In any industry there are the “unknown” and the “known” and there’s this huge invisible wall between the two.
We call this, “Sheehan’s Wall,” because this theory was developed by my dear friend Peter Sheehan.
What most of us do is we look at the people who are on the other side of the wall, and all the stuff they’re doing, and thinking that if we do all the things they’re doing we’ll get the same results.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, for example, is a rapper, an actor, and has a tequila line.
He is doing all of these different things and succeeding in all of them.
But the problem is, when you do too many things at once you bounce off the wall.
When you have diluted focus, you get diluted results.
You can’t break through the wall by trying to be all things to all people in all places. The way to break through the wall is to become known for one thing.
We like to couple this idea with another one from Larry Winget.
Larry said, “The goal is to find your uniqueness and exploit it in the service of others.”
But, how do you find your uniqueness?
That’s exactly what Peter Sheehan and I discussed in our interview, and today, I’m going to share with you the three big takeaways I got out of that conversation!
1. CUT YOUR STORY SHORT
The first takeaway applies to so many of our clients and my guess is this applies to you.
Peter said, “Don’t try to include every thing you’ve ever done as part of your story.”
Humans are multifaceted and have a lot of different experiences, so not talking about a bunch of those can be hard.
But you need to understand that personal branding is the digitization of reputation.
And if you want that reputation to be clear and easily understood, you need to focus on the topic that you’re really an expert on.
Scott McCain once said, “Mindshare precedes market share.”
That means your branding needs to occupy a space in people’s minds. And the more different spaces you try to occupy, the less effectively you occupy any one space.
You have permission not to share everything about you.
Not only permission, but I encourage you not to share everything about you.
Because the more you share, the harder it is to kind of wrap it in a way that your audience can easily consume and understand.
Do the same for your feed.
If someone clicks on my account, they’ll see that I’m teaching and coaching.
But I’m also giving them a chance to sample my expertise.
If you’re a stranger visiting my profile for the first time, and all you see is pictures of my kids, even though they’re really cute, you probably don’t care because you don’t know them and don’t add any value to your life.
Whereas if you see the professional things that I offer, you can extract value from that and you’ll probably follow me.
If you want to learn how to build an expert bio for social media platforms, click here.
2. THE KEY TO FINDING YOUR UNIQUENES
The second takeaway is specifically how you find your uniqueness.
When somebody comes to our Brand DNA Event the first we say is that there are four things we’re going to help you get clear on:
1. What problem do you solve in one word?
2. Who exactly do you solve that problem for?
3. How do you solve that problem in one sentence?
4. How do you make money solving that problem?
The way Peter said you should find your uniqueness is by asking yourself, “What is your value?”
“Who do I want to solve that problem for?”
“What is your business model?”
The great irony of personal branding is that your personal brand is not about you.
Your personal brand has value in the context of what it does for other people.
That’s what people get really confused and insecure about.
They ask questions like, “Why would anyone care about me?”
“Why should I post pictures of myself?”
They don’t care about you.
They care about what you can do for them.
You’re basically extending the value, experiences, and wisdom you have and making that available to the world.
Ask yourself, “What is my unique take on solutions I have for the world?”
“What unique expertise do I have to offer you?”
“What problems did I once have?”
And when you can answer those, you have found your uniqueness.
It’s one of the reasons why we always say, “You’re most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were.”
Because to that person, the unique way that you solve that problem is highly relevant.
When you focus on that, you’re not trying to manufacture something that isn’t there, you’re literally translating the value of your human experience and existence for the benefit of another person.
That’s tremendously unique!
Having a different slogan, headline, or different style of videos won’t make you unique. It’s your experiences and the life you’ve lived that will make you stand out from all the noise.
That is your uniqueness!
3. CLARITY IS KEY
The last takeaway is a direct quote from Peter Sheehan.
He said, “The clearer you are, the easier decision making gets.”
That is so true!
The clearer you are about what your values are, the easier it is to select, who you hang out with, who you hire, who you vote for, where you go to eat, and where you spend your time.
You can capture and codify it.
The nuance that I would add to what Peter said is, “The clearer you are, the faster you go.”
Because as decision making gets easier, you can make those decisions a lot faster.
So, you HAVE to get clear.
These were the three key takeaways from conversation with Peter Sheehan on how to find your brand’s uniqueness.
If you’re struggling with locking down your uniqueness and getting clarity for your personal brand, book a Free Brand Call with one of our Personal Brand Strategists today!
