Decide on the keys to your company's success and stick to them: Megan calls this finding your core.
When you start your business, you have to decide what you are going to make, sell or what service you will offer. Along with these decisions, you need to decide what will separate you from the competition. All the business books talk about this, but I honestly did not understand the full meaning of this until about a year ago.
I thought that the only way to separate yourself was through the product, but I have found out that's simply not true. You can offer a product or service that no one else does, but it can be difficult to come up with that idea. If your product is similar to other products out there, then you will have to separate yourself in another way.
I will try to explain this like I do all other concepts I talk about here through my own experience. (As a side note, if you have been reading this series and are wondering where my business knowledge comes from, it is only from my own experience running my own company. I did not go to business school, I have never even taken a business class.)
As a stationery designer & manufacturer, I find it difficult to separate myself from the pack. Many people have their own computers and printers now. Any one of you can go home and print your own stationery. You can get the same paper I buy.
One of the ways that I am able to separate myself is through my design ability. I realized that by staying true to my design aesthetic I am offering something that no one else can, I am offering myself. When I sit down to design, I always tell myself "just do you" because I know if the design resonates with me, it will with my customers. That is why my customers come to me, for my personal aesthetic.
I believe that is the best way for me to separate myself, but I also think that the quality I expect from my products is another way to distinguish myself.
Lastly, the way that I have chosen to treat my customers I think is different than most others.
Whenever I decide to change or grow, I make sure that the new implementation is consistent with those three concepts. I ask myself:
1. Is this a true reflection of my design aesthetic? Will customers know it is mine?
2. Is the product of the quality that I expect in a product?
3. Will my customers feel part of the family and that I value them through this change?
If the answers to this question are satisfactory, then I go forward with the change. There have been ideas for change that have not been in line with those ideals and they have been scrapped.
You must have your own set of ideals that you stay true to that separates you from the pack. This is one of the best ways to stay consistent and be original.
**Image via Bunny Logic**
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*If you have a tip or a business question that you think I should feature in this section, please contact me at avie.designs@gmail.com with the subject: blog.smart biz
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