Yes, I’m not dead. Then again, you’d know that if you were a true believer, and you followed me on LinkedIn ;P
Fact of the matter is… for the past two months I’ve been working on the project(s) of my life (so far, I hope) and I didn’t have enough space and mental bandwidth to fit in the B00ls. Add to this a bit of an ego trip that had me rewrite a project, and I ended up ignoring this side of my business. I also wanted to write this issue for Easter… but then, I also had my own B00ls to paint.
Enough of the excuses, we all have them.
— Jump to the point, already!
OK, the point is this:
While I do pride myself on being consistent with LinkedIn - where more than 50% of my leads originate - I also appreciate taking my time when writing this newsletter. As you might have noticed, these things are pretty… meaty. Complex. LONG!
— That’s the word you were looking for… LONG!
Yes, they are. As such, I can’t always stick to a deadline. I can choose to ship on time, and deliver a half-baked, incomplete version of my thoughts, which would be good enough, or I can do something different.
You see, I never push myself to publish MY OWN work on time because ideas need time to grow and marinate. Just like a baby in the womb, except the marination part. If you push them out too early, they will feel premature and won’t stand on their own two legs. You also can’t leave them inside for too long… ‘cause they can go bad.
They have to see the light of day exactly at the right time. And since we’re talking about bellies — my fitness trainer has one.
Into the belly of the beast – Differentiation
— You might be new to the party. Let me refresh your memory: Vlad’s a moody metaphorical methodical motherfucker, and he sometimes forgets to show his thinking. That’s why I (that’s me, MadVlad) tend to intervene and clarify his thoughts when he goes off on a tangent. He does that a lot. And by “belly” he means “Differentiation”.
The Google definition is simple. Bla, bla, Differentiation is what makes your brand unique and special. To quote myself… “It’s a feature, not a bug”.
Should you really be different? That’s the wrong question. You already are different. Different is what you are, not what you do.
The correcter question would be: Can I use that? Should I use my belly?
— Again, your belly is your difference.
Personally, I think you should find your difference, but don’t let it take over. Don’t let it become an obsession. I love my MadVlad persona, but that’s just a shade of the whole VAI. I’m not a rambling lunatic most of the time. Pinky promise.
— You’d be insufferable.
Now, most people go about differentiation in the wrong way. They either:
— Build it, ‘cause they can’t own it. It’s just a building facade, though. A stiff wind and it all goes tits up. It’s not real. It’s a strategy, yes, but I would not recommend it. Too much work, and not so much fun. It makes Vlad a dull boy and then MadVlad comes out to play and… look, I just offended somebody else.
— Let it all hang out. They count on the “authenticity” and “vulnerability” factors and say… “This is who I am, love me”. Yeah, cool, but I couldn't care less about your bellybutton lint, I’m not buying.
I’m swinging for the happy medium: au naturel marries strategy.
Be who you are, but have a strategy to keep things in check when all’s not going according to plan. And things won’t. A lot. In short, be both the creative and the strategist.
Personality + Strategy. It never fails.
How can I find my own belly? (the million-dollar question, which I can’t answer directly)
Just look down, ha ha. If we’re talking about differentiation, again, I have a different take than most people (shocker, I know).
I don’t think differentiation is about building anything. Rather… it’s about unearthing. If you’ve been watching Dexter (the nerd, not the killer), you know it’s the beard on the inside that matters.
People won’t SEE your different, but they’ll be able to sniff it out.
Now, I can’t tell you how to find your own belly and differentiation. That would require a one on one session, at the very least. Or a full strategy string of sessions. You can see how that works at the end of this newsletter, but don’t scroll just yet. More of the good stuff incoming.
— Smooth way to plug your services, O:
What I can do is give you more examples of people who preach about it:
Don’t be the best, be their favorite
To nobody’s surprise, I’m starting with an excerpt from Jay Acunzo’s work:
I believe you face a choice in how you show up in the world: try to compete on competency in a vast ocean of options, thus becoming a commodity ... or learn to differentiate and resonate. More than "an option," you're THE pick.
Louis Grenier wrote the literal book on how to stand out and be different. You can find it here. I mean, if you’re a marketer, or a person marketing your business, and you haven’t read it YET… what the fuck are you doing? Yours truly had a part in it
— Fuck off, you just provided some feedback!
— Hey, it still counts!
and can attest to the fact that it’s literal ACES.
Meaningful differentiation
Much in the vein of the previous entry, Alex M.H. Smith makes a wonderful point about starting with what’s weird, here.
Better late than never
Finally, even John Bonini came round to my point of view.
WHAMO! That’s a wrap. You now have enough information and perspectives to inform your own differentiation proce
— DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE! You hoodlum, you’re absent for almost three months, and you expect a… what, mere 1000 words piece of crap, where you mostly rely on other people’s ideas to CUT THE FAT? Tell them about some real bellies, you wanker! Your own, at the very least!
Huh, MadVlad’s got me. Let’s continue.
My Fitness trainer has a paunch
OK, OK, I blew things out of proportion a bit. He doesn’t have a literal paunch. More like a belly. Small one. BUT!
It’s visible enough that people have noticed it, and he has a reputation for being “the trainer with a belly”. You laugh, but that’s branding.
Now, a bit of the background. I was a fat kid. I’m a somewhat fat, but fit enough, adult. I went to the gym when I was 14. No dice. Started lifting weights at home. Good, but nothing special. Did some form of working out for the past 10 years. Went to the gym again. Found an idiot…
And then, the heavens opened, and I found the Fitness trainer with a belly:
Best training of my life. Best results TOO! I now go to the gym because I enjoy it.
