Remember back in high school when you wanted to be like all the other kids, especially the popular ones. You may have tried your best to be like them because being different meant potentially being ostracized.
Fast forward to adulthood. If you want to excel as a small business owner, you need to RUN as fast as you can from your fears of being different, leave them in the dust of conformity, or if that doesn’t work, turn around and yell, “Get out of my life memories!” high school to feel different!” Flaunt what is most unique about you, your personality and/or your business because trying to be like everyone else can hurt your business.
Because?
Because potential customers aren’t buying your service or product, they’re buying your difference.
The next time you visit a potential supplier’s website, participate in a networking event or read a newsletter you signed up for to try to tune in to the differences. Are they obvious or not so obvious? Is your own difference obvious or not so obvious?
Think about how you make your own business decisions. Do you base your buying decisions on price or speed or something less quantifiable like personality? And when you recommend someone you’ve worked with to someone else, how do you describe that person?
If you start to examine your own behavior, it will help you to examine the behavior of potential customers.
Equality just doesn’t work in the small business world!