Imitation Before Creation

Business brain, episode 529 for Casual Friday, March 1st. National Day of Unplugging 2024. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show where we take some ideas, we dissect them, we analyze them, we use them to tune our business brains each and every time. We get sponsors for this episode include go squared away.com contact, which empowers highly educated military spouses to become your trusted remote executive assistants. We will talk more about that in a little bit. For now, here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

And I'm Shannon Jean. I'm still out here in Lafayette. How are you doing, man?

I'm good. National Day of unplugging happening on a casual Friday. Reminds me to ask you, are you still doing no Phone Fridays?

Absolutely not. Oh, well, I love the idea.

Yes.

But I have a lot going on right now. I'm trying to build a new business. I got. I'm in this volunteer thing. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how I would do it. I just don't know. I mean, when I'm gone, if I just. But I'm still, you know, checking my phone all the time. It's. It's, you know, it's a great theory, and I love the way it sounds. No Phone Friday.

Yeah.

But we'll see. We'll see if I'm ever able to pull it off. But I am. You know, I mentioned I'm. I'm working. I've been talking about it here for a while. I'm growing my account on X Twitter, trying to build something out there to see how that works, because I don't know anything about it and know much, much about it. So I wanted to mention a tool that I'm using.

Okay.

It's called Birdie.

All right.

R D, Y. So which we'll put in the show notes.

Yeah.

And this. This service or some free parts and some paid parts. I use the free thing where it is doing a B testing with my bio. So if you notice the bio, you get 160 characters underneath your name to. To describe something or other, whatever you want, what you're trying to tell people. And so what Birdie does is allows you to set up an A version and a B version. It rotates them back and forth and keeps track of how many followers you get based on which version of the bio is active.

Now, who creates the bio? Do you create it or does it, like, AI assist you in creating your bio?

I didn't see that up there.

Okay.

But no, you know, I created, I keep playing with it. I was questioning because, you know, I finally got over a thousand followers. I've been grinding it out and just really trying to drill down and analytically think what works, what doesn't. You know, how am I doing this and all stuff. But this is a great little app and I don't use anything but the bio. You know, if you change your, It'll do everything. It'll change your name, it'll change an image, a photo. But any of those changes, you lose your blue check for a few days while they verify you. Sure, sure. So that's a different animal. But they're your bio, your background image. And if you're a premium plus member, you get an extended bio that you can go down and on X. But, but this freedom for 10 bucks a month. It does. It's kind of an interesting thing. I, Somebody recommended it to me that has like 70,000 followers.

Yes.

They're doing something right. And I've been playing around with learning new tools as I educate myself. I often say I really enjoy starting over at zero again.

Yep.

And I've been fortunate to be able to do it a bunch of times in my life. Sometimes I never get beyond zero. I mean, that happens, right?

You use the word fortunate and I, I, I'm not going to take that away from you. You, you, that's your description of your life. And I wouldn't disagree with it either. But you, you are also willing to start at zero.

Oh, yeah. That's fun. It's part of the fun.

Well, for you, for me, like, you've learned.

Yes.

That you, it breaks. Starting at zero breaks most people out of their comfort zone.

Oh, me too.

Right?

Me too. Of course, you know the fashion business and I don't know, look at me. I don't know anything about fashion.

Yeah, yeah. Same.

I'm totally out of my comfort. I don't know anything about X and Twitter.

And you are willing, you are willing to be a big. I always say, you know, there's a phrase in, in meditation circles in Buddhism, beginner's mind. And I'm not Buddhist, but I like this phrase. And, and it means exactly what it sounds like. And you can go very deep in, into this phrase, but the idea of beginner's mind, you, you are willing to embrace that you enjoy. Embrace. You've learned to enjoy embracing that. Yeah, yeah.

And, and I, you know, changes when you have to. Well, you're, how do I say this? At different levels of your career.

Yeah.

And your financial life. It allows you, you know, if. If I was still just having to grind every single day to. To pay the electric bill, maybe I couldn't, you know, sound so sophisticated of I got to start again at zero.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I am self aware of being in a great, you know, position to be able to try this, but I've done it a bunch of times even before. But anyway, part of getting off of zero is finding tools and educating yourself.

Well, that's it. You're willing to say, I don't know and use an app? That. That's huge. Yeah. Yeah.

That's great.

Yeah. Good stuff.

Good. I'm having a great time, having the time of my life. If you'd like to hear, you know, see what I'm doing up there at Shannon Gene, come up and follow me and play along as I figure it out.

