I’ve had an idea that could help your business in multiple ways. It’s an unreasonable idea. Yes, I know that sounds weird.

Allow me to explain.

If a product or service is only reasonably good, it’s nothing special. It’s just okay. It’s certainly not good enough to motivate people to buy from you, hire you or tell all their friends about you.

This got me thinking

The opposite of reasonable is unreasonable.

So… what if someone decided to embrace an unreasonable mindset to their business and the services they provide?

I believe it could lead to massive improvements, across their whole business. Here are just a few examples of what an unreasonable approach might look like.

The business owner could choose to:

• Be unreasonably committed to customer service and the happiness of their clients.
• Show unreasonable persistence, when it comes to keeping their promises.
• Have an unreasonable attitude to life-long-learning.
• Set the bar unreasonably high, on the quality of work they’re willing to ship. [This will help you get it right]
• Have an unreasonable passion for helping others to succeed.

Any business operating from that kind of unreasonable mindset, is going to get noticed. They’re going to retain their clients for longer, too. And yes, they’re going to give their clients and their marketplace something to tell their friends about.

If being reasonable isn’t working for you, you now have an unreasonable alternative to consider.

Lawrence from New Jersey emailed me with a great question. He wanted to know why I don’t provide any step-by-step marketing guides.

Here’s my answer. It contains an exceptionally valuable marketing tip, which I hope you find useful.

The thing about cookie cutters

Cookie cutters are extremely effective when you’re making cookies. They let you produce lots of identical looking cookies, very fast.

Conversely, a cookie cutter approach to marketing is of very little value.

Why?

Because by using the same marketing approach as your competitors, your marketing becomes identical to theirs. You become camouflaged. This makes it very, very hard for prospective clients to find you. And when they do find you, you’ll seem way too similar to your competitors, so there’s no reason to contact you. Oh, and if they do contact you, they’ll be price sensitive.

Throwing away the cookie cutter

Successful marketing is about standing out. It’s about being noticed by the right people and giving them a compelling reason to hire you or buy from you. And for that you need an individual approach.

• You need marketing that sets you apart from your competition, so you are the one who gets hired.
• You need marketing that gets you noticed for all the right reasons, by all the right people.
• You need marketing that’s specific to you; your unique business, your unique situation and your unique goals.

However.

The marketing guides available via blogs, websites, seminars, webinars, and books, etc., are designed to be used by a wide range of business owners. This means you end up with the same generic marketing ideas as everyone else.

That’s the recipe for how to be ignored! It’s also the total opposite of what you need. And it explains why I don’t provide step-by-step guides.

Instead, I strive to encourage you to stand out. To get specific. To take your marketing seriously. Because that’s the only way to get the attention you need, the sales you need and the results you need.

It’s tough being a service provider these days. There are so many of us in every industry. Not only that, a prospective client can find lower priced alternatives, on Google, in seconds.

With so many competitors, what can we do?

• We could try and out spend them on advertising. Of course, this eats into our profit margins.
• We could try being the lowest priced. Of course, this almost eliminates our profits completely.
• We could try joining a networking group. Of course, this too is costly. Plus, we’d be relying on fellow group members to provide us with leads… the very same people who need to attend the group because they can’t even muster enough leads for their own businesses.

There are better alternatives though. One approach that works extremely well is to become number one, in a category of one.

Allow me to explain: If you’re an accountant, who works exclusively with creative professionals, you’re number one in a category of one.

• The fact you understand their profession at a super-deep level, sets you apart from the rest.
• The fact you understand their terminology and speak their language, sets you apart from the rest.
• The fact you understand their unique requirements, sets you apart from the rest.
• The fact you understand the creative mindset, sets you apart from the rest.

It’s hard to think of a service provider, who couldn’t transition themselves into being number one in a category of one. Yes. Including you.

Today, I have a quick, yet really effective marketing idea to share with you. It’s simply this:

Success comes to the business owners, consultants, freelancers and trainers, who embrace the edges.

Allow me to explain what this means for you and your business.

Why it pays to embrace the edges

Clients will eagerly hire you if your service is measurably better than the competition. The best providers are few in number. They are always in demand. This means they earn the best fees.

Other clients will buy from you if you’re cheaper than the competition. If you know how to scale your business correctly for the low price model, you can make a fortune. And many business owners have.

Some clients will eagerly hire you if your service is measurably faster than the competition. The fastest providers in some industries are always in demand. The 2 hour dry cleaner. The express delivery service. Providers like these are always busy and can charge more, because they solve a problem fast.