He raised his prices after less than a year, and I still pay for his services. And he doesn’t look like a brick house, either. He looks like a normal guy who enjoys his life, but he also lifts. That’s it.
He was the obvious choice for me because, while I do want to work out, I also enjoy the occasional burger, beer and croissant. I don’t want the washboard abs, I want big guns, a fit chest and a belly that’s both squishy, cuddly and firm. In short, I’m not gonna be featured on Men’s Health anytime soon, but people will remember me for being a good time guy.
— Not like Norbert, who doesn’t take sugar with his coffee. Come on, maaan.
Anyway, back to the trainer with a belly, he knew how to market himself. Instead of the usual “ARGH, you want to have big muscles” beefbrains, he markets himself as a chill guy who has a law degree and a passion for fitness.
— Translation: you can actually have a decent conversation between sets, and he won’t tell you to juice up and damage your liver.
As a result, he’s always in demand. He works with children, older women, skinny intellectual types and your favorite snobby-bon vivant writer. AGAIN, for the cheap seats, he’s always FULL. One of the few trainers I always see in the gym with a client.
And he achieved all that because he naturally leaned into what he was good at: helping real people feel better about themselves.
My Different
Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about myself, right? What’s my different? Well, a couple of things:
I swear. A lot. If “professional” means you want someone with a clean language, then I’m not your guy. I say it like I see it. A shit’s a shit, not a chocolate mousse. I can’t even begin to describe how happy my clients are because they’ve finally found someone who tells it to them straight, no sugarcoating. And yes, there’s the added bonus of them being able to let their hair down and address me like they would a friend. That’s a level of chillness they can’t find anywhere else. And they pay good money for it.
Ethical to a fault. This one loses me a FUCKTON of business. I won’t lie, cheat or steal for your enterprise. If I spot something unethical in your marketing material or plan, I’m going to let you know. Do it, and we’re no longer associated. Simple as that. I sleep well at night.
I have a very critical stance on A.I. I even called out idols like Ann Handley on it. She had a very mature response, prefaced by her musing on whether I was gay. Mature, Ann. Coming from me, that says a lot.
Probably more, but that’s just off the top of my head.
And you’ll say… “So what, Vlad? Why do you think this is special?” It’s special because great differentiation CAN’T BE REPLICATED. Other trainers won’t grow a belly to copy my trainer. Similarly, other businesses:
Will stick to “professional” language. They’d never risk speaking like that, especially if they are a big company. As such, I pretty much own this style.
Most other writers aren’t ethical, and they are not going to start now. They are seduced by the perceived allure of lying about their results, and they will lie for their clients if that means they get a fat enough payday. I was ethical when I was poor, and I’m ethical now. They might start being ethical in a couple of years when it becomes a trend (it will), but by then their reputation will be dirty enough, so this type of positioning won’t work. The internet never forgets. Neither do I :)
Most writers are inclined towards optimization. They’d rather have more clients who pay less and keep the ball rolling. I’d rather have four, maximum five clients and keep on raising my prices. I don’t need AI to move faster, because I don’t need to move faster. And, trust me, the way I work… AI is not helping. At all.
Now, show me another writer and strategist who swears, is absurdly ethical and doesn’t use AI. Go on. I’ll wait.
Owning it
Here’s the rub. Until it starts working, Differentiation will lose you customers and business. Plenty of customers and business. It will disqualify the people who don’t see you as the ONLY solution. In short… not so much money when you’re starting out.
After a while, after you put your money where your mouth is, when you live by the values you profess, differentiation starts working like gang busters. People recommend you. They search for you. You’re not asked to send an offer, and they’ll compare it to other offers they’ve received.
They come for YOUR services/products.
I firmly believe that losing the wrong business is the FASTEST way to the right business.
BUT! And it’s a big motherfucking BUTT!, not everyone has the stones for it. Or the patience. But it is worth it.
Spoiler Alert - not everyone will like you
Differentiation leads to disqualification. Some people won’t like your flavor. That’s awesome, you just avoided wasting time. But, do you have it in you to stand out and maybe have some people think you’re crazy?
The best example I can give you is that of Tim Minchin. You know how people hold religion as something dear and near to their heart?
Tim made a career out of dunking on it. Check out Thank you God, live at the Royal Albert Hall, no less, and answer this question. For yourself, not for me.
Do you have the guts to potentially, majorly, piss some people off?
Not for kicks, either. Just because you are who you are. People are offended by everything these days, so don’t worry, you’ll find every shade of hater imaginable, even if you want to keep it vanilla.
If the answer is “NO!”.... Yeah, me and you… we can’t tango. I’d also push off working on a personal or professional brand. I do suggest therapy and figuring out why is it that you can’t or won’t show your true colors to the world.
Going forward
Whew… back in the saddle. Now, with this one in the bag, I can’t really promise the next one will come quickly, especially if Romania fucks itself over on Sunday. The best I can promise is twice a month. We’ll live, and we’ll see, as we say in Romania.
My first time on a Podcast. Watch me, motherfucker!
Next time, join MadVlad as he takes on…
Issue #31: Attention Versus Relevance
Showing up like a Buffoon vs showing up like a BOSS
In the meantime, you can get access to the full archive here if you missed any other issue.
Time to start doing, not just reading?
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I’m still open for Consultancy calls despite having a new offer, chill.
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Cheers
If this was the first, but also last time we meet: Thank you.
I write for myself, but you reading my writing gives it additional meaning. I literally could not resonate without you. So let me help you BE RELEVANT.
While I still have you. If you’re a Romanian citizen, and you’re not going to vote/you haven’t voted in the following/past election (18 of May) because “they are all the same”, “I don’t care”, “how bad can it be if an extremist wins”....
:))) missed you mad vlad 🖐️❤️