It’s human nature to want people to like us. We want to get along. We want to fit in. We don’t want to rock the boat. It helps us survive so we don’t get ostracized from our community.
But we can take this idea of “fitting in” too far.
Music producer Rick Rubin said, “The best art divides the audience.” It’s true in business too. If you just blend in and offer plain vanilla, you’ll get a few clients just by being in the right place at the right time. But if you do things differently, if you “invert” as Charlie Munger has said, you’ll stand out and give people a reason to connect with you.
Whatever you do to stand out or “invert,” you’ll attract a group of super fans who love what you do or say. You’ll also create a group of people who have no interest in what you are doing. And that’s fine.
Every time I send out my weekly GTK email letter, (free registration here) I get a few responses from people who love and appreciate what I wrote (thank you!). I also get a few unsubscribes and they typically say they’re “no longer interested.” And occasionally they’ll unsubscribe and call my work “spammy.”
While I never like to get an unsubscribe, I always say to myself, “They were never going to become clients anyway.”
Here’s the key for you…
You need to get a reaction from people.
I’m not saying you should just spout off nonsense to get noticed. Not at all. Instead, I’m talking about doing things differently that will attract your ideal audience. And if you repel a certain group of people along the way, that’s okay. They were never going to become clients anyway.
By delivering a clearly differentiated offering, you’ll give potential clients a simple, binary choice. There’s you and then there’s everybody else. And if you’ve structured it well for your ideal audience, you’ll win the vast majority of those opportunities.
