A reader writes in:

“Hey Pat, completely get it if you’re not into this, but it would be interesting to hear you talk about marketing at some point. The Tate situation kind of put this in the spotlight, but I see a lot of people getting quick growth with similar methods. A lot of flexing wealth, and leaning on anxiety/insecurity of potential buyers. This stuff feels kinda dark and I’m disheartened by how successful this seems to be. It would be great to hear you talk about a different way to approach marketing yourself”

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Good question, but before I answer it directly I need to deconstruct something very important in what was written above.

A lot of people get angry at the way Tate markets to people… and I understand why. Posting Bugattis, hot girls, yachts, tons of money… this plays to “lower chakra” concerns about status and personal value.

Tate (and others who push on these buttons) are saying either explicitly or implicitly: “I am better than you and therefore you are stupid for not listening to me. Enjoy losing more on the outside, while I and my crew continue to win and excel further beyond you.”

On one hand, you can say that this “low consciousness” marketing. And that’s not incorrect. It taps into a man’s anxiety and questionable self worth to get them to buy. Anything that triggers fear and brings someone lower to provoke an action isn’t high consciousness! Understandably this approach produces a negative response in more spiritually oriented guys.

But this marketing is also highly effective, because the reality is that level of consciousness is where most people are. And if you don’t meet people at that level, most of them are unlikely to listen to anything else you have to say.

You may not like to be told by someone like Tate that you’re a loser because you do not have as much material success as him. Part of this response is likely from a genuine distaste with what seems like shallow, empty materialism. But part of this response is also perhaps because you know on a certain level that he *does* have things you wish you had, yet don’t feel like you deserve to get. So to protect your own ego, you come to view him as BAD. To paraphrase Nietzsche, you may consider yourself more moral than Tate because you are less free.

It’s important to understand when it comes to consciousness, that expanding your consciousness is not only about speaking to the “higher” levels but integrating the lower ones. If you are triggered by a man flaunting his power at you… that means he has revealed a lack of personal power in yourself. This may be an area you NEED to work on, and someone like Tate may ironically help you on your spiritual journey by showing you how to be shameless and master the material world (so you can truly integrate it, not simply try to bypass it). You will know you need this because if you were already powerful internally, you would likely find these displays boring; you would be indifferent to Tate.

Because most men AREN’T at the level of success of Tate-like figures and have issues with their own self-worth, this marketing works. These displays create emotion (whether hate or love) that draws people towards him. This is attention, and attention (even negative attention!) is the holy grail in marketing. This is why I have said Tate has “Trump-like energy” because he creates similar types of polarization, albeit for different purposes.

Finally, there is another reason this marketing works. Because if you are a guy with low or middling success, you want to be talked down to by someone more successful. Yes, read that again. Most men who are underperforming WANT to be talked down to guys above them and RESPECT those who do it to them. It is a raw, “bootcamp-esq” masculine hierarchy that guys are particularly desperate for in today’s “everybody gets a trophy” world.

It is “real talk” that creates trust, because the marketing mirrors these guys’ inner dialogue: “I do suck with women, I am poor, who am I kidding, I should listen.” Thus when Tate subsequently offers them a means of salvation to “become like him,” it feels genuine and they take it. And if the peddler of power is legit, it can make a big impact on healing some of those 3rd chakra “power center” issues that got him to buy in the first place.

The catch is whether or not this person is ACTUALLY legitimate. As I have said, I believe Tate *is* authentic (you may disagree, and you are entitled to!). But this formula *is* abused often by posers and scammers who are less “embodied” in this archetype, so it is good to be cautious when you see attempts to “hit below the belt.” In either case you are being brought low, the question is whether in the end you’ll emerge higher.

However, *I* do not take this route with marketing for the most part, and there are a couple of reasons why.

First off, it would be incongruent to do so. I do not have a Bugatti and can say comfortably I never will, because even when I have the money cars aren’t that important to me — there are different material things I’d prefer to get (like a vineyard in Corsica). I am also a believer in the spiritual advantages of monogamy and so even though I respect the prowess of getting a roster of hot young girls, I feel like there is deep work and emotional intangibles that get avoided when you perpetually spin plates.

I can only market who I am: a deep thinker aiming for spiritual ascension through sacred intimacy. I view relationships as a vector for trauma release and healing; power is just a pit stop on the journey to uncover who you really are.

Which means whether a guy’s struggle is with meeting women, attracting them, keeping them, going to the “next level” in their relationships, or deciding whether to end the one they are in… I am ultimately dealing less with this individual’s external problem and more his INTERNAL one.

I am dealing with HIM and his emotional blocks. And my job is not simply to provide guidance through tried and tested practical approaches, but to unravel the labyrinth of toxic beliefs that are stopping him from getting what he wants.

This work is frankly above most guys heads. Most men have no idea what “integration” or half the stuff I talk about means. When I dive into nuance I lose them. They want me to stick with platitudes like “sluts bad” or “alpha good.” This is not to say I cannot do a better job of communicating more clearly, or speaking to those at a lower level of understanding, but fundamentally the people who appreciate what I do are HIGH IQ and HIGH CONSCIOUSNESS. Half my clients are over 130IQ (top 2%) and essentially all of them above 115 (top 16%). Many are in the genius category.

These individuals may have “power center” issues or they might not — a significant number are already worth many millions and can get hot girls; they don’t care about such things anymore. But what they *all* have in common they have sophisticated questions they want answered, and they know I am one of the few who can answer them — because I am one of the few who can even speak to their existence.

It is thus unlikely I will ever develop mass market appeal.

Which means my marketing will always be necessarily less aggressive — more pull than push — because my business is more “niche” and exclusive. My coaching is a luxury, designed for elite and elite-aspiring men who need someone as smart as them to help with one of the few issues they cannot solve:

Women.

If you are such a man with such a conundrum, apply here: www.patstedman.com/application

– Pat