All right, business brain listeners. You know how juggling your to do list can sometimes feel like you're trying to balance plates while r riding a unicycle? Especially when every task demands a PhD in multitasking. Does that even exist? I don't think so. Like coordinating podcast schedules. It's not just picking dates. It's like aligning stars. And let's not forget the black hole of time known as research. Sitting in meetings wishing you had an extra brain just for note taking. I mean, who hasn't wished for a clone in those moments? Well, clone no more, my friends. Our sponsor, Squared Away, is here to save the day with their team of superhero remote executive assistants, all highly educated military spouses. You're not just delegating. You're empowering your business with trust and top tier talent. And yes, you're also supporting military families, which is pretty awesome. These aren't just any assistants. They're the Navy SEALs of admin support. Whether it's diving deep into research or coordinating travel itineraries that don't make you cringe, or ensuring your meetings are more productive than a brainstorm in a coffee shop. They've got you covered. And the best part? They're as integrated into your team as your morning coffee, Offering custom plans to fit any entrepreneurial dream. With Squared Away, it's not just about getting things done. It's about getting them done with a charm that would make even a chaos magician jealous. So don't wait. Contact Squared Away today to find out how they can help your business thrive. Just go to go squared away.com contact. That's go squared away.com contact. Let the business magic happen together. And our thanks to Squared Away for sponsoring this episode. So one thing that comes with starting over, Shannon, is that you're starting over in that you have to figure out what to do when you do this thing that you're gonna do. And I was having a conversation with somebody actually at the. On the beach. He was starting a business, and he's like, yeah, it's kind of the same as this other thing. So I'm not sure if that's good. And I'm like, oh, man. Like, don't look for a unique idea. And I gave him my ideas. Or if you want an idea to be worth $100, write it on a hundred dollar bill. Like, ideas aren't worth anything. It's all about execution. And your execution is going to be different than someone else's, even if you are using the same idea. And if it's not going to be different than someone else's, if you're looking at somebody else and saying, well, they did it perfectly and exactly the way I would do it. That might be the thing where you would say, I got to find a differentiator. I got to find where I can put me into this. But imitating people, I think is a good thing, right?

I agree. Remember when we had Greg Mercer from Jungle Scout? I do show.

Yeah.

And one of the reasons I reached out to him is because I was super impressed that his business analyzes Amazon sales and gives you a ton of data. And his thing was, okay, let's show how it works and that it does work. I'm going to find a product on Amazon, look at what they're doing, imitate what they're doing, but change it a little bit. I don't know anything about this. And I mean, talk about a crazy product. He picked bamboo skewers. Giant, big bamboo skewers for like marshmallows around campfire, that kind of thing. So there. And I'm sure this is still up@jungle scout.com he did a whole series of videos of looking at it, going, okay, what can I learn from this? And he just imitated. But then he improved upon it and he made it different. He said, okay, let's do a bundle and let's include this and let's. Let's do this. And he tried something. So, you know, as a phrase, I've heard, you know, imitation before implementation or, you know, those kinds of things. Things where. I think that's where it always starts, Right?

I mean, I guess I. I mean, I. I think we could find exceptions to this, right. Where people do something completely out of whole Cloth that that in their mind at least not consciously, perhaps subconsciously, but not even like the iPhone.

Oh, the greatest product ever so to speak. Right.

Apple hasn't created other. Other than, and even this I would argue other than their the first product, right. The Apple Computer. Right. The Apple Apple II that was the first all in one bundled personal computer. But it was created that way because they had seen the kit based personal computers and said we could do this better. So even I know they get credit for like being the first personal computer. I don't think that's, I don't think that's true.

And the macOS, I mean they borrowed that from Xerox and all this kind.

So over and over everything is, is an iteration from Apple on other people's things and, and also on their own things. But they weren't the first with a smartphone. They weren't the first with a graphical interface. They weren't the first with a smart watch. They weren't the first with a smart tablet. They weren't so you know, headset, like none of it. Yep.

That should never stop you. You. And that's like my background before I got into tech was, I was, I owned a construction business, a landscape construction business.

Yeah.

And I wanted to get into tech and I was like, you know, how do I do this? And nobody would hire me. I had no skills. You know, I was just young and, and just all I had was a big mouth. But I finally got this guy to listen to me. He wouldn't hire me. I don't have the money to hire you. And I just volunteered and I said okay, I'm just, can we just come. Let me just come to your office and sit there and I'll help. I'll answer the phone, I'll take out the trap, whatever. It Let me volunteer.

