We�ve Become Slaves of “Business” Terms and Labels — It�s Sickening!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 12:32pm by David Askaripour in Life

Up until a few days ago I used to think that outright declaring a niche was the best thing an organization could ever do. I mean, it makes sense right? You don�t want to create something �decent� that caters the entire world. You want to offer something �amazing� that caters to a certain group of people — your core demographics.

But I had it all wrong. I understood the need for a niche, but I was trying to use that �niche� as a tool (almost like a weapon) to block out the rest of the world from using my service. After speaking to my friend Mark Hurst about this issue the other day, I had an epiphany (thanks, Mark!).

Yes, you want a niche. That�s fine. But you want to allow your customers, clients, subscribers to form that niche based upon what you offer them — �their experience� of your service. It’s not “your” image of an experience that you’ve constructed in your head, it’s “theirs!”

You don�t want to create barriers such as �you have to be a certain age� or �you have to be an entrepreneur� or �you have to make a certain amount of money� in order to be a part of this service. No. No. No�.

What you want to do is mold your �customer experience� around the ideals of your company, idea, and organization. And then let it loose! Yes, your core demographics will be the ones who you mostly attract, but at the same time you�re not closing the doors for other people to be a part of what you are doing.

For example: If you run a software company and you devise your marketing strategies, conferences, services all around “your” image of a “software person” who you may think is a “nerdy, introverted, glasses-wearing” person and now all of a sudden you have completely blocked out, disrespected and shunned the “muscle-building, macho, and outgoing” person who is just as much into software as the “nerdy, introverted, glasses-wearing” person that you’ve been trying — with all your heart — to attract.

Do you really want to run an organization like that?

I say forget about boundaries! Forget about protecting your niche! Forget about trying to put a definitive label on your organization. Forget about those things. Put your energy into providing an AMAZING customer experience and let �whoever� revolve around that experience.

We�ve become so blinded and caught up in these bullshit business terms and labels. �Entrepreneurship� this, �niche� that, �marketing plan� this, �projections� that. We�re becoming trapped with these business terms and labels that we�re so generously using to justify how we run our organizations.

Have we forgotten about the people? I think so. We�ve forgotten that innovation, �entrepreneurship,� �business� whatever label suits you� isn�t about us, the market, or the niche� it�s about the people who experience your service.

Let the people shape your organization and stop trying to control everything. Stop trying to label everything � geez!

Is the Red Cross nurse who raises 1 million dollars through creative means any less of an entrepreneur than Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? No!

What the hell is an entrepreneur? What the hell is an innovator? What the hell is a leader?

We�ve used these labels to our own detriment. We�re saying �I�m this (label).� And since you don�t have this label that I am using to define myself �You aren�t this (label)� And since you aren�t �this (label)� then you are lacking something or I want nothing to do with you.

This way of thinking is poisonous. Poisonous for your company, organization, community, and life.

Imagine the implications of destroying the labels? Imagine how many more people we could meet. How many more customers and clients would be attracted to our businesses. How many more lives we can change. How richer our lives would become.

Yes, this article goes counter to numerous other articles that I�ve written that were filled with me trying to explain business terms such as �niches,� �demographics,� �marketing plans,� blah…blah�blah� Guess what, I don�t care about sounding like a hypocrite. Going counter to things I�ve said in the past is a small price for coming to a realization that has positively affected my life and organization and that has the potential to affect others.

That�s it.

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