Why You Dont Need To Be Original To Have a Business That Stands Out - When I Grow Up

Why You Dont Need To Be Original To Have a Business That Stands Out - When I Grow Up When I ask clients/friends/people on the street who let me talk to them what makes them amazeballs, I usually get a lot of hems/haws/feet shuffling. I also usually get, “Well, nothing special or anything….I mean, it’s not like I can do anything that anyone else can’t do.”   This is where steam comes out of my ears and my head explodes and my voice gets even louder than usual (the fact that I can’t get my voice lower than a 7 is part of my uniquity). I start talking about  The Creative Habit  and how, when Twyla  was listing her Five Big Fears, she had this to say under “Someone has done it before”: Honey, its all been done before. Nothings really original. Not Homer or Shakespeare or certainly not you. Get over yourself. I mean, think about the fact that pretty much everything we do falls under a certain genre: tap dancing is called Tap Dancing because it’s a certain type of dancing that’s established because so many people have done it before. Now, it’s not to say that you couldn’t create a new type of dancing â€" Sherfurffle Dancing, maybe? â€" but honestly, let’s take the pressure off here, people. Let me prove this to you by The Google Test. Type in creative career coach in Google and see what pops up  past the ads. Now open up the websites of everyone who shows up on the first page there should be 5 of us. As you click from tab to tab, ask yourself: whats this persons personal and professional experience? whats the tone of their copy? what are they using in their branding? how do they specifically make money? what marketing streams are they using? Youll come to see that theres rarely overlap here. Sure, maybe we all use a casual voice in our copywriting. Maybe our brand colors share a similar hue. Maybe were all on Instagram. But are we all the same? Are we even  mostly the same? Do you resonate with  everyone, or are their certain people you jive with and others you dont? Thats the beauty of branding and marketing based on your uniquity. When you put yourself out there authentically and really own your personal story, experience, quirks and skill set, you immediately stand out  and attract your right people. And you dont even need to grow a second head to do it! When someone immediately disowns what makes them stand out, I  usually hear: “But everyone can bake a great chocolate chip cookie from scratch!” “So-and-so already has a career as an interior designer who caters to college student, so there’s not room for me to do that, too!” “Sure, I can put together a killer outfit that’s runway-worthy, but it’s not like anyone’s gonna pay me for that!” This industry is so saturated, its not like I can be an expert here. I gotta tell ya, I can’t bake a great chocolate chip cookie from scratch or otherwise, there’s definitely more room in the dorm room decor field for 2 (or 20!) designers,  I did pay someone to help me put together killer outfits, and we all gotta start somewhere! So the next time you get asked what makes you special, you can dust off your cookie pan, your bunk bed design boards, and your Vogue-worthy ensembles, knowing that  your uniquity is, simply and easily, what makes you truly you.