How to Become Irreplaceable and Differentiate Yourself

It's important for you to have a great strategy to stand out online and frankly, to differentiate yourself. And so we have the perfect person. Nita Lurie is here with us today. She is a former Fortune 500 executive. She's here on Cash In On Camera today to help us understand how we can become irreplaceable and differentiate ourselves. Nita, so great to have you here on the show. You have an extensive amount of experience in this area, and I'd love to start with the state of the union, if you will, today. Do you see people or too many people out there really just trying to imitate what they're seeing in other people? And how frustrating is that to you?

Yes, that's definitely a big problem in the expert-based space, in business space especially. And I think it's kind of human nature. We've been trained to copy what everybody else is doing. Think about when the time we went to school, the time our parents What would they tell us? Just do what your friends are doing. Do what you're told. You know, follow your teachers. What do they tell you to do? Just follow them, right? Be a good girl. Be a good boy. And so it's kind of in human nature. It's kind of to get us to survive in society, to follow other people and blend in. And so it's harder to be disruptive. It's harder to innovate. It's harder to do something that's different from what everybody else is doing. And that's just in general in human life, right? So when it comes to business, when we start our business, usually that's what we do. We look out into the industry and we start to take note of what everybody else is doing. We observe and, okay, so this is a good idea, that's a good idea. And we, we, we follow what other people are, what, what other people do, what seems to be working for other people. And sometimes we assume that it's working for other people. And in reality, it may not be working for other people. And we copy it and we try, and there's nothing wrong with that, you know, but when you're starting out, but after a while you will start to hit a plateau because you're not innovating. So it gets really hard to compete in the market as well when you're doing something similar to other people.

So, what I'm hearing you say is that when you're first starting out, it might not be the worst thing to go out there and try to emulate what you're seeing because you're just starting out. But you just pointed out that at a certain point, and I'd like to dig in on that a little bit. How do we know when the certain point is there? When it's time to start really looking at how am I innovating? How am I being disruptive? Or even asking yourself that question, am I doing those things? What, how do we know what stage that is or what time that is to do that?

Yeah, well, actually, it's recommended to start from the beginning. Like, we should start, we should have an innovator's mind from the beginning of our business. Now, I'm saying that it is normal that we, it's not necessarily good, but it is normal for us to look into the industry and see what everybody else is doing and kind of like try out several things that you see, right? It's not like a totally bad thing, but after, you know, like what I recommend is you have to have that innovator mindset from the beginning. So it's a mindset and that mindset gets you to do specific things from, you know, creating new ideas, questioning the way you work with your clients, questioning your process, questioning how you work with your team, not just your products and services, but really questioning what you are doing, what the industry is doing, and whether it's actually working instead of saying like, oh, it has to work, or it is working in that industry just because everybody else is doing it. And when you come into a business and you're starting a business, running a business with an innovator's mindset, It comes with this idea of customer centricity. You're taking the client and they are the center of everything. So you're thinking, your mindset, every single thing that you create in your business and deliver in your business becomes customer-centric. So everything is for the client so that they get the results they're looking for, so that their lives are better, easier, in whatever way your service helps them., you know, to, to, to have a better life, easier life, more convenient, getting results faster, whatever that thing is. And so I would say most businesses wait until they have a problem. They wait until they hit a plateau. They wait until customers start to leave. They wait until they see those numbers of customers not renewing the services. And they don't know why, what's going on, what's wrong. Why didn't I know there's a problem? You know, and sometimes it hits kind of like a tsunami. It's been kind of in the making for a while, you know, like this problem has been going on for a while and then boom, it's like, wow, like 50% of my clients left, something like that. So we don't want to get to that point. I always say the best time to innovate is when you have the resources, you know, you, you, you have the resources, meaning you have the investment, you're in that mentality, you're in a positive energy, right? So Say, for example, you play football. When do you want to practice a new technique? Not when you have a broken leg, right? You don't want to hit rock bottom because that's when you have the least energy. You have like— but you do. It does cause you to have motivation when you hit rock bottom. So that's a different kind of motivation. But I would say sometimes it is a struggle when you wait till you have a problem or you've hit rock bottom. So the best time to innovate, to create something new, to innovate your processes, to work on having a better team, better mindset, better everything, is when you have the resources. And when, when you— when is the time you have the most resources? It's when your business is doing well. Now it's kind of contradicting because human nature, we don't want to look at our problems until we have a of problem that's like you can't escape the problem anymore. But that's, that's not really a good time. But either way, if it's hit rock bottom, if you come across a problem, or you're in really good shape, anytime, like just innovate because it's better than not ever doing anything.

Do you agree with seeking inspiration for innovation outside of the industry in which you work?

