Viral Super Spreader
The Most Powerful Force on Earth
Dear Permission to be Powerful reader,
I’m so frustrated.
I’ve spent years trying to solve one stupid little problem.
How do I get one person...
...to share my message with another?
It sounds so simple.
It isn’t.
Because this is how powerful ideas spread.
One person tells another.
Then that person tells two more.
One becomes two.
Two become four.
Four become eight.
Eight become sixteen.
Keep doubling…
And after just 32 rounds—
You’ve reached more than four billion people.
Meet the Viral Super Spreader.
A force that feeds itself.
Multiplies exponentially.
If you could create that effect reliably...
You could write a bestselling novel…
Raise millions for charity…
Build a billion-dollar company…
Win an election...
Start a religion...
Or start a war.
Suddenly, the world belongs to whoever figured out how ideas travel.
It’s happened over and over again.
ChatGPT reached one million users in five days.
It passed 100 million users in two months.
People didn’t stop at using ChatGPT.
They shared.
Posted screenshots.
Called friends and said:
“You need to see this.”
ChatGPT became a story people wanted to pass along.
Its users became the marketing.
The Blair Witch Project cost $60,000.
Yet, it made $250 million worldwide.
More than 4,000 times its original production budget.
Before the movie premiered, the producers planted fake evidence online...
Maybe those missing people were real.
People argued.
News covered it.
Friends told friends…
The story spread like wildfire.
That’s how a tiny indie movie became wildly profitable.
Curiosity spread from one person to the next.
Like a virus.
Then came the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Remember the summer of 2014?
Everyone was dumping buckets of ice water on themselves.
More than 17 million people participated.
Every participant became an evangelist.
Different products.
Different eras.
Same underlying mechanism:
Each had a reason for one person to tell another.
If you could reliably make your ideas spread like a virus…
You would possess one of the most powerful forces on Earth.
This isn’t an academic question for me.
This hits close to home.
I spent everything I had building my audience of 130,000.
While living in a Zen center.
As a housekeeper.
Dishwasher.
Groundskeeper.
Back-breaking work.
There’s no pay.
Yet, the work buys me something much more valuable.
Time.
A roof over my head.
Food.
Just enough stability that when the day’s work is over...
...I can come back to my room and build this publication.
Because I believe in it that much.
My body is exhausted.
It’s begging me for a break.
I have arthritis in my neck.
I can only live this way for so long before I collapse.
That’s why I’ve become obsessed with this question.
How does an idea spread?
Because if I can understand that...
Maybe one day this publication won’t depend entirely on me.
Think about it.
If you could reliably make one person tell another person...
...and then another...
...and then another...
You wouldn’t just sell more books.
You could launch a billion-dollar company.
Turn an unknown musician into a superstar.
Change what people buy.
What they believe.
Who they trust.
How they vote.
You could even destroy someone’s life.
That’s how frightening this force is.
Every political movement.
Fashion trend.
or conspiracy theory.
Every one of them...
...started as an idea.
Someone had a thought.
That thought entered someone else’s head.
Then another.
And another.
Eventually...
Millions of people began organizing their lives around it.
Because no matter how badly I want this publication to grow...
It never will...
If I’m the only person promoting it.
One guy typing in a tiny room at a Zen center...
Ain’t Gonna Cut It.
Now, I don’t know how to create a Viral Super Spreader…
But I’m going to attempt to create one anyway…
You knew this was coming.
I’m being as serious as a heart attack.
I need your help.
Yes, yours specifically…
Especially yours.
Forward this article to exactly one person.
Just one person.
And let's see if we can start something big.
Tony V.
Editor-in-Chief
Permission to be Powerful
Download This Article:
Read Chapter One Today.
Hell & Paradise is my brand-new serialized memoir.
Join for just $1 and start reading immediately.
A new chapter is released every month.
advertisement:
One Day You Might Wake Up in Bora Bora — for Free
Inside the Vacation Vault, you’ll discover new vacation giveaways, luxury escapes, and dream-worthy destinations from around the world.
Past destinations include:
🇲🇻 The Maldives…
🇭🇺 Budapest…
🇪🇸 Madrid…
🇨🇷 Costa Rica…
🇮🇩 Bali…
🇮🇹 Italy…
🇲🇽 Cancun…
🇪🇨 The Galápagos Islands, and more.
These are real opportunities for you to win a free vacation.
Organized and curated for you.
Here’s what you’ll get:
The Vacation Vault
🌴Discover vacations that could be yours for free.
🏖️ New vacation opportunities added regularly