I recently joined an open Zoom call hosted by a friend.
It’s fun to pop in and meet new people and join whatever conversation is happening.
One of the people on the call was talking about a course she’s taking and that morning, the teacher asked:
“If you could only use one word to describe who you (or your business) are, what would it be?”
This is pretty hard for most of us. Who the heck wants to be reduced to one word or phrase?
It makes sense that we resist it but it’s such a great exercise to help you get clear and focused on how you want to show up in the world.
I had been asked this kind of question before and always found it frustrating.
But being an entrepreneur has forced me to dig deeper into my thinking than I ever have before.
And this time, I knew exactly what my word was.
Choice.
Or more specifically – choosy.
Why "choosy"?
Because being “choosy” means you’re difficult to please.
And I fully believe we should be difficult to please in things that matter most to us.
Choosiness means that you:
- refuse to settle and keep your standards high
- know your boundaries and commit to upholding them
- understand that you can’t do or have it all
- don’t easily defer decisions to others that you should make
- squash people-pleasing tendencies when they go against your values
- consume consciously and only buy what adds meaningful value to your life
I could go on but you get the idea.
It’s really another way to say that you live intentionally but it feels more subversive to be choosy. With its negative connotations, it feels more powerful somehow.
“Choice is what enables us to tell the world who we are and what we care about.”
From The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less
by Barry Schwartz
Minimalism and positioning are about being choosy
I chose to name my business “minimalist biz” because it reflected my approach to business and life.
At its core, minimalism is about making intentional choices (aka being choosy) to keep things simple and meaningful.
And as I wrote last week, after a year and a half of exploration, I’m now focusing on positioning in my business.
Positioning is also about being choosy.
Like having to choose one word that best represents you (and your business), positioning defines the space you want to occupy in people’s minds.
That space is limited and our minds demand specificity to understand where to position you among the kazillion things we hold in there.
Are you ready to be choosy?
In a sea of generic goo generated by AI and humans who are trying to appeal to everyone, the best path to growing your business is to make some hard choices.
To be choosy about who exactly you want to work with and what exactly you can do to give them the most value.
And then to cut through the noise by talking directly to those people and creating an offer that best serves them.
This is all much easier to do when you have a well-defined position to guide your choices.
I can’t tell you how much of a difference it makes to commit to doing what you can to occupy a specific space in your potential clients’ minds.
You have to experience it to truly get it.
And I’d love to help you with that.
If you’re ready to be choosy, hop on a free positioning assessment call with me.
The purpose of this call is to:
–> Assess how potential clients likely perceive what your business can do for them.
–> Figure out what this means for your business now and in the next year.
–> Consider how you might specialize so you can make more money, simply.
There has never been a more crucial time to get specific and specialize. With AI, commoditized content creation, and pandering to algorithms, we’re seeing too much of the same crap everywhere and it’s not getting better.
Your business will attract a more discerning and interesting customer base when you give people something substantial and precise to work with.