Yep.

He said okay, no problem. So me and a buddy, we volunteered. I convinced this guy Chris to come with me and we each, I kind of focused on sales. He focused on the back tech, you know, engineering stuff. And I just observed and I watched this guy with, in his business and I said, I can do this. Not only can I do this, I can do it better.

Right.

I didn't do it there. I moved because that was a college town. And in the beginning I thought his model, which was kind of a home, local repair sales kind of business, that was my model. I was like, I'm going to do this quickly. As we rode the wave of the Internet, oh, it all blew up. And I realized limiting myself to that model was, was Would have been a mistake.

Would have been a mistake. Yeah.

What a mistake.

Yeah.

But I just imitated him at the beginning because I didn't know any. I didn't know what to do. So, like, if you want to be in the printing business, go, you know, find somebody in that business. If you want to be an influencer, reach out to an influencer and people they would like to help.

Yes.

You know, if you want to be. I know some very successful people in the finance business, in the insurance business, and I'm constantly hearing them talk. Oh, so and so, asked to take me to lunch, wanted to talk to me, how I did this, how I did that. All of us like to tell our story. So reach out and ask people to.

Tell their story and then imitate. Yes.

And imitate what they're doing.

I said, huge. I said something to you on this show, episode 326, almost three years ago, May of 21. I said, being an entrepreneur is a blue collar job. And I think this whole episode epitomizes that. Being willing to learn something new. Being willing to admit that you have something to learn. Being willing to put the work in to learning. Being willing to put the work into creating your business, doing whatever it is that needs to be done for your business. Not feeling like you're above this just because you're the owner. Let me tell you, that ain't how it works.

That is not how it works.

If you have that mindset, either get rid of it or go get a job working for somebody else where you don't have to do the things that you feel are below you. Pick one of those two. Oh, I agree. Option number one is more fun. But if you think you can do option number one without cleaning a toilet every now and then, no. Yeah, it works.

And it's also a big part of this isn't a show about leadership, but it's also being a service. Being of service, that kind of leadership. When you're of service to your people, they connect with you better. They believe in you, they believe in your cause. You know, we did a show about what's your noble cause, which I love. And it helps motivate your people. It adds tons of credibility to you. And just like, you know, we did the show on the news, building a newsletter and connecting with your clients, being of service to your team and your employees connects you to them on an entirely different level.

And be of service to your customers too.

Yes, both.

All of them. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

And I mean, I always harp on this concept of you should be barbecuing for, out cooking for your team. I know it sounds, you know, whatever, cheesy or whatever, but it totally works. And you get to sneak a meeting in while you're cooking and you're talking and you're getting to know him and you're, you know, Joe's having a kid and so. And so wants to buy a new car. And this. That's goes in your database. You're like, I got to. I got to help, you know, figure this out for this guy. Yeah. This is an opportunity. And, you know, he's not leaving anytime soon because he's having a baby. And then this. And so you pick up all these nuances about your. Your people.

Yeah.

And. And being of service is. Is how you build loyalty over. Over decades.

I agree.

Hopefully you can do that. So. Yeah, yeah. But imitation, man, figure it out. And I. I'd love to hear how you've done it. Help us spread the word. So somebody who's sitting out there right now going, I can't start this because, you know, so and so already does it in my town or whatever.

No, if you. If you see that, you could, if you like. My favorite moments are when I am encountering a business. I might be a customer of theirs, whatever, experiencing a business somehow. And I say, man, they're doing it wrong. I wish they would do this and this and this differently. And those are the moments I've learned to notice and be like, wait a minute, do I want to get into this business? Because I already have my business plan. It's everything they've done, plus or minus the things that I just articulated that I feel are wrong with this, because if I feel they're wrong with it, I've learned there are other people that feel the same way as me.

And I always followed up with, lord, grant me the strength to not start another business.

Good luck with that, my friend.

Yeah, it's great. I'd love to hear your tips on this and how you got started and who you imitated or if you think we're wrong. If you think you got to be unique. Come on, let's talk about it.

Let's talk about it. Yeah. Yeah.

FeedbackusBrain Show.

Absolutely. Like he said, feedback at BusinessBrain Show. Make sure you go to BusinessBrain Show. Sign up for our newsletter and go check out our sponsor, gosquaredaway.com contact. Keep living that charmed life. We'll see you next week.