Written by Kim Castle | BrandU.com
Have you ever had one of those moments when someone says something to you and something inside you snaps?
From that critical moment you can only go two ways —lay down and let the emotional car run over you OR stand up like the Grinch on top of his holiday loot, beat your chest, and exclaim the truth.
Well… this is one of those moments for me.
I’m standing on top of the loot of my successfully growing business, beating my chest, and responding to thousands of entrepreneurs around the world and their frustrated plea, “Can I really make money with this?”
Yes, you can!
You can make money from just about anything.
If Gary Dahl could become a millionaire in the 1970’s selling a gray river pebble packaged in a pet carrier with feeding instructions called The Pet Rock, or if Dawn Steel could make millions in the 1980’s by selling the world Gucci toilet paper, then yes… you can make money from just about anything.
You just have to locate the real money in your business. 9 times out of 10 it comes down to your unique way of doing something. I call this your “currency.”
The trick is, you can’t just call it unique and expect the money to rain down. You actually have to decide what your uniqueness is and communicate it in a way that customers buy it.
This is part of the core of what you’re actually trading for the cash exchange. It’s why customers chose to give you their hard earned moola over someone else.
The dictionary describes currency as:
- a system of money used
- widespread acceptance or use of an idea, theory, word, or phrase
- the transmitting of something, from person to person
Stuck in the middle of “I’m not that special”? Don’t fear. Here are the four most fail-proof methods to reveal your own form of legal tender.
1. Package something old in a new light.
Take something as basic as dog boarding and turn it into a spa complete with a yappy hour instead of a happy hour. Showing your creativity and passion for an everyday product or service shines the light brightly on it.
This way requires creativity, passion and a whole of lot of accepting…”you’re nuts”. This is established in your brand.
2. Assemble a collection with a new bow.
Have you been studying something that has helped you grow — personally or professionally? Collecting knowledge from someone, or several people, and weaving it with your own story and your results is a fast way to put yourself in front of customers with something to sell.
This route requires that you credit the source of your found knowledge AND that you share proof of the applied results in your life. If not, your business will crumble… sooner or later. This is established in your brand.
3. Promote a passion instead of creating something.
Are there products or people who you have come across that rock your world? You don’t have to re-create the wheel. You can sell it. There are people who are wired to create things because they have lots of ideas and can’t sleep until they are made solid; often these people can’t sell. They are creators. And there are some people who pick up the ball and run with it… all the way to the bank.
This course requires a combined affinity with sales, a system of marketing, and an on-line or off-line network. This too is established in your brand, even if you’re building on top of another brand as in an affiliate program.
4. Give birth to something new.
One of the greatest gifts your mind gives you is your ideas. If you’ve got the internal drive to turn those tingly feelings into something tangle then go for it. It could be a product, a service, a philosophy applied to a product or service… you name it.
This path requires that you regard your idea like you would a child — from inception, to birth, to rearing, to life. This takes belief, commitment, dedication, discipline, caretakers and most importantly, a 100% reliable structure. At the risk of sounding like a broken record… this too is established in your brand.
So stop wasting your valuable resources — energy, money and time — wondering whether your have what it takes to make something customers will buy. Instead ask yourself are you willing to create it.
And when you decide, I’ll be here. Standing on top of my bags of loot, with my horn a blaring… “brand, brand, brand!” Not only that, I’ll show you the exact way to do it.
