What Sets You Apart?
As an entrepreneur, it doesn’t get more frustrating than knowing you have something valuable to offer the marketplace, yet you’re unable to cut through the competition and get your product in front of customers. If this resonates with you, then you need to spend some time focusing on who you are, what you’re offering, and how you can differentiate your services.
4 Ways to Differentiate Yourself
Differentiating yourself is a must in the business world. Whether you’re self-employed or work for a large company, there are ways to set yourself apart. Here are a few suggestions:
- Offer Something Unique
If you want to differentiate yourself, you need to set yourself apart and offer something that nobody else offers. When you can put yourself in front of a prospective client and say, “I do X, Y, and Z, while the competition simply does X,” how is that not compelling?
As an example, check out realtors Geoff and Andrea Lilienfeld of The Kay-Grant Group. They set themselves apart from other realtors in the Scottsdale market by providing aggressive marketing and additional services that part-time agents can’t offer clients – such as home staging, professional photography, copywriters, and videographers. You may not be a realtor, but what’s something you can do to add value to your core product offering?
- Be Okay With Failing
Failure is something we all experience. Some failures are worse than others, but they all sting. If you want to differentiate yourself, you have to be willing to accept that your risk of failure will increase. Once you come to terms with the fact that failure is always a possibility, you can focus on succeeding.
- Invest in Yourself
There’s a common misconception among many entrepreneurs that once you get a taste of success, you’re able to sit back and wait for more. This isn’t usually the case, though. In order to continue being successful, you have to invest in yourself and keep learning.
As entrepreneur Joe Van Brussel explains, “Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, started off with a small student magazine, before eventually growing a string of record stores, a music label, an airline, and now even a commercial spaceflight company. Rather than becoming an expert in one area, he continued to learn and adapt throughout his life.”
- Always Be Hands-On
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur who stands out among the competition, you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty from time to time. In other words, you have to be hands-on.
“In essence, they’re inherently proactive and are mindful of when certain things need to get done, and, therefore, they often do it themselves,” Emerge212 points out. “They view their businesses as extensions of who they are and like to play an integral role in the day-to-day operations of their businesses even once they’ve reached a place where they no longer have to.”
Stop Blending In
In many areas of life, the goal is simply to blend in and avoid making a scene. You just want to continue on with your life and not bring undue attention to yourself. But in your professional life, it’s dangerous to take this approach. Laying low and blending in will ultimately hamper your growth and severely limit the opportunities you have to be successful.
In this article, we discussed a handful of practical ways you can differentiate your personal brand, as well as the products and services you sell. Instead of biting off more than you can chew, take one or two of these suggestions and implement them into your daily routine. Before long, you’ll start to notice a new identity emerging – an identity that stands out from the crowd.
