The Major Benefits Of Being Unique In Business

The other day I was speaking with my marketing team about a new website for my true potential wealth adviser business.

Whilst we were looking for some design ideas, I realised that almost all of the true potential wealth adviser websites (about 500 of them) are practically identical!

They all have the same design and are saying the same sort of thing.

Needless to say, our industry (including me) isn’t the most creative when it comes to website designs… 

So this got me thinking about business in general and what really makes you stand out from the crowd.

At the end of the day, there will always be other people doing the same kind of thing as you, so you can either be bland and follow the herd, or be an individual and use your Unique Ability® to the full.

Unique Ability® is a brilliant concept developed by Dan Sullivan at Strategic Coach® as a way to highlight the areas you are amazing at. I’ll be referring to this several times throughout the blog so keep your eyes out for it!

Life is easier when you are you

The thing is, when you are you and being true to yourself, your life is so much easier in every way!

If you have to create a persona or become a different person to do business, you are just acting out someone else’s life, and one day, that act will slip. 

So the only thing you can be is genuine. Ultimately, there are over 7 billion people on this planet, but there isn’t anybody quite like you, so why not use that to your advantage?

There is enough for everybody

If you do, you will end up attracting enough people who will want to work with you because of YOU. They are your kind of people, who want to work with you because of who you are, so there shouldn’t ever be competition if you let your unique creation shine.

Just take a look at the UK alone. There are 65 million people living here, so regardless of what product you sell or what service you provide, there are enough people for any business to thrive, as long as you do it in your own unique way.

The dangers of being a copycat

Many new businesses out there that are just getting started are often told to follow what other successful people are doing and just copy them, but there is a big problem with that copycat strategy.

First off, there will be a LOT of things you cannot possibly see that are going on behind the scenes in that business that made it successful in the first place. 

By going online, watching TV or scrolling through social media, we are only getting a glimpse of success at an incredibly superficial level. We see the glamour, we see the success, but what we don’t see is the hard graft and years of trial and error that got those people there.

Don’t look at the overnight successes

Of course, there are those people who stumble into success, but they probably only make up about one or two per cent of all the successful businesses out there, so odds are, trying to copy someone like this isn’t going to be the best plan.

Remember, lightning never strikes in the same place twice, so there’s no point in standing in a field, arms outstretched, hoping for a miracle.

That’s the equivalent of your business plan being to buy a lottery ticket because Bob from Newbury hit it big last week!

Entrepreneurs build something unique 

To be a true entrepreneur, you have to build something yourself that you are passionate about and that is an extension of you and all your Unique Abilities®. That’s why people go out on their own and take all that risk!

Otherwise, you might as well go back to the 9–5 and help someone else grow their business. 

And you have to be realistic about it too. Most of the time, these people you see on social media or TV have actually done a LOT of work to get where they are in business. 

In this game, “get rich quick” doesn’t really exist. It’s more like “get rich slow”.

(Which is all the more reason why you have to be doing something that is true to yourself, your passion and your values.)

Copying someone is impossible

The thing is, copying someone and trying to build a replica of them and their business is virtually impossible. I have a very particular way of dealing with clients and speaking with people that can be considered a bit cheeky, but if someone else tried to do it, it probably wouldn’t come off in the same way.

That’s what makes me unique, and that’s part of the reason I have such a good relationship with my clients. 

So, you need to develop your uniqueness. It’s already there inside you and that’s what is going to make you stand out from everybody else. If you are authentic, genuine and caring, that will be the thing that your customers will gravitate towards.  

Of course, you need training, and you need to be learning skills, strategies and tactics from other people (which we will be covering in another blog), but if you are true to yourself, and let your Unique Abilities® and core values shine, everything else you do in business will become a hell of a lot easier. 

More to come next week.

P.S. You can also hear more from me on setting goals by tuning in to my podcast “Goals Do Come True”. Or if you are looking for a mentor and you are in financial services, feel free to get in touch with me at doug@dougbennett.co.uk and I will see if I can help.