I bet if you were hanging out with your friends or family and a controversial subject came up, whether you voiced it or not – you’d probably have an opinion about it. Conversationally, it’s a plus to be able to debate opinions or discuss facts in a give and take manner. Some folks can’t do that. But if you’re the entrepreneur who generally reads our blogs, you can probably hang with the best.

If you have ideas for business – something not agreeable in the mainstream – instead of sitting there with your opinion safely tucked inside your head in a box labeled, “not politically correct,” I want to encourage you to take action.  Take a risk by doing or saying something out of the norm that can be useful to others. It could be the thing that makes your business stand out.

I talk about my Dad a lot. He’s been fighting cancer for a couple of years so he’s on our minds around here. Growing up, he would talk about peer pressure, and he would tell us that people loved to have something to talk about, there was always going to be somebody that everyone would put on a pedestal. He said that if we desired that position, many opportunities for compromise would take us down until we were just like everyone else. Instead, he suggested, we should be ourselves the best we could be and not conform our opinions and behavior  based on what everybody else thought. If that behavior brought attention our way, we’d soon see others imitating us.

It is okay to be different, to look at things differently, and to market ourselves differently. It’s actually the only successful way to do it.

Unless you buy a franchise … but even then, you’ll have to take a stand on something once and awhile … and they’re mongo-expensive. I think that might have been how garlic-Parmesan chicken wings began. Or the Slurpee.

Take a stand. Someone in your industry is standardizing stupidity in some way, point it out and do it entirely different. Just because people have become used to a dumb way to do things doesn’t mean your company has to be run that way.

Have you been told that what you’re doing won’t work? Have you resigned yourself to redundant or useless practices merely because that’s how its done? Are you listening to your gut, or following your nose?

Look, we don’t believe a ton of what marketers are saying these days. So much ridiculous, unrealistic B.S. is associated with social media marketing and SEO – there are simply smarter ways to do those things that need to be done. I don’t want to work 14 hours every day, do you? Secret: you don’t have to.

In your business, get rid of stuff that ties your stomach in knots. Oh, occasionally those times will come up, but if those types of things are happening on a regular basis, find a better way to do them or cut them out. Don’t do business in a certain way just because that’s all you know. Figure out how to do that thing smarter.

To wrap it up: have an opinion, take a stand, figure out how to do that thing better, and listen to your gut.

And when someone asks you, “Where do you stand on that?” you’ll be able to respond with less irritation, and more inspiration.

How do you feel about the marketing strategies you’re hearing online? Do you find our posts informative or helpful? Do you think we sound just like everyone else? Leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you.