In today’s noisy world, the only way to rise to the top in life and business is to stand out.
They say that starting a restaurant is a grueling business, not only because of the costs and lack of scalability but for its lack of differentiability.
Whenever we start anything — a business, podcast, film — there needs to be a reason our potential customers or audience will choose us over the thousands of options they have available.
Standing out is always easier said than done because it’s the million-dollar secret for any successful business, creative venture, or job seeker.
This video discusses the key ways you can stand out in life and business — no matter what you’re doing or your goals.
1. Share openly
One of the world’s best photographers, Chase Jarvis, stood out in the highly competitive landscape by sharing his work openly.
This may seem like common practice today, but giving away your secrets was a big no-no in the world of photography when Chase first started.
This concept of sharing to differentiate yourself created an entirely new segment of marketing called content marketing, where you give value to your audience in the form of text, image, audio, or video content, building up brand equity and audience loyalty.
2. Add more value than you receive
Tony Robbins often says that if you want to increase your income, focus on delivering more value than anyone else.
Think about this in your own life and business. Are you doing more than expected, or are you just getting by with the minimum quota? Going the extra mile, whether that’s staying in late at the office when everyone else goes out to socialize or providing exceptional customer service in your business, is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s a must.
Instead of making a million dollars, focus on serving a million people, and everything else will follow.
3. Give back
Giving back has been the foundation of Rype, where our core mission is to connect the world through languages and education. We’ve also committed to partnering with organizations like Pencils of Promise to build schools for needy children.
But you don’t need to be a business or organization to give back. While most people think giving back happens only when you succeed financially, wise men like George S. Clason, who wrote The Richest Man in Babylon, believe giving back leads to success.
He states that 10% of our earned income should go towards charity and donations. This shift in perspective that you’re not only generating income for yourself but others will give you that internal motivation to push further.
Most importantly, giving back is a fantastic way to stand out from the rest of the pack (although this shouldn’t be the reason driving you) because anyone is willing to support a good cause that makes the world a better place.
4. Act without expectation
As you may have already noticed, the first three tips on standing out are about giving in content, value, service, or charity.
What this means is that you won’t be able to see direct, immediate results by simply giving. It takes time, persistence, and consistency.
This should come as good news for many of us because it means that once we break through the initial barriers and find a way to differentiate ourselves, it’s much harder for anyone to follow.
Have a mindset to act and give without any expectation, and eventually, the rewards will fall into your lap.
5. Use the four quadrant
The four quadrants are a simple yet practical tactic that can help you differentiate yourself visually. You can use this framework for determining anything.
Start by putting one category on the x-axis (i.e., aesthetics, price, speed) and another on the y-axis (i.e., clarity, cost, rate).
The goal here is to start listing all the alternatives for what you’re doing (or who you are) in the appropriate quadrants and being able to identify yourself in an open space where no one else is competing with you.
We explain further in our free video training series a great example: how Dominoes differentiated itself from all other alternatives when it first started.
In summary, they analyzed the alternatives already existing in the marketplace and found a missing gap in the market for pizza delivered fast/conveniently, and cheaply.