1. Better.
2. Lower priced.
3. Faster.

Did you notice what those 3 all have in common?

They avoid the middle ground

Most business owners choose to cling to the middle ground. They’re neither better or lower priced or faster. And as a direct result, they make it impossible to grow their business in any meaningful way.

Impossible?

Think about it: There’s nothing to motivate a prospective client to hire a middle ground provider. Nothing. They’re just average. Average and immediately forgettable. Average and unremarkable. And it’s spectacularly hard, if not impossible, to succeed in an average, forgettable, unremarkable business.

A far, far better approach

One of the first things I do when I work with a new client, is to show them how to get their business from the middle ground to the edge. Once we have done this, we have a massively more motivating proposition for their marketplace. It becomes far easier for us to market their services. Plus, because they’ve chosen an edge, my clients also attract a regular flow of referrals and recommendations.

So, they no longer struggle to attract clients or customers. Instead, they become a magnet to those who value the edge they have chosen to embrace. I recommend you do the same with your business, my friend.

Every one of us needs to intentionally decide where we position our business. I strongly recommend you embrace the edges… and avoid the overcrowded, unremarkable middle.

Tip: This will help you get it right.

Today, I’d like to share with you, one of the most valuable lessons in business. It comes from an unusual source: Andy Warhol. And it starts with a quick look at the story behind his masterpiece, Campbell’s Soup Cans!

Here’s the story!

When Warhol’s collection was first exhibited in 1962, very few people attended. The exhibit was arranged by West Coast art dealer, Irving Blum. It was Warhol’s first solo exhibition.

Those who attended the exhibition at the Ferus Gallery either made fun of the art, dismissed it or ignored it. Very little art was sold. It was a huge failure.

Blum decided to buy the Campbell’s Soup Cans canvasses. He paid Warhol $100 a month for 10 months. Just $1000. Though many believed it was $1000 more than they were worth.

Of course, despite his disastrous, first solo exhibition, Warhol refused to quit. He kept on creating his art. He also kept on hustling (getting his art in front of people), believing that if the right people saw it, they’d see it for what it was. Art that would change the landscape for ever.

Here’s what happened.

Warhol hustled

He worked hard. Damn hard.

Instead of working from a studio like every other artist, he worked from what he called The Factory. This was a very deliberate strategy. He created as much art as he could and took every opportunity to showcase his work.

As you know, his belief and hustling finally paid off. Warhol became one of the most important names in art of the 20th century and his work is even more valued today.

Irving Blum’s $1000 investment in the Campbell’s Soup Cans, which people laughed at, was sold to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1996 for $15MILLION.

This was seen partly as a gift from Irving Blum, as the art is valued at well over $100MILLION.

Warhol without the hustle?

Without hustling, there would have been no Andy Warhol. Certainly not the internationally respected artistic genius we know today.

• Had Warhol decided to quit after his initial, disastrous exhibitions, a genius would never have flourished. At that time, he was being rejected by his peers and his work was being insulted.
• Had Warhol created the same great art, but refused to work hard promoting it, both he and his art would have remained undiscovered.

Instead, Warhol hustled. Creating and promoting great art.

Business without the hustle

How many great business owners have worked hard without recognition, because they failed to promote their work correctly? How many business owners reading this post, are struggling because too few people know how amazing their products or services are? How many business owners are not putting their ideas into action, because they allow fear of failure or ridicule to stop them?

I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is that some amazing people, providing great products and services, fail to get the rewards they deserve. Why? Because unlike Warhol (Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Walt Disney and every successful business owner in your area), they resist the hustle.

Instead of doing 100% of what’s required, they do 100% of the things they’re comfortable with.

They fear the idea of marketing their work correctly. So, in one of the fastest-changing economies in living memory, they dabble. They refuse to do what’s required, opting instead to stay in their comfort zone and do what’s familiar – even though it’s failing them. I find that fascinating.

There’s a proven, better way.

Embrace the work. ALL the work!

The alternative is simple. By simple, I mean everyone reading this can do it. Anyone reading this can turn an average business into a successful business or turn a successful business into an even more successful one.

So long as… you embrace all the work required in order to succeed.

This means changing things. You can’t improve without change. It means giving your business 100%. It means working hard and working smart. It also means doing work worthy of you and hustling the value you bring, so people get to know how amazing you and your business are.

You can do it. How do I know? Because I see my clients doing it every day. And it’s easier and massively more rewarding, than suffering with the stress and frustration of an under-performing business.

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