You want to make more money in your business, so you should ensure everyone wants to hire you… right?
Wrooooonng.
Keep reading to find out why you actually want some people to hate you – or at the very least, not ever want to hire you. That’s how you know you’re doing this branding thing right!
Just because you look like a million bucks doesn’t mean everyone thinks so
Imagine someone’s a great dresser. They match, their clothes fit, and nothing clashes.
But just because they’re looking “put together” doesn’t tell you anything about their particular style. There are a million different styles someone could dress in.
Maybe they dress like a hipster, a high fashion celebrity, a hippie, punk, outdoorsy, country sweetheart, a buttoned-up power-suit type.
Each style gives an instant impression of what type of person that is. The style will either draw you in subconsciously or make you think, ‘that’s probably not my type of person.’
If you do end up speaking to them, you learn about them and create more impressions.
You hear how they speak… whether they’re serious, casual, friendly, or formal.
You learn their personality – perhaps they’re very down to earth, full of tough love, playful, wise, or motivational.
You learn what they care about and what they stand against.
Maybe they care deeply about being honest, hardworking, and a champion of the underdog.
Or maybe they care all about performance, victory, and success.
All of this further cements your idea about who this person is and whether you want to spend more time with them.
You may be super drawn to them, or you may decide they’re just not really for you.
Who are you attracting with your business’s vibes?
The same thing happens with your business. If the design of your brand (ie. the logo, and color palette, and visual part) looks janky… end of story. People will assume your service sucks and quickly move on.
But if you pass that test, and the person sticks around, the next thing they’ll take in from your brand is the overall vibe that they get from you. This vibe starts with the visual brand, and then builds through your brand’s message.
If the person likes your vibe, it will draw them in further, get them excited, and they’re now one step closer to becoming your client.
If they don’t like your vibe, they’re immediately out.
You might be thinking “okay, I see… I want my business to look good so people think my service is good … but I don’t want to stand out too much. Because I want everyone to want to hire me.”
Sorry. No. You don’t want everyone to hire you.
That, my friend, would be the wrong approach.
You want to AMP UP everything that’s unique about you and your business to attract your Holy Grail Clients™, and just flat-out repel others. They don’t matter.
You want to let your freak flag fly, ok.
Think about it. There are a lot of people in this world who are too afraid to stand out. They’re afraid if they were too much of themselves in the way they spoke, the way they dressed, their point of view… they’d be rejected.
This is a primal human instinct, so it’s normal. It made a lot of sense in caveman times when we had, like, five people to hang out with and you needed them all to like you, otherwise you’d get eaten by T-rexes.
So… pretty understandable. You want to do some serious blending in.
But now there’s 8 billion people on the planet, give or take, and that no longer applies.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “try to impress everybody, and you impress nobody”?
People play down their true selves and try their hardest to fly under the radar.
As a result, there’s nothing interesting or memorable about them – they’re just like everyone else.
Sure, no one flat-out dislikes them… because what is there to hate?
(Score one for T-rex protection)
But on the other hand, what is there to fall head over heels with?
They may find they’re constantly attracting people they just don’t really click with and that it’s hard to create deep relationships.
On the other hand, someone who is confidently themselves and expresses that really clearly – whatever that may look like – becomes a beacon for people on the same wavelength.
They easily attract people they click with on a deep level, who are eager to become their friend. They grow strong relationships with people who are their biggest supporters.
On the other hand, these proud-to-be-me types will inevitably trigger people.
Some people are just going to hate them for being themselves.
That is REALLY hard for some people to accept.
But does it really matter if your mom’s nosy neighbor doesn’t like you? Do you even like her?
But in the end, does it really matter if everyone likes you? Unless they are actively being violent towards you, what does it really take away from you? Especially if they’re people that you wouldn’t really want to hang with anyway.
Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to stop caring what those people think and instead have people you really like just absolutely ADORE you?
This is all the same for your business. And my business. And everyone’s business.
This is why my skincare business was such a hit, full of loyal, raving fans. It’s why it was so successful, even though some people decidedly did not like me or my approach. Screw ’em.
It’s time to define your own blend of special BrandSauce™, make it front and center, and stand confidently in it like an old-growth tree rooted firmly against the wind.
Be gutsy and happily repel the people who don’t like it.
The payoff? Clients that you absolutely love working with are going to go wild.
Want the free mini-version of the BrandSauce interview I give all my clients so you can start figuring out your special sauce? DL it right now:
