Being on the other end of the hiring process served as an enlightening experience. I finally got to see how “templated” most students presented themselves, as they competed for jobs and internships. When I contacted my school’s employment office requesting potential interns for one of my earlier startups, I received a slew of resumes in my inbox. They were all properly formatted, had the same number of “impressive” statistics and extracurricular activities, and noted the same types of “impressive” classes. The problem was, although they were impressive, none of them were remarkable.
All of their resumes tried to convince me that they were fit for the job, but none of the students took any risks to entice me to reach out to them. I wanted to know who the real applicant was, what she hated, what she loved, something creative that she did to pull out of an impossible situation, and that she had a sassy personality that she wasn’t afraid to let shine through—and I didn’t want to wait until the interview to find out.
Customers and venture capitalists, believe it or not, want the same thing. They’ve seen companies and their CEOs try to pitch things (no matter how “impressive”) with the same templated messages ad nauseam. People generally try to remain in the realm of normal and safe while trying to market themselves or their products. A student looking for a job tries to shoot for the highest GPA, while the fledgling tech entrepreneur tries to make an incrementally faster computer chip—both will fail, because although they are doing something impressive, they’re not remarkable because everyone else is doing it as well.
Entrepreneurs need to start thinking about transforming everything they do to become remarkable, because just being impressive is a loser’s game. The big players in the market (the Intels, Philips, Toyotas, and Nikes of the world) have already mastered that. As a smaller player, the only way you’ll have a fighting chance is to do something different, such that customers and investors will stop amid their “tuned-out” state, turn their heads, and look at you.
When I say to become remarkable, I mean in everything that you do, including your business and your daily life. I understand it’s not easy to do. In fact, people unconsciously choose to “fit in” and not be remarkable to avoid the fear of failure and the fear of being ridiculed. It’s thus unnatural to strive to stand out by departing the realms of “normal” and “safe” and we instead feel compelled to “impress” to attain our goals. However, everyone who has reached excellence and finally received the world’s attention has faced resistance and criticism. In fact, the associated resistance is often an indication that one is on the right track. Tyler Tervooren wrote an excellent post on Advanced Riskology entitled “Manufacturing Hate: How to Piss Off Critics and Make People Love You,” if you would like to reframe the fear of being ridiculed on the path to becoming remarkable.
Here are some practical tips for exiting the realm of “normal” and “safe” and becoming remarkable:
- Change something in your product, branding, or interaction with customers that will make them stop and react.
- Start introducing yourself in a unique way.
- Put yourself in new situations.
- Put yourself in new clothes (that you wouldn’t normally wear).
- Try something new to get you out of your comfort zone.
- Hang out with people who take risks and will hearten you to do the same.
- Question everything that seems normal in your daily routine (including things you observe on the street or at the store) and ask if it can be done differently.
- Any time you find yourself trying to impress someone, stop and ask how you can be more authentic and let your true personality shine.
- Any time you find yourself trying to improve something, question if the aspect you’re trying to improve is the right one.
Perhaps regularly practicing these items will get you into the habit of thinking and acting differently. In addition this will spur your hidden creativity and allow you to get noticed. As a smaller player, you can be certain that this is the only way you can thrive. Being risky is a lot less risky than being safe.
(click image above)