By Marta Rose-Thorpe
I love the topic of “Creating Your Demand.” Think about the law of supply and demand. What business owner wouldn’t want an infinite amount of demand if they could have it? Wouldn’t it be great if we could actually create our own demand? I believe we can, and I believe that creating your demand is primarily about mindset, and secondarily about how you share yourself. Now, I could say “how you promote yourself,” but I’m talking about something that goes much deeper than anything a TV commercial or a Facebook post or a print ad can do for you. This has to do with the essence of YOU, and how you share that with others. Whatever your vocation – whatever your profession, 90% of this is about self-development and can apply to everyone. I’ve broken Creating Your Demand down into a three-step formula that I’ve shared in past presentations and I’ll share with you here: 1) Narrow Your Niche; 2) You are Your Brand; and 3) Take Action.
Step one is not an easy one. Have you heard the saying, “He wears many hats?” We all have. The guy who does it all… he’s multi-faceted, multi-talented. But how about this one, “He’s a jack of all trades, master of none.” You see, when we focus on everything, nothing can become great. Sometimes you’ve got to say no to great opportunities. Sometimes you’ve got to focus on a narrow niche. Is finding your niche like finding your purpose? For years I went through life hoping to find my true purpose one day. I knew what I was good at, I knew what I was passionate about, and I knew how to get good jobs and keep building my career. But off to the side I would secretly wonder, what is my true purpose?
Then one day I attended the Beach Chamber’s annual Women’s Symposium, held every year at FSU-PC, and the morning keynote speaker stated, flatly, “You don’t find your purpose, you choose it.” “Wow!” I thought. “It’s that easy?” All these years I was waiting to find it, and all I had to do was figure out what I wanted it to do – and then DO IT. And just like choosing your purpose, you must choose your niche. Ask yourself these questions: What are you the most passionate about? What extraordinary results do you deliver? What is your methodology? What is the most pressing problem your clients face? What does your target audience need the most? What are they willing to pay the most for? What niche could you offer your existing clients?
In the second step, understand that you are your own brand, so the real question is, what is your authentic brand foundation? Ask yourself, is your lifestyle congruent with your brand? The way you live, the places you go, the way you present yourself, the activities that occupy your time, the people you spend time with. Are there discrepancies, or is everything consistent and harmonious? Step three is to take action. The universe responds to action! We exist in familiarity, but greatness requires a massive leap of faith. A leap into the unknown, a leap into the unfamiliar, a leap into the uncomfortable. Think about this: Things will start to happen when you are more afraid of staying where you are, than of taking the jump.
One final pearl of wisdom I learned along the way is, Better is not Better; Different is Better. Find something unique about yourself and then amplify it. I love the analogy the book ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ gives, stating that lasting success comes from creating blue oceans, or untapped new market space ripe for growth. Make yourself different so you have no competition; skip the bloody red oceans of rivals and create your very own blue ocean.
And in doing this, you’ll be creating your own demand.
