Evan Carmichael argues that without a big ad budget, the only way to succeed is to become remarkable—give people a reason to talk about you. He uses clothing brands as an example: people remember and share the ones that stand out, forget the rest. His homework: write down three specific actions that make your business worth talking about, then do them.
Chapters
Be remarkable. If you want to have success in business, you have to get people to want to talk about your company. You don't have the money to spend on huge ads that go on, on the Super Bowl, on TV ads, radio show ads, right? You don't have that budget. You want to have success, you need people to talk about your business, and that comes from being remarkable. Think about the word remarkable. It means make a remark about something. Why should people make a remark about your company? You have to give them a reason. If you don't, you're dead in the water. You're not going to achieve success with your company. You're going to be an average or mediocre business. As an example, think about what you're wearing right now, okay? I'm wearing— I have a sweater on, I've got a t-shirt on underneath, I've got a regular shirt on here, I've got some jeans on. Think about what you're wearing right now. How many people have you told about what you're wearing right now? How many friends of yours have you told about the sweater or shirt that you're wearing right now? How many people have you told about the company that you bought it from? Whatever retailer you bought it from or whatever online store you bought it from. If you've told people about it, then that company did a great job in being remarkable. There was something special about them. There was something that made you want to tell people about them. And for every other piece of clothing that you have, those companies didn't do a good job. If you can't remember where you bought your sweater, your shirt, if you can't remember what brand it is, then they didn't do a good job of being remarkable because you're not gonna go back. You don't even remember where you bought it. You're not gonna go back to that store. You're not gonna tell your friends to go to that store. You're going to be forgettable. So take out a pen, take out a piece of paper, and write down 3 things that you can do to be remarkable. Do something that is worth making a remark about. You need people to want to come back and tell their friends about your business. Otherwise, you're going to continue to struggle, continue to try to figure out when am I going to get my next paycheck, you know? It's hard, and it is a big struggle for a lot of entrepreneurs, and most businesses don't have anything that is worth sharing. I walk by a lot of businesses every day on my, my day at work, and I don't see anything remarkable. And we're so busy in our day-to-day lives, there's so much going on, that if you want people to take time out of their schedule to talk about you, to tell their friends about how great you are, you have to give them an outstanding reason. So that's your homework for the week. Think of 3 things that you can do Write them down and then start acting on them to make your business more remarkable, to make people want to make a remark about your company and tell their friends. If you do that, you'll start having greater success with your business. Belief.