Yes, I do. I do. I love that idea actually, because I run several businesses. So I'm always like, when I get a great idea for one business, I automatically kind of think about that idea in other businesses. How would we utilize this idea in Business B, Business C, Business D? Or what if we put this idea that we got from Business B and Business C together and put it into Business A? You know, something like that. So it's about coming up with new ideas. It's playful, it's fun. It's— that's why kids are so creative and innovative, you know, because they don't have rules. They don't, they don't do what adults do, which is quickly jump to the conclusion that, oh, that's not possible. Oh, that's— that you can't do that. Oh, nobody's doing that, so we can't do that, right? So kids don't, don't come from that mindset. They don't think like that. So we have to unlearn what we've been learning, you know, and Try to go back and be a child and innovate and come up with all sorts of crazy ideas. Yeah.

And the willingness to try is what I'm hearing you say, right? The willingness to go out there and try. And the only way you can innovate is by being willing to do things that you haven't done previously, that you might not have experience with. You're going to test and measure and adjust. And a lot of people are not willing to do that because it might mean that they'll fall on their faces.

Right.

And that can be scary for someone who's trying to build an irreplaceable brand. So how do you reconcile that?

The thing is, when I tell my clients about this idea, this like, when you want to be an innovator, you want to create new ideas, you're not going to come up with 100 amazing ideas, right? Your first idea is not going to be the iPad iPhone. You're going to come up with a bunch of ideas that are too crazy, won't work, doesn't, deliver or doesn't solve your current— your client's problems. You're going to come up with all sorts of things, right? But out of that, those bunch of ideas, you're going to get something, you know, you can get maybe even one idea and maybe that one idea isn't even your product or service, but it could lead to another amazing idea that could be potentially that amazing idea, right? So it's a process and you have to get unstuck to the outcome. I think we're like, you're going to the schooling system and corporate world, we look for certainty, right? And it's just human nature. We look for certainty. So like, I want to be certain that I'm going to get this outcome before I start to innovate. It's almost like I need to make sure that I'm going to be able to be successful with this business. If I leave the corporate world and decide to start this business, I have to be 100% sure. It's just not possible, right? So you never know what the outcome is. It's, it's about trusting that this process is gonna bring you something good in the business. And whether it's a product, it's a process, it's a way you work with your clients, something, right? So we— I try to kind of install this kind of thinking into the team, into my clients' team, so that they have this forever. I don't want them to rely on me or my team or the people from my side to help them innovate. I want them to have this mindset so that they can apply this mindset with every single thing that they do.

When it comes to entrepreneurship, let's say someone is a coach or a consultant, they're an expert at what they do, and they're struggling to grow and scale their business, maybe because they are trying to be someone that they're not. They're imitating what they see in other people. They're dancing on TikTok when it really has nothing to do with their strategic outcomes, has nothing to do with their KPIs. Like they're just kind of doing. Maybe they don't even have any KPIs. And so, what advice do you have for a coach, consultant, an expert who wants to really build a legacy brand, wants to grow and wants to scale, but is kind of stuck in this place of not knowing who they are and how they can stand out in the marketplace?

Yeah, well, the first few things that you want to look at, number one is what is your hidden genius? What is that? And I know it's a question we ask lots of times, but most people don't know what it is. And the reason for that is because it has become an unconscious competency. Meaning, you know, how you've learned to drive and you don't even have to concentrate on driving anymore. So now if you had to explain to someone how to drive, you wouldn't know how to because it's a step-by-step thing that you do, you do automatically, all of them. You don't even know what step number 1 was, step number 2, right? So when something that you've done really, really well compared to like 99% of the people, or maybe nobody even knows how to do this except you, you kind of invented the method, or you've been doing this thing and you're just naturally, you feel you're naturally good at it, but you never knew, you never knew that this was a thing. You're just like, I don't know, I've just been doing this all my life, something like that, right? So that's why the research process is very important. That's how I work with my client. I do a lot of research. That means like digging into the minds of the client, interviewing them, the the owner, the team, to find out what is their hidden genius. What is that unconscious competency? What is it that they do so, so well, better than everybody else? And it has to be that thing that their clients really appreciate them for. So we, the other thing is we interview, I interview my clients' clients as well. Their past clients, their current clients, and their ideal clients that they have never worked with. And we get a ton of information and insight from that process. And a lot of the times, I would say all the time, it really surprises the business owner and the team, especially the business owner, because they never knew all about all of this data. They never knew about the feedback, like, no, the client's not happy with this and that. I never knew. I never knew because people, we're humans. We don't want to give the bad news. We don't want to give that, bad feedback, you know, even though we feel it's the right thing to do. Normally we just hold back. We might give like 50% of the feedback and then we hold back the other 50%. So there's a specific way to properly conduct even a feedback session. If you really want to get feedback, are you going to the client and asking them like, hey, do you have any feedback for me? You know, we're gathering some feedback here so that we can improve our program, blah, blah, blah. But if you're asking like a very general question like this, nobody's really going to give you an answer. They're just going to say something very general or something, you know, top that they have top of their mind or whatever. But in order to get the real feedback, they need to think hard and you really need to want that feedback. You really want to have, you want to really get that feedback. And so that requires very specific questions and a very different kind of mindset. You know, when you're trying to ask to get compliments, and you don't want to hear the bad news. That's very different from, hey, I really, really need this feedback here. I'm like, you know, I'm almost gonna pay you for this feedback. I really, really need it.

