Be Different or be dead

October 30, 2017

3 simple questions to ask to make your startup a winner

Source: Unsplash

3 simple questions to ask to make your startup a winner.

So you have an awesome idea for a new business. You think you can make a difference in the world and make tons of money like some others before you have. How should you proceed?

What do you have to do to turn your ‘brave idea’ into a ‘crude deed’?

First you need to know that the odds that you will succeed in the long run are not that great. Many studies conclude the same thing, that around 30 percent of new businesses make it to 2 years while only half are still around after 5 years.

The herd of losers is HUGE and growing.

Why do so many die?

- Economies throughout the world are volatile and unpredictable;

- Competition is super intense; new competitors enter markets at a blistering rate;

- New technology rains down relentlessly disrupting the flow of plans;

- Markets are cluttered with sameness; products and services are undifferentiated and competitive claims are lost in the crowd;

- Customers are more empowered than ever before, establishing relationships with suppliers that deliver distinctive solutions and ignoring those that don’t.

What do the survivors look like?

Those that are able to survive and win are different from their competitors.

They survive the scrutiny of the discriminating customer by providing relevant, compelling value that is unmatched by their competitors.

Those that have no distinctive identity simply don’t make it.

They die.

Answer these 3 questions and discover how you can beat the odds of long term success.

Q1. Why do many companies who have been around a while fail?

a) They cease being relevant to their customers ✅

b) They don’t advertise enough

c) Their cost structure is too high

d) Their revenues decline

They get too smug and comfortable and take their existing customers for granted.

Survivors remain relevant and invest substantial resources to stay there.

When you are up and running, never feel entitled to your current revenue stream. You have to go out and earn it every day!

Q2. What is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when starting a new business?

a) They fail to attract great sales people

b) They don’t advertise enough

c) They don’t test their idea with potential customers

d) Their business idea is not different from their competition in a way people care about ✅

Your idea must resonate with people; it must address something they care about and it must be different than anything else out there.

It’s not about gee-whiz technology and all the cool things it can do.

It’s more about captivating someone with what they can do ‘with your thing’ and that they can ONLY get it from you.

Don’t launch your new idea until it passes this test.

Q3. What is the most critical thing to look for in recruiting people to join your team?

a) The innate desire to serve other people ✅

b) Social media expertise

c) Technology skills

d) A powerful personal network

The other attributes are important, but at the end of the day successful business is about building relationships with, and caring about other people.

Ensure that the individuals you recruit have demonstrated skills and experience in helping their fellow human beings. That’s what drives amazing customer service which is a key differentiator.

Change the world by being the ONLY one that does what you do with people that love human beings.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 10.30.17 at 03:10 am by Roy Osing
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October 23, 2017

Why your career will skyrocket if you are ‘the only one’

Source: Pexels

Why your career will skyrocket if you’re ‘the only one’.

“There is only one” is the answer every person should covet when someone asks a question about anything.

— “Who is the right choice for this position?”

— “Who has the highest leadership potential of all our managers?”

— “Who shall we ask to lead the team charged with bringing our new product to market?”

You want the answer to be “There is only one choice” - and that is you.

You want the choice to be crystal clear; a no brainer to those asked to consider the answer to the question.

How do you position yourself to be the only one when the number of contenders for any one opportunity is huge. There is so much competition for anything, it’s almost unimaginable that one person can get tagged as being the obvious choice.

But it happens.

What do these individuals do to make themselves “the only one”?

First of all, they done get to that position through serendipity; it doesn’t just happen; it’s not a fluke.

They achieve this exalted only position by creating and successfully executing a strategy to be different from everyone else in a relevant way in their area of specialty.

These six actions are crucial to their strategy.

#1. They meticulously understand their competition and how each of them approaches a task or assignment. They study their approach to solving problems and how they go about seeking approval for what they’ve done.

Their competitors provide the baseline behaviour to be different from. Typically most of the competition use common tools like copying what others do and also following what the pundits espouse as the ‘right’ thing to do which serves as an opportunity for differentiation.

#2. They have mentors who have excelled in getting things done in the trenches. They have a powerful brand among their peers as someone who is motivated to continually ‘try stuff’ until they eventually land on a winner.

Executing gains more currency and credibility in an organization than intellectualizing and assessing the most appropriate course of action to take.

#3. They question “We’ve always done things this way” — a great way to define why you are, but not particularly relevant to defining what you need to be. “Only ones” never assume the past is particularly relevant to moving forward in chaotic times.

They constantly advocate assessing current projects and activities to ensure they continue to be relevant to the direction of the organization, and are quick to put up their hands to say cut the CRAP if they’re not.

#4. They are contrarian by nature and attempt a 180 to what most others do. Their natural inclination is to beg the question “What if we did it in exactly the opposite way?” and see what result can be achieved.
“How can I do this differently?” is foremost in their mind; it is involuntary response and governs everything they do - they always look for a way to add their personal twist.

#5. They find the idea of benchmarking and best practices repugnant. You can’t be the only one if you rely on copying others as your modus operandi; they get this. They understand that all copying achieves is to increase the size of the sameness herd who all look alike and are indistinguishable from one another.

#6. They have their sights on their next move. They know exactly what position they want and when they would like the opportunity to get it. This targeting is critical in terms of positioning and the priority of the issues to engage in.
If, for example, one covets the Director Marketing role, displaying ‘only one’ tactics are more productively applied to marketing, sales and business strategy projects than others.

Being ‘the only one’ is the ticket to success if you are looking for a way to standout from others; these 6 actions will pave the way.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 10.23.17 at 03:46 am by Roy Osing
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October 2, 2017

11 easy ways to lose yourself in the boring crowd

11 easy ways to lose yourself in the boring crowd.

More successful careers go to those individuals who are able to differentiate themselves from their peers; to have a ‘specialness’ about them that draws attention.
And their differences generally gets them more opportunities and personal rewards.

But my experience is that many people without knowing find themselves getting ‘sucked in’ to the crowd rather than focusing energy on moving away from it.
The crowd is a mass of people who all look the same. They are indistinguishable from one another. They are all conformists to a standard set of rules, whether they be in business or in personal life.

They are not individuals, but rather express the lowest common denominator of the mass they are embedded in;

They are all average. They look like everyone else. They blend in with general values;

It is safe in the crowd. You get to hide out and avoid exposure and recognition. There is safety in numbers particularly when every digit is the mirror image of the next;

It’s warm. Heat, lots of body heat. Everyone is close to one another; existing in each other’s personal space. Body heat transfer through conduction and convection is alive and well here;

It’s stress-free. You never have to be apprehensive about the direction to follow. Just follow the person in front of you; they obviously know where they are going;

It’s risk-free. By being like other members, you can feel confident that whatever you do won’t be noticed and therefore won’t attract criticism;

It’s consistent. There are few ups and downs; activity doesn’t vary much as crowd members are consumed with ‘the straight and narrow’ and perpetuating the momentum of yesterday.

If you find the following crowd attributes appealing, you may be unknowingly getting drawn in to it and push back is necessary.

▪️Look at what the most popular person is doing and copy them. Emulation is the key behavior to exhibit if you want to bury yourself in the crowd.If you are inclined to be different, you’re not a crowd qualifier;

▪️Determine the really important rules and always obey them. Conformance is critical to survive in the crowd;

▪️Never do anything to draw attention to yourself; you want to go unnoticed;

▪️Don’t ask questions; challenging the status quo is unforgivable;

▪️Never challenge an idea or point of view. It’s very important to support your fellow ‘crowdsters’;

▪️Avoid reading new stuff. This will only fuel the desire to try new things or offer a different perspective on things. Unacceptable!

▪️Never hang out with crazy people. These people are outside the crowd and you can’t give the impression that you are looking for more than the crowd can offer;

▪️Some advocate weirdness as a value they covet in people. Don’t go there. Weirdness = fun and nonconformity. Reread No. 2. It’s verboten;

▪️Talk the way everyone else talks. Don’t invent your own words. Cool sayings must be muted. They are the tip of the stand-out iceberg and will freak out fellow crowd members (and draw attention to you and get you kicked out of the crowd);

▪️Take sh** from anyone who offers it. Another key requirement of blending in. You must let anything thrown your way stick. Turn the other cheek and ask for more;

▪️Always say ‘yes’. Make it your answer to everything even if you’re not asked a question;

I guarantee that if you find yourself doing anything on this list of 11, you run the risk of being a bonafide player in the crowd with many years of slipstreaming others ahead of you.

And career rewards will elude you.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 10.2.17 at 03:22 am by Roy Osing
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