Fitting in and being different: How to set yourself apart from everyone else who does what you do
Have you ever noticed that there seems to be approximately 70 billion other insert-your-occupation-here? I’ll use my occupation as an example: Copywriters seem like a dime a dozen these days, and I get it—there’s almost no barrier to entry and the opportunity to make great money really does exist.
I attribute thinking I see copywriters everywhere to the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency bias—when you see something for the first time and then start to see it everywhere…even though it may have been there all along. Basically, if I wasn’t one, I wouldn’t notice.
But I am one, and sometimes I find the volume crippling and wonder how I fit in amongst the masses. Or worse, how do I set myself apart?
However, the more I engage with my work and continued education in copywriting, I feel overwhelmed less often. Here’s a few shifts in thinking that have helped move past feeling so intimidated.
1. They say volume equals demand.
The first copywriting course I ever downloaded—and I still reference it—was by Jacob McMillen, and he actually created a podcast episode about this very topic.
“A saturated market is not an inaccessible market. A saturated market, if anything, should just communicate to you that the demand is strong, that people are paying good money, and that’s caused a lot of suppliers to be attracted to the market,” he said.
I think there’s freedom to be found here, because among a plethora of others in the same field, you really do have a variety of differentiators for setting yourself apart:
The clientele you’re aiming for
Your business organization (for copywriters, this can be as basic as meeting deadlines)
The general ease and smoothness of working with you
Your energy and enthusiasm as a person
Your specialty and what you enjoy doing the most
Your voice
After years working in corporate, let me say that the bare minimum is the very bare minimum, as in it’s not hard to set yourself apart when the standard is in the Mariana Trench. (I’m sure this isn’t true for all corporate environments everywhere, but it sure was my experience.)
2. You really are the only Insert-Your-Name-Here out there.
For fear of your thinking this is turning into a Barney & Friends episode, let me quickly expound:
No one else can match your lived life, second for second. Only you can say that you lived through your exact set of experiences, both personally and professionally, both bad and good.
The rage seems to be sorting our personalities by number or letter. (I’m an enneagram 1 and fluctuate between being an INFJ and an INTJ.) There are tons of you guys out there and tons more for each additional category.
But I’m probably the only ennegream 1/INFJ/INTJ in the world who is allergic to dog saliva AND has four siblings who I love AND who got hit by a bike in Amsterdam AND who ran a half-marathon at Disney World, etc.
These very unrepeatable set of circumstances, experiences and characteristics have uniquely formed me and therefore what I can offer personally and even professionally.
Let me build on this a little, using myself as an example.
When I read something like “OFFER VALUE” or “SET YOURSELF APART,” I tend to quake in my boots a little, especially compared to others whose lives do seem obviously unconventional (at least on social media). But if I sit back and think a little more, I do start to believe that I can offer value and set myself apart by answering questions like these:
What’s your life path like, especially in adulthood? Mine is backwards, at least according to society! I bought a house in the suburbs in my early twenties, moved to a big city and lived with roommates in my early thirties and now live in a basement apartment.
Recognizing this as progress, because it is for my life and my circumstances, has freed me from adhering to convention and has empowered me to take bigger risks, like leaving corporate and building a copywriting business.
Sometimes these shifts and pivots in life aren’t always noticeable at first, and if they are, they feel drastic and take tremendous courage to embrace.
Regardless, understanding the ebbs and flows of your own journey will almost certainly empower you to help others.
Did you study or do something totally different than what you’re doing now? I studied public relations and journalism in college and have a master’s in communication. Not a HUGE pivot to writing. But I have worked in restaurants off and on since I was 14.
I absolutely love working in restaurants because I think they are a total occupational anomaly. Where else can you find the drama of a Grey’s Anatomy episode, the human behavior education of an Ivy League school, and more prime sales opportunities than a poncho stand on a rainy day at Disney World? Not to mention, all of this is steeped in food and libations, two of my favorite things!
But what do restaurants have to do with