When was the last time you thought, “Boy, I have so much free time on my hands?”
If you’re like most people, the last time you thought that you were still in grade school.
Being busy goes hand in hand with being an adult.
Whether you’re a CEO, a lawyer, a businessman, a doctor, a teacher, a parent, or even a student, in today’s world, it just never seems like we get a break.
I blame the Internet.
Sure, the Internet does make our lives a heck of a lot easier, but at the same time, it also makes things that much tougher.
First off, these days we’re always within reach. Email, chat, FB, the phone. There’s no escape.
On top of that, now our competition doesn’t sleep. B.I. (Before Internet) all we had to do was stay ahead of our local competition. Not any more. Now people halfway across the world are the competition. People willing to work harder, for less money for the chance at the “American Dream,” without having to leave their house.
Then there’s simply keeping up with technology. One month you’re on top of the search engines, the next you’re invisible, just because Google has tweaked their search algorithm. And that’s just your website.
You get the point. While the opportunities are greater than ever before, and you don’t even need any qualifications to build a billion-dollar company (think Mark Zuckerberg) or an app that takes the world by storm (think Flabby Bird), the competition is also tougher.
That’s why it’s critical in business to make sure people understand precisely what makes your product or service unique.
In marketing, it’s referred to as a unique selling proposition, or U.S.P. for short.
And the key to this is keeping things short and sweet.
Apple probably does this better than anyone. Think about some of their products over the years. The iPod was hip, the iPhone was a computer in your pocket, the iPad was revolutionary, and the Macbook Air was thin.
But the one thing each of these products had in common, that most people don’t mention, was its simplicity. They just worked.
The thing is about technology is a lot of people find it overwhelming.
Steve Jobs knew this so set about making tech fun for everyone.
In this day and age, we all suffer from information overload. From the commercials we see on TV, and the newsletters we get in our mailboxes, to the sites we visit every day, there is no shortage of information which is why it is so critical that we make things simple for people.
Even in the personal development field, more and more authors and speakers are taking the time to break things down into a few main categories, so that it’s more manageable.
Most people don’t want to, nor could, sit through a two-day event (despite how valuable they might be). They want something they can throw onto their smart phone and listen to while waiting for the train or on their way to work.
And to make things more memorable, the lectures are broken up into categories.
I looked at five other people in my field and created an infographics for quick reference. You’ll notice some overlap, but each is unique in presenting the various secrets of success.
Click here to check it out (be sure to zoom in, cuz it’s pretty big)
Adrian Shepherd