Today, let’s look at one of the key factors in building a remarkable, profitable business.

Your business and doing it your way

Malcolm Gladwell was once asked how to write a best selling book. His answer was as follows:

“The moment you write a book hoping it will be a best seller, your chances of it becoming a best seller go downhill. […] You write the book you would want to read.”

Gladwell went on to explain that Steve Jobs never brought a product to market, because he thought the marketplace wanted it.

Think about that for a moment:

• Gladwell writes books that he would want to read. They are unlike any other books in his niche. His books are also amongst the best selling non fiction books of the last 30 years.
• Jobs created products because he thought they were beautiful. Jobs’ success with Apple led to his company being the most highly valued in the world.

The lesson here?

If we want to create remarkable products, remarkable services and deliver remarkable experiences, we should deliver what we believe is right.

Think about it: The only way we can hope to build a meaningfully different business is to tap into our uniqueness. To give the marketplace what we would value, if we were the customer or client. If we simply look at what our competitors do, then find a way to do it a little faster or a little cheaper, we become unremarkable.

When Roger Banister broke the 4 minute mile barrier, he was remarkable. The next guy, who ran a little faster than Bannister, wasn’t.

In short: Set your own bar. Create what you believe is valuable. Deliver an experience, product or service that would get you talking, if you were lucky enough to be one of your clients.

Oh, and in case you are wondering… yes, you absolutely can do it!

The post A remarkable lesson from Steve Jobs and Malcolm Gladwell appeared first on Jims Marketing Blog.