As a Father’s Day gift, my wife bought me access to Masterclass, the online education resource where you can learn just about anything from “masters” at their craft.[1] So far, I’ve taken some guitar classes from Tom Morello (the guitar player from Rage Against the Machine), cooking classes from Thomas Keller and Gordan Ramsay, a class on better gut health (from different experts), and an economics class from Paul Krugman.

I find this kind of instruction fascinating and certainly have learned a few things and/or different techniques. But my main takeaway is this: Even if I spent more time at it, I’ll never be as good as these individuals are at what they do. Tom Morello (a great guitarist btw), talks about practicing 8 hours a day – and spends hours doing just scales, the boring exercises to gain speed with your playing. Gordon Ramsay adds sea urchin and white truffles to his scrambled eggs. (White truffles cost $450/ounce. That’s per ounce! So, no we’re not doing that.)

The point is, the talent level and the amount of competition in every field of human endeavor has increased significantly in the last 50 years. It starts when we’re young too and goes all the way through the rest of your life. Travel baseball for 8-year-olds, the now 3 percent acceptance rate at Harvard and Stanford, getting your first job against a pool of thousands of equally or better qualified applicants, etc. There are more highly qualified or moneyed individuals competing for the same thing today than ever before. And because there’s more information out there from many of these “Masterclass” experts, you have to keep getting better at what you do you’ll eventually fail to compete against people who are learning those little tricks or techniques.

It’s why life for people in general, including many business owners we know, can feel like it’s an endless hamster wheel. We keep running and running and running and there’s no end in sight because the competition isn’t resting. After all, they’re learning from the best and applying it.  

To give you an example, I watch YouTube videos of 12-year-olds who can shred and play Van Halen note for note. That never happened when I was 12. Hell, I still can’t play Van Halen and I’ve been playing for 40+ years.

So, if you’re like me – someone who resigns themselves to the fact that you’re never going to be as disciplined, focused, or don’t have the resources to create the perfect scrambled egg or otherwise – what can you do?  

More importantly, what can you as a business do in the face of this extreme type of competition where someone out there is going to the wall against you every hour of every day?

The answer: Lean more into you.

What Does It Mean to ‘Lean More Into You’?

Let’s answer this question by starting off with a common refrain we hear from business owners:

• • “I want my business to be front and center, not me.”
  • “I want to build my business brand, not my personal brand.”
  • “I don’t want to put my picture out there.”

On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with the above. And you can certainly run a business without putting  your own face out there.[2] But when you get down to competing, which is really what you’re doing as a business every day, you have a choice: Either go to the wall (all hours, at all times) or lean into what makes you different than everyone else. And often, that key differentiator is who you are individually or that culture you create (which, let’s be honest, in most cases, is based on you) for your company.

From a Practical Standpoint, How Do You ‘Lean More Into You’?

To start answering that question, let’s walk through the following key areas:

Narrative Development. When we consult with clients, one of the big areas we focus on is authenticity. In order to best align and give you motivation to do what you do every day, your business has to be authentic to you, the founder or owner. That means, ideally, it should reflect your values, your strengths, your beliefs, your culture – and even ultimately, your stated purpose. If that’s not the case, what often happens is that you, as an owner or founder, feel ‘phony’ in your execution of it. Starting there – and then understanding how develop those qualities in a company and project your brand narrative from that so that it meets your audience at a unique point is perhaps the hardest thing. (But it’s certainly something we can help you with at Marketing Nice Guys!)

Securing Original Video & Photography. We say it all the time. The businesses that often succeed are the ones that show original pictures of themselves, their processes, their facilities/offices. It seems like such a small detail versus using, say, stock photography or graphics, but let’s face it: People want to connect with real people and real businesses. They’re naturally attracted to others. That’s your one advantage against larger competitors or those who may be working night or day to boost their own products/services. Your ace in the hole is, simply put, you. So, don’t hesitate to put your images, videos out there for people.

Your Customer Service and Your Personal Touch. Let’s say you own an Italian restaurant. You’re food is good but not Michelin star (not that you’re competing directly with, say, a Marea in NYC, but your customers still know that level of quality). You can try to compete on price but that’s never a good idea. What do you have left? Your personal touch. Maybe it’s you as an owner that gets out and talks to the customers. Maybe the way you have your staff check in on them? Maybe it’s that you find out it’s someone’s birthday or anniversary and you provide that free dessert or something else, that makes the experience that much better. In fact, as I describe this, all of you perhaps recognize that Italian restaurant. It’s a place you’d go back to. And the owner simply leans into himself/herself.   

Coming Up with That One Thing That Is Yours, That’s Better Than Everyone Else. Finally, in one of the Masterclass episodes, I was watching Thomas Keller, who I’ve met him personally, which was equally fascinating.)  In both the class and when I met him, he talked about this concept of finesse (which is his way of figuring out a process for something where that he will do it better than everyone else). He likened it to pitchers in Major League Baseball. Everyone can throw a curve ball. What makes some pitchers’ curve balls unhittable? That’s the real question. Keller’s goal: He wants to be that pitcher with the unhittable curve ball.

And look, for most businesses, you may never achieve Thomas Keller’s skill level (and probably won’t have his singular drive) but what you might be able to do is focus on that one thing that you do, that no one else does but is so valued that you may not realize it. Put it out there. When you do, it’s another way of leaning more into you.

Conclusion

We hope this has been helpful. We live in a very competitive time. And it can be overwhelming. If it gets to that point, especially when it comes to marketing, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re happy to have a free consultation to discuss whatever it is you might need.

[1] The ostensible reason was that she apparently thought I could take more cooking classes and prepare better food for her to eat.

[2] Look, we get it. Boney and I are much the same way about our agency. We know it would probably help us to put ourselves on camera, film ourselves with a direct message and distribute that to every small business out there. Yet, we don’t. But some of that is because that’s not really who we are. We lean into “us” in different ways including building out content like this. That’s really who we are.