How to become #1

It may seem obvious, but the way to mass success — whether it’s your radio show or the Harlem Shake — is to generate really strong passion from your content.

It’s more important that 100 listeners love you than that 1000 listeners like you.

And you’ll never get anyone to love you by playing it safe, by trying not to offend, by staying within the margins. There are just too many others doing that today for you to even be noticed. There was nothing normal or safe with this:

Or this (my personal favorite after the literally millions of re-do videos created by that original)…

So, the question every day is, what are you bringing — you, not your music unless no other station anywhere in the world is playing the songs you’re playing — that will make me love you?

What will I hear that makes me so passionate about you I can’t wait to tell my friends where they can find you too?

The only way you will ever make someone passionate about you is to make them feel so strongly you become unforgettable.

Give up the anxiety that comes with wanting to be liked and push yourself into the risky zone of creating content so different, so emotionally rich that listeners either love you or hate you.

It’s scary, but it’s the only way to #1.