But it's a difference. There's a difference between, to your point, a difference between gathering testimonials. Yes. And gathering feedback. Those are two very distinct and different things.

Yeah.

Yeah. Nita, I'd love for you to share with us the work that you do. Tell us what it is that you actually help people to do.

Well, I help clients differentiate themselves. And if anybody had went to business school or learned marketing, we know that the Marketing 101, the most foundational thing about marketing is differentiation. But in reality, it's really hard to find in this world. Differentiation is very, really hard to find because of what we've talked about so far in this conversation. So what I help my clients do is differentiate themselves, and the way we differentiate themselves is through innovating. When you differentiate, and when I talk about differentiating yourself, it's not just being different for the sake of being different. You know, it's not like, oh, how can I be different? Maybe I can dress differently, maybe I look differently, maybe do things differently, or create a— this is what a lot of what we see in the market is. You take something that's really not different and you try to package it differently, or you try to name it differently, or you try to make it look differently, but it's not really different. Because being different requires the whole innovation process and it requires a lot of thinking, a lot of research, a lot of work. And we're kind of trained to be lazy, right? We don't want to do all the work. It's easier to copy, but actually in the long run, it's harder when you copy. It's harder. Now you have to like compete with the ads and all these like copywriting, trying to make your thing look different and special and better. And like, hey, everybody should buy this from me. It's really cool. You know? But if you actually go through this innovation process and you actually differentiate yourself in a way that's meaningful, of course, when we say differentiate, it means it has to be something that clients are looking for. And when you do this, you don't have to go and do all the convincing, you know? Yeah, that's right. Because that's— I feel tired even saying the word convincing. I feel tired already.

Yeah, but when you're innovative and you are differentiated, the idea of attraction and attracting not just anyone, but attracting your ideal right fit clients becomes that much easier because you are doing something different. And to your point, it's not just about the physical outward appearance changes. Yeah. Right? It's so much deeper than that. It's so much more about going deep into a your process of uncovering what that is. And it is a process. It is a journey of discovery. I'd love for you to share a little bit more about your book as well. I'll show it on the screen here. Tell us about the book that you wrote.

The book is called One to Millions Entrepreneur. And it is the guide for consultants, coaches, experts, service-based entrepreneurs who want to not just charge a high end or premium or ultra-premium rate for their services, but really it's about offering the best thing for your client. What would, if anything was possible in this entire world, what would be the best offer, best service that you could provide for your client if you break all the rules, if you don't care about the rules, if you don't care about what everybody else is doing, if you don't care about what the industry is doing? And you could do anything to up-level the standard in the industry. And this is good for everybody. Your clients win, you win, and the industry wins, right? Now other people are going to see what you're doing. You're, you're up-leveling the standards in the industry and others will follow. Well, maybe not everybody's going to follow, but at least you're leading the market instead of imitating and following everybody, right?

Right, exactly. And being a leader a preeminent leader in what it is that you do best will help differentiate you, help you stand out, help you get more clients, help you grow your business. And it's all interrelated on the journey of building your empire and building your legacy brand and business. Nita, this has been wonderful. Thank you so much for your insights. And so, go to Amazon and you'll be able to search. Just search the title, right? One to Millions Entrepreneur. I'm sure you'll be able to find it. It looks like it's on paperback and Kindle. Nita, this has been a wonderful conversation. Really appreciate you being on the show today. Any final words?

Well, I don't have any specific final words, but I have to say I'm writing another book, which will be free. So if anybody wants, it's a sequel to the One to Millions Entrepreneur book and it's called The Outlier Offers. So this is where I talk about this differentiating, how do we create an offer that's unique and innovative and all that. And this is free. I don't want to sell another ebook on Amazon, so it's free and people can kind of sign up for it already. It's on my website and when it's finished, it will be sent to, to you. So that's the only thing that I can think of. Awesome. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for being on and tell us the website or what is your favorite social platform if people want to send you a message? Is it Facebook, LinkedIn? What's your favorite?

Um, well, people can get the ebook by subscribing on my website, which is nidalur.com. And to connect with me, email is fine, nita@nitaler.com, or I'm also on LinkedIn. I'm also on Instagram.

Very good.

So you can shoot me a message on any platform.

Sounds great. Thank you for being on the show today. We really appreciate your insights.

Thank you, Cheryl, for having me.