Stop Doing the Most

I just opened a newsletter that started out with “Sorry it’s been a while…” and I laughed, appreciating the earnestness, but… I get dozens of newsletters each month, open a few, unsubscribe from a few. Their specific absence? I hadn’t clocked it.

There’s this truism in business that’s both challenging and freeing… the fact that NOBODY CARES.

Nobody cares. Isn’t that great? Sure, it makes it hard to get noticed; can make it feel like you’re swimming uphill in a vacuum sometimes. But that very thing that makes connection so challenging is also a bit of grace: If you miss a newsletter, forget a daily post, or say something wonky, it honestly just gets lost in the noise.

Consistency IS important—that’s true. It factors into algorithms (the exact science of which elude me), and long-term consistency is important to humans as well. But consistency doesn’t mean perfection; it just means staying even-keeled over time, and being true to yourself.

Which brings me (finally?) to the subject of brand.

If we can agree that nobody cares, and that it’s more efficient to be yourself, then can we agree that your brand should just be a reflection of who you actually are? Or who/what your business really offers?

Can we also agree to stop spending so much time inventing and perfecting our “brand image” and instead just put out there what you are and how you can help them?

If you want to seem like more than what you already are, or different than you are, then I suggest putting your resources toward making that change, not projecting it.

But more likely, you are already good enough, smart enough, and doggone it—people like you. Just as you are.*

*Hat tip to Stuart Smalley and Mr. Rogers.