You Don’t Become A Hero By Being Like Everybody Else
- September 14, 2014
- Posted by: Rochelle
- Category: Brand + Design, Personal Brand
If you’ve ever struggled to differentiate yourself from a sea of competitors, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.
You can’t be the hero—with the game-changing idea, the big platform, the success you crave—if your audience can’t see you in the crowd.
Take my client “Frank” who wrote his first book with a co-author and sold a few thousand copies. They kept their day jobs and wrote a second, better received, but still quietly selling book. They did the occasional speech for $500 a pop and hungered for a bigger audience.
Or “Sally” who kept attracting broke and tortured clients who simply couldn’t get their act together to hire her to fix their desperate situations. She longed to love her work again—and to serve clients who were building something that resonated with her values.
Or “Anne” who had a big idea, but wasn’t sure how to put it out into the world. Who was she to be thinking so big? And so her practice grew in bits and bites instead of leaps and bounds while she experimented with her services and prices and client base.
Sound familiar?
It wasn’t a question of talent. Or smarts. Or passion. Frank, Sally and Anne had those in spades.
It was how they positioned themselves.
What they told their clients, their audiences and themselves.
They didn’t have their hero story.
Frank needed to start talking less about his research and more about how it changed the lives and work of his audience.
Sally had to muster the courage to focus exclusively on (and hone her message to) her sweet-spot audience—integrative health care practitioners.
Anne had to start leading with her big idea instead of sounding exactly like everyone else in her space.
Once they did that, the magic started. Frank steadily bumped up his speaking fees until 18 months later he was nabbing $15,000 a session AND his point of view is now firmly in the zeitgeist. Sally got four—count ‘em four—new prospective clients in the first WEEK after she revamped her message (and not a broke and tortured one amongst them). Anne got her first paid speaking request within days of putting her big idea front and center.
What if you could do the same thing for your work?
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It is never too late to learn or change. I am looking forward to September 24th. It is the day before Rosh Hashanah; so it is a good way to end one year and start another fresh.
Oh I like thinking of it that way Ed!
Interestingly, today I focused on perhaps re-writing that story for a client who I turned from project to retainer based on a hero story.
My takeaway: do not rest on your laurels. I advised a candidate for public office who faced tremendous pressure to attack his opponent – an incumbent; we refused; it was not in his DNA; he prevailed on primary day; result was not closed.
Looking forward to a big 9/24!
Fantastic result Corey–congrats to you!
Agree with your title.