining the steps she took to accomplish her Mission to fake her death and convince the world her husband murdered her:
• She spent months writing 300+ separate diary entries telling a narrative to the police — from the first time she met her husband until the present. The narrative showed a husband she was madly in love with, but who abused her, cheated on her, and scared her so much she tried to buy a gun.
• To solidify her narrative, she inquired about buying a gun with the local meth dealer, knowing he wouldn’t sell it to her (since it wasn’t his specialty). And also knowing full well the cops would ask him about her, and that he’d remember her.
• She befriended and made a “local idiot” her unknowing accomplice by patiently learning all the details of her boring life and telling her fake stories to gain her sympathy (for later on) about her husband’s temper.
• She secretly created a bunch of traceable money troubles by charging online gambling, golf clubs, a big TV, gadgets, and other expenses in her husband’s name.
• She had her husband bump up her life insurance policy, so he’d get even more money should she meet an untimely demise, further adding to a motive for killing her.
• She bought a cheap, beat up car on Craigslist with cash — completely untraceable — to secretly slip out of town in.
• She faked a pregnancy to gain the public’s sympathy, knowing America loves a pregnant woman. She did it by tricking her local idiot friend (who was pregnant) into giving her some of her urine by (1) coaxing the toilet and preventing it from flushing (2) serving her local idiot a lot of lemonade so she’d have to pee (3) stealing the pee (4) then taking a pregnancy test at the doctor’s, making being pregnant part of her permanent legal medical record.
• When the morning of her “death” came (their 5th wedding anniversary) she told her husband to go to a specific spot (that was far away from people, so there would be no alibi as to his whereabouts that day) to “think about the marriage.”
