Vulnerability creates emotional resonance, which in turn makes our content contagious. But don't treat audience as a therapist. Use this very wisely. If there is no redemption, no growth, or a lesson worth sharing, then it’s not ready for public consumption.

Vulnerability

Hope is the additive necessary to turn captivation into the foundation of likability. Nobody wants to hear about your problems other than your therapist. They want you to help them solve theirs.

Hope & Optimism

Whether you like it or not, building an audience for your work is a performance.
<ul>
<li>Amplify your personality - You don’t have to change who you are, you have to become more of who you are.</li>
<li>Be provocative, with a purpose - Make a statement. Share a message that matters to you.</li>
<li>Have a bold & compelling point of view - If you try to appeal to everyone, you will appeal to no one. Be okay with pissing some people off.</li>
<li>Harness the power of stories - Too often we think that our story is not worth telling because we don’t have a big audience.</li>
<li>Give people a reason to find you interesting - Your accomplishments on paper only matter to people who have no other reason to find you interesting. Your expertise in something doesn't make you interesting. Your story and the way you tell it, does.</li>
<li>Emotional Resonance, heart & soul -Your emotional commitment to what you are doing will be translated directly into your work.</li>
</ul>

Captivation

Respect the expectations of your audience. Experiment, but retain the essence.

Reliability

Perceptiveness is the ability to read between the lines of what people are saying and doing to understand the intentions behind those words and deeds. Compassion is the willingness to act on perceptiveness through love, kindness and active care.

Compassion & Perceptiveness

You don't need to be defensive with critics. Also - not all critics are the same. If you can’t handle getting tough feedback from people who care about you, it becomes difficult to take it from people you don’t know.

Learn to deal with critics

They are:<ol><li>Captivation</li><li>Hope & Optimism</li><li>Reliability</li><li>Authenticity</li><li>Vulnerability</li><li>Compassion & Perceptiveness</li><li>Empathy</li><li>Dealing with Critics</li></ol>

There are 8 characteristics that are important to consider when you want to build an audience

What you create, say and do in public carries more weight than what you do in private. Your words and actions count. Choose them wisely.

Authenticity

Building an audience for your work is a performance.<ol><li>Amplify your personality</li><li>be provocative, but with a purpose</li><li>Have a compelling point of view</li><li>Harness the power of stories</li><li>Give people a reason to find you interesting</li><li>Add in emotional resonance</li></ol>

Take into account the context in which your audience consume your content. Focus on humanizing the metrics of your audience: <ol><li>hearts, instead of eyeballs; </li><li>listeners instead of downloads; </li><li>Meaningful conversations instead of article views.</li></ol>

Empathy

If you want an audience, it takes more than doing the work. You have to understand the psychology of building an audience.