First of all – I don’t believe in competition.
Seriously, I don’t.
When I look at the successful digital entrepreneurs, big or small, I can’t not see anyone rivaling them. They are like uniquely self-crafted artworks – one-of-kinds that stand out in the dark oceans of mediocrity.
Tell me. Who’s the competition of…
Seth Godin ?
Ashley Ambirge ?
Gary Vaynerchuk ?
Chris Guillebeau ?
Vivienne Westwood ?
Ze Frank ?
I can’t tell you. You probably can’t either. And that’s because those luminaries decided to walk a different path – a path more dangerous, daring and eventually more fulfilling.
A path where competition is nothing but a filthy imprint from a past life.
It’s only average people creating average work that have to fear competition.
Competition is for average people.
Burn this into your membrane. Turn it into a morning mantra. Whatever you do with it, remember the it’s meaning.
Time to crush your competition.
How to become the shining signal in a dark ocean of me-too ness.
(or “how to really set yourself apart from your competition”)
1) Own a remarkable mindset.
Seriously – the mindset is where your incredible journey begins. All the successful people I know started out crappy – they had below-average skills and ugly products (both physical and digital) that made blind kids cry.
But you know what ? They ALL had a remarkable mindset – so, no matter how much they sucked in the beginning, they knew they were going to blow people away eventually .
This mindset married to pure trial and error enabled them to create OUTSTANDING work later on.
So, if you are producing shit right now that lacks the “special something” you want it to have, don’t hang yourself yet. Tell yourself that you are going to create remarkable work, and I promise you, one fine day, you will.
2) Personalize it up
Unless you are a boring-ass, 1 dimensional cardboard character from a 8Bit video game, this should be a fairly doable thing for you.
Some of the most successful products in the world own that special, personal touch.
- A Seth Godin book feels like Seth Godin. You can sense his belief, his personality between the lines.
- A digital 37 Signals service represents the founder’s beliefs – producing uncompromisingly simple, useful services that are proudly priced.
- A drawing from Marc Johns is so unique…and Marc Johns-like, you expect the artist to jump right of the artwork.
How much YOU can you bring into your work ? No matter if it’s a physical product or a book, how can you personalize it in a way that’s not copyable ?
3) Sell experiences, not products.
Good old capitalism has quenched our thirst for purely benefits & feature based products. The unofficial theme for the 21st century is MEANING, and selling products that convey a meaning.
A Mercedes Benz is not getting you better to point B than a Volkswagen, but then again, you don’t buy a Benz because it’s such a grrreat transportation device. It’s the elite, classy vibe that makes people buy exorbitant prices for that thing. People pay for experiences.
I want my people to feel inspired and FIRED-UP when they buy my works and services. The Mars Dorian experience is one that hopefully sets your ass on fire and makes you live and work on your own terms ! I want to be the dynamite between your ass-cheeks:
Whenever you want to sit down and play it safe, I explode and blow you into your self-dominated destiny.
Ahh, enough. You get what I mean.
Ask yourself: What kind of feeling/experience do you want people to have when they connect with your brand ? Find it out and infuse that meaning into every work you’ll create from now on.
4) Invent your own style.
The best style in the world is the one you invent yourself. Booya.
Seth Godin AGAIN is a prime example: He either coined new words or used “old” ones in a brand new way: Idea virus, remarkablize, linchpin, being in the dip and etchcrafting are just a small part of Godin’s self-made dictionary.
I use many styles and words myself – from epicness, to white magic, digital crusader etc.
There’s a whole new style that mixes inspiration/advice with cool, edgy artworks, and that’s further developing the uniqueness of my brand.
Every time someone “uses” an idea that you coined, it’s free marketing for your (personal) brand.
5) Don’t become the best in the world in what you do. Become the only one in the world who does what you do.
This seems to be an epic, almost-impossible-to-reach goal, but it’s simpler (but not easier!) than you think !
Like I said - I’m moving more into the “artistic” direction with iluvempire.com, trying to create a whole new career that combines digital entrepreneurship with comic-styled graphics.
Lots of people believe you have to be the best in the world in what you do , but frankly, that’s something difficult to measure. And even if you are – it’s going to be a constant battle.
Because being the best still implies that you are competing with someone else – you have to hustle your ass off in order to stay in the game.
Rather deliver a unique experience that no one delivers – for example by mixing two normally UNRELATED topics AND THEN adding your super-stoopa-style :
Gapingvoid = cartooning + marketing
Ashley Ambirge = Personal stories & ranting + digital entrepreneurship
Chris Guillebeau = Traveling + writing
Question:
Don’t act like a me-too commodity. What can you do to create a remarkable experiences that VAPORIZES the definition of competition ?
Share this idea with your kommunity ;)
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