Evan Carmichael argues that a small business's biggest advantage is the founder's personal story, which competitors can't copy. He shows how his friend Rich, a fashion photographer, uses quirky habits like lemon juice deodorant to attract ideal clients. Start with a smiling photo, share why you started the business, and weave in personal details to your marketing.
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Evan Carmichael, The Entrepreneur. The biggest advantage that you could bring to your business to outrank and outsell your competition is to bring more of yourself and your own interests and tie it into the business, because nobody else can do that. Otherwise, if you're an average company selling an average product at average prices, you're gonna get average results at best. Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael, your friend in all things entrepreneurship, and today I'm answering a question from one of our readers, George, who wanted to stand out. He wants a strategy to stand out against rival firms and competitions. So thanks for the question, George. It's a big problem a lot of entrepreneurs face. You know, we're up against often big competitors who are selling maybe better products or better service, definitely have much bigger marketing and promotional budgets than what we have, and it can be tough looking at them in the face every day. The best way that I can think of to stand out, and that I've seen work over and over and over again, is make your business personal. People like to buy from people. They don't like to buy from big companies. And the more you can tell your story and incorporate your own personal interests into the business the more you're gonna attract other people who are like you and who like you. They're gonna buy more from you, they're gonna refer more people to you, and you're gonna have a lot more fun running your business and make a lot more money doing it too. An example: a buddy of mine named Rich is a fashion photographer, and he came to me and he photographs celebrities and fashion models And he says he has this interest in writing about lifestyle, and he's got a little bit of an unorthodox lifestyle that's cool and funky, and he unschools his kids and is into a lot of unorthodox things, which is awesome. And he thought that might damage his brand if he wrote about that on his website, so he wanted to have a new site that just talked about this kind of stuff. I said, Rich, you gotta pack it in. You gotta make it part of the whole package. Because the more you talk about yourself and showcase your story, what you're interested in, one, the more people are going to be drawn to that and be curious and want to learn more about you and, and want to hire you. And two, the people who like your stories and can relate to it, if they're deciding between you and somebody else and 10 other fashion photographers, what's going to make the difference? It's the personal connection that they feel with each person. And by having your story in your website and all your marketing material, you're able to create a personal connection and attachment to people even though you've never met them in your life. So one example of a strange thing that Rich will do is he'll use lemon, lemon juice as his deodorant. So he's looking for an all-natural deodorant, and so he uses lemon juice as his deodorant. And that's off the wall, and it's strange, and it's funky, but it works for him. And I said, "Rich, let me ask you, are your clients a little bit off the wall and funky and strange?" And he said, "The ones that I like to work with are." Which was an interesting answer. Because the ones that he likes to work with are going to be the ones that he delivers the best results for and has the most fun with and want to come back and work with him again. 'Cause if he likes to work with them, they'll probably like working with him. And they're gonna love that kind of stuff. If they read that on his blog and they said, "Wow, Rich is one cool guy compared to all these other fashion photographers who are just putting up their catalog online," that's gonna seal the deal. He's gonna attract more people to his business that are ideal fits and clients for him. They're gonna have more things to talk about, they're gonna have a better connection, they're gonna spend more dollars with him, they're gonna come back more often, and they're going to refer their friends. Don't hide behind a corporate-looking website. You're losing out on one of your biggest advantages as an entrepreneur. We all have our passions outside of our regular businesses, right? For me, I love salsa dancing. I love being a salsa DJ. I love the Toronto Blue Jays. I love riding my Vespa. I talk about that stuff in my videos. I talk about that stuff on my website. People who like baseball end up writing to me and we end up doing business together. People who always wanted to learn salsa write to me and we end up doing business together. Having those personal points and making it part of your business is an awesome way to stand out from everybody else and attract the right clients to your business. I still want you to have a great product or service. I still want you to have a great value offering that you're giving out there to the marketplace, but this is the way to stand out. This is the way to differentiate yourself, and I hope you'll apply it to your business. I know it can be hard putting yourself out there a little bit, sharing more personal details. Start small. Start with a picture of yourself with a big smile. Just having that alone is a start, and telling your story as to why you started this business, why you're so passionate about it, will draw people in and make them curious, make them want to work with you, make them want to learn more about you. I hope you'll do it. I hope you do it today and start taking action. So good luck, George. For those of you guys watching, if you liked the video, please give it a thumbs up. It makes me want to do more videos for you, and I'd love to hear what you have to think. If you want to leave a comment under the video, I always read those and appreciate them when they come in. So thank you, and I will see you on the next episode. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
