Everyone wants to stand out from the sea of sameness—a phrase I coined years ago, right here on this blog, when the Internet first started teetering toward “me, too!” syndrome.
Ask most people how to stand out, and depending on their industry, they’ll tell you something different: Get a website! Learn how to write copy! Write an eBook! Get more publicity!
But those things, in and of themselves, do not help you stand out from the sea of sameness. They might help you increase your credibility; they might help you enhance your perceived authority; they might help more people feel comfortable taking a chance on you; and they might make you feel like a real fucking badass. Sure. But do they help you stand out from the “me, too!” crowd? Not really.
The only thing that can help you do that is something that’s 100% free, and it’s called your opinion.
So many professionals learn the ideas they’re “suppose to learn” and treat themselves as if they were simply a mule, spreading those ideas around like a missionary does his religion. But it’s the rare person who actually contemplates their industry, and their work, with enough passion and zeal, that they begin coming up with ideas of their own—and start their own mission.
Because there’s a difference between sharing ideas, and having them.
And that’s the same difference between someone who has a website, and someone who has an empire.