We can debate the countless intricate ways that companies can use to create a strategy of difference, but it all pretty much boils down to:
1) Better product
2) Better process
3) Better relationships

In my opinion focusing all of your strategic thinking, goal setting and actions on building a better process or better relationships is the surest and maybe simplest way to create a true competitive advantage that someone might care about. Would you rather lean on your 5% better product or price or on something so totally outrageous and innovative that people can’t stop talking about it?

via ducttapemarketing.com

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing fame offers up these words of wisdom in his post where he challenges businesses to stop trying to be better than the competition, the opportunity is in the ways you can be different.

Create a strategy of being outstandingly different in your processes and relationships and you create something remarkable and worth talking about. Consistently amazing customer service experiences get spread around. Innovative ways of improving your business can yield exponential results.

We we owned our salon and spa we made huge investments in people and culture with our training systems and team development. These investments kept our business way out in front and made us significantly different in our market and consistently successful.

What do you think about creating a strategy of outstanding uniqueness? Where is your opportunity to be different?

Michelangelo said that the greatest danger for most of us is not that we’ll aim too high and not make it, but that we will aim too low and we will make it. The soul doesn’t engage when the bar for life is too low. The soul yearns for growth, adventure, new learning, and giving back to the world. It thrives when you align your life with the greater universal evolutionary flow and respond to what wants to happen as a way of life. Start living on the fourth level of opportunity and watch your life transform.

“The Mantra… is a word of power and light that comes from the over-mind inspiration or from some very high plane of Intuition. Its characteristics are a language that conveys infinitely more than the mere surface sense of words seems to indicate, a rhythm that means even more than the language and is born out of the Infinite and disappears into it…”

Sri Aurobindo (The Future Poetry)

Just as the mantra comes from a spark of divine inspiration; so too does your voice.

What is your unique voice?

By this I mean, your essence, your spark, that which when ignited tells others without wonder who you are, who you’ve become or are yet becoming.  Your voice is as unique to you as your fingerprint.  Have you claimed your uniqueness?

Finding the voice that is YOU alone will support you endlessly.  When shared, this voice carries a quality of authenticity that builds trust amongst your tribe, your fans, your audience.

Your Voice, Your Mantra

Are you using your voice, or that of another?

Do you know what your voice is, or has it been buried for so long you’re not sure?

If you could re-discover your uniqueness, would you be interested?

How could getting clearer with your voice make any difference to what you do?

Would it make a difference if people could feel the real you in your words?

Would it make a difference if people felt a deeper bond of loyalty to you because they trusted your ‘voice’?

I believe the answer to these questions is YES.  And I also believe that when we get a yes; it’s a call to action.  If you’re feeling a yes; then let’s get started!

Call to Action!

Here are some stimulating questions to help in getting clearer with your voice:

• What is the voice you’re currently sharing?
  Is it authentically, uniquely you? If so, what are the things that make that true? If not, whose voice are you using?
  Why? What are the qualities of that voice that you resonate (vibe) with?

• How could the voice you’re sharing be more accurate to the real you?
  What could you add that would help others get a better sense of your true essence?

• Has your unique voice evolved over time with growing awareness, changing interests, etc.?
  Is this an environmental influence of sorts?
  Would your fingerprint change with changes in your environment?

Dig Deep~

These are not trick questions.  Only questions to have you dig a bit deeper.  Our finger prints don’t change.  They are with us from birth.

Our essence, that which is at the core of our being doesn’t change either.

It’s our life experiences, specifically our perspectives of those experiences,  that change and either bring us nearer or farther to that core essence.  The more aligned our thinking is with our true nature, the more in sync we are with our uniqueness.  Our essence.  Our brilliance.

Are You Listening?

It’s this core that we’re listening for.

This is our voice.  This is the voice we want to bring to every thing that we say or do.  This is the spark that when ignited shines our brilliance for all the world to see…and for our audience to align with as they feel supported in shining their own brilliance.

Isn’t this what we all desire, deep down?  It doesn’t matter what our job, vocation, or talent is.  This applies to them all.  It isn’t prejudiced; doesn’t segregate.  Deep down we all want to be who we are, be recognized and have others be able to do the same.  Consciously.

How can you impart “infinitely more than the mere surface sense of words seems to indicate” as the mantra does?

Simply by infusing your essence, your eternal spark of inspiration into every word you choose.  It’s about layers, depth and truth of character.

If this interests and inspires you, please share your thoughts in the comment section.  Let’s talk.

If you’d like some gentle assistance in finding your unique voice and some guidance on how to better share that with others; please connect with me here.

Happy Buddha Photo

Idea  ☛ Innovation: try, learn, keep evolving.  Life and creativity is a discovery journey so keep going, keep exploring and keep bringing more information into your central circle of understanding.  Filter the best ideas, practices and concepts from your explorations, mashed up, reinterpreted through your own personal brand of creativity, these thoughts are a way forward…

How do you move from ideas to innovations?