There’s nothing wrong with being different. The fact is. If you do what others do (following the crowd) you’ll simply end up getting the same thing they do. Being different is a very valuable thing.
You won’t gain anything by being boring, plain & vanilla or by trying to please everyone. Trying to please everyone is impossible & attempting to fit into the crowd will get you nothing but access to a crowded market.
The goal is to create your own crowd by being different & creating your own philosophy to share with them.
Your philosophy is made up of your strongly held beliefs & opinions. It’s your take on a subject close to your heart in business, the environment or some other cause personal to you. And it doesn’t have to appeal to everyone.
Sea Shepherd CEO Captain Paul Watson philosophy is to end the destruction of habitats and illegal killing of wildlife around the UK’s coastline and across the world’s oceans, in order to conserve and protect marine ecosystems and species. And he feels so strongly about it, he’ll do it with brute force if necessary. Not everyone believes in his approach. But enough do (his crowd) for him to maintain his rebel fleet of ships.
Mark Zuckerberg has a philosophy that the world should be more open & connected. And believes privacy is dead (GDPR may make him re-think this one). His aim though, is to connect the whole world & this philosophy drives his business decisions. And also attracts billions (2.23 billion at the last count) of members into his Facebook crowd.
Angelina Jolie has been voted the worlds most admired woman for 2018 in a recent YouGov survey. Angelina has a particular philosophy to acting, which is to stay in part for the duration of the filming, taking on the full characteristics of her characters. This has allowed her to become one of the best actors, create her own crowd & get paid millions for each film. More recently Angelina has developed a philosophy around children’s education & protecting the interests of child immigrants. And is an advocate for human rights in developing countries. And Angelina’s public profile has changed from an image of a ‘wild child’ to a more positive image attracting a much bigger & diverse crowd.
Our philosophy is to change the current negative perception of the managed print service & telephone system industry in Lancashire & Greater Manchester. From dodgy rogue traders who rip off organisations through deceptive terms & conditions. To it being honest, transparent, with simple terms, easy termination and guaranteed prices. And we’re building our own crowd by being different. You might even say radical. Yes, in our industry being honest, transparent, guaranteeing prices, making things simple & being easy to do business with is very radical indeed.
When you develop a clear philosophy & put it out to the world, you’ll begin to create your own market (crowd). Not everyone will agree with you (rogue traders won’t agree with us). But enough will & enable you to build your own market outside of the boring, plain & vanilla crowded one.
Be warned. If you have no philosophy you appear bland and like every other supplier in the market. And you’re back being seen the same as every other marketplace supplier, competing against them on the only thing left. Price.
Whats your philosophy? What are your strongly held beliefs? What do you stand for? What change do you want to make happen? What makes you different?
