Please, Just Be Different
I'm a relatively new entrepreneur. I started a consulting company and I've been reading as many books and articles as I can on successful consulting, presenting, social media, etc. I've learned an incredible amount of information in a very short amount of time. (Reading a book while exercising on the cross trainer is amazingly productive). In doing this research, one thing stands out above everything else.
Growing up as boy in New Jersey I never quite fit in. I was different. I could never put my finger on it. As I grew older I embraced it. I did a lot of things differently. For a while I had long hair and earrings (not the norm in the early 90s). When I graduated from college, I didn't go on any interviews or move into corporate America. Instead, I moved to Jackson Hole, WY to "live a little". It wasn't until two years after earning a degree from Florida State that I actually got a job for the local cellular phone company (in sales no less). I'm a typical "last born" child and have always gone my own way. And, it's proved to be extremely rewarding in my life.
As I enter entrepreneurial world, I'm confident this same mentality will serve me well. Why? I'm finding out that in the social media consulting business so many people seem to be doing the same thing. Many consulting t company websites have the same "call to action" such as offering a newsletter or downloaded freebie. Many of blogs I see provide the proverbial "Top 10 secrets to…" or "5 Things you need to know…" etc. Even many of the Power Point presentations I've seen seem to be completely unoriginal, filled with bullets points that are read verbatim, and carbon copies of other presentations that are filled with numbers, small font and lots of graphs.
I believe that in almost any business it takes focus and discipline to "keep it simple". It takes courage to be different and buck conventional wisdom. I think it takes a concentrated effort to be unique. It's often times easier to do what everyone else is doing. If they're doing it, it must work right? Maybe it is. However, the best thing I've learned so far is to "just be different dang it". Take a risk, try new things and do things differently than everybody else. Offer a different kind of call to action. Give a customer a different kind of experience than what they expect. Offer a different kind of solution for your client. I think the secret is offering a different "experience" to your customer or client. It's not the transaction, the product or the offering as much as it is the "experience" they have in working with you.
Here are some of my favorite examples of companies who bucked the trends:
• FedEx redefined the "snail mail" business model
• Deer Park made selling water in a bottle an incredibly profitable business
• Chic File focused on doing one thing and one thing only. Really, really good chicken sandwiches. Oh, and by the way, they are the only fast food restaurant that is closed on Sundays
Be real. Be genuine. Be transparent. If everyone is going left, go right and have fun doing so. Most of all, regardless of your profession, please, just be different!
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