"First, your competitors / enemies / adversaries ignore you. If everyone else also ignores you, then you die. If others pay attention to you, then your adversaries laugh at you. If your followers still take you seriously, then you keep living. That makes your adversaries mad, so they fight you. If you can withstand the legal and physical challenges of being fought by someone with deeper pockets or more weapons, then you keep living. If you still have the resources and support to continue, then you win. A sure victory with the peril of a thousand deaths."