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[Tim]

Amen to all that.

I notice that I don't feel the same attachment and loyalty to this site that I felt with your site in the past, even if I agree with the direction and thinking more than ever.

I think you don't have to be a big part of the brand to succeed, but I think you can be. Strong personalities have created brands entirely around themselves, and that's something I believe you can do. The challenge for you is to not build up yourself in some mythical, unaccessible way, because that's exactly what your content is against; idolization of people and of a certain way of living. I know you don't want this for yourself, and you wouldn't aim to do it, and that's what is challenging. Big personalities (Trump, Steve Jobs, almost every sports/pop star ever, even the PUA crowd, etc) have been willing or aimed to achieve legendary status to build their company up. Not doing that is going to be a handicap, but it's also going to make what you're doing genuine and more effective. Bringing other writers though? That seems to me to be a bit of a must. Your company has to grow beyond you at some stage, even if you're it's CEO, because otherwise you'll be CEO of nobody.

I think the world is getting more and more ready for real dating and life advice, and for real people who deliver it. Sometimes I wonder about this, and think about whether people are always going to look for the shortcut in life; whether it's for getting a six pack, or getting girls, and whether it's not possible to become huge without giving people that shortcut. But then I also think of what Tyler Durden says in Fight Club: "We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

I think as the digital ages advances, and more and more people are forced to confront the reality that they will never become famous, or rich, or incredible casanovas, they're going to become incredibly disillusioned by the inauthentic, and turn strongly against it. And they're going to listen to those who give them the real answers. If you look at how strongly ex-PUA guys distance themselves from the PUA community (including myself), you can see how people react when they realise they've been lied to. I think that's going to become more and more common over time.

What I'd do is get amongst the kind of guys you'd like to have as customers who have no affiliation with PUA or this site and just spend some time around them. Try and figure out what motivates them to make changes in their life, and how their thinking process works when seeking out advice. I think you can't put it into a clear and coherent package yet because something like that takes a hell of a lot of time. It was more obvious when you were on your big voyage of self-discovery and improvement, and you had an excellent start by working to disprove so much of what PUA said (not consciously at first, it just turned out like that). Now you're reaching closer to what you want to say, but it's how you say it that's eluding you. What's going to work is something that allows the more casual reader/user to become a part of this, and fulfill specific needs (which is why splitting the G3 up should ultimately prove to be a good option). Many of them will become involved beyond that, which is how you're going to get a big and active forum going, but most people aren't going to be interested beyond a certain point. It's figuring out how to include those people that I think you need to consider next.

I don't think you should be in any rush either; just take the time you need to work this stuff out. Maybe settling down somewhere and building a life for yourself in one place for a while might help, because you'll be able to watch people more closely, and get some real insight into the minds of people for whom life is a very different sort of journey than yours. Anyway, just my thoughts. For now.