Fit contradiction
You need to stand out —in a place where you’re supposed to fit into. How do you do that? Doing both is a contradiction: If you fit into something, you’re pretty much average in that place. If you stand out, you’re out of that average. Do you find the logic behind “stand out in a place you where you have to fit into?”
Snorkeling or diving?
You’re in the Caribbean and have two options: snorkeling or diving. Which one would you choose? You snorkel Don’t need quite a lot of equipment: usually just your snorkel and fins. You stay on the surface, need lots of sun protection (your back will be under the sun for a loooong time), it’s fun, can’t really explore for longer what you see below (a starfish, an angel fish, coral…) It’s somehow easier to have a sense of orientation: stick your face off the water and look for landmarks. You…
Focus Gaps
You started working on your personal inventory and are asking yourself “Now what?” You move onto what’s your current Focus Gap. Your very own self-audit to start seeing things under a different light. Are you focused on yourself or on others? You can review your comms and messaging under these 2 lenses (on your website, brochures or any kind of media you use). Self-Focused It’s all about you. Our work, what we do, what we see, how we work, how we help, our vision, about us, our projects, our…
Self-Focused v Others-Focused
What’s your focus gap? Where are you focusing your efforts on your comms and messaging? Here’s a self-audit to start seeing where’s your focus. Something VERY important: It’s a spectrum —it’s totally ok to be somewhere in between. The idea is for you to identify where you are. Think of it as a dial. Wherever you are, you can regulate and adapt your messaging to a new state. 🙂 LanguageDo you use your language or your client’s? SELF •————————————————• OTHERS…
The Flip. How to claim a gap.
How to claim a gap. Once you’ve seen the gaps in your market, how can you claim it? Here’s an approach. These factors lever and build on one another to help you show your value, feel seen as a consistent / expert brand and have better sales conversations. They help you be the obvious choice —for the right people. Purpose Narrative Alignment Focus Flip Clarity Impact Going in-depth from tomorrow.
The Flip. Ep.1. Purpose
Forget about mission and vision statements —they’re useless in this context. This is not a marketing / branding exercise and definitely NOT aspirational (there’s a HUGE difference between aspirational and inspirational, but that’s for another email). It’s who you are and what you stand for. I’m taking you’re in the business of helping people get what they want. If not, that’s ok too. But maybe this is not the kind of email you want to read. Purpose Actionable, yet fuzzy. It’s the thing that…
The Flip. p2. Narrative
It’s the thread of what you do and what overarching story it tells. It’s a sustained arc about how you show up, what you do from a high altitude view and how you frame the world: on opportunities or threats. John Hagel has studied the power of narratives and how they’re different from stories. Stories are: about the individual: you, me, someone imaginary self-contained: have a beginning, middle, end focusing on one point (hence, the moral of the story) Narratives are: about the audience: they…
How to find a gap
First, know what you’re really good at, ego aside. How? Do your personal inventory. A collection of the work you’ve done for clients and in your work life. Good and bad —the worst ones too, actually. Having that will give you a better glimpse of the big picture. This is how you start seeing the hidden patterns in what you do and how you do it. How you actually helped. What your contributions and impact are. In the big picture, they’re evergreen. It unveils the deep you, your core and what…
The Flip: Focus
The ability to choose where to put your energy so your impact is of greater magnitude. This is where you excel at —and where the right fits, inspiration (and money) are. Focus can help you streamline your journey and accelerate the change you strive for. Benefits of Focus Follows a simple decision-making process. Enables you to say No to what’s not (truly) important. Enables you to build expertise faster. Helps you discriminate opportunities from distractions. Lets you follow your progress in…
You’re not ready
You can have tools data, info, strategy, actions, plans and yet, not move forward. Stay still. How so? I mean, you’ve got it all ready to go, right? One answer that keeps coming in conversation about launching, creating and mindset is “I’m just not ready”. Ready as in ready to do what it takes, to act on it and just jump on. The backbone of it is mindset – and not in the wishy-washy, woo-woo ways you must be so familiar with (self-help and all that fluffy stuff). Mindset, as I’m learning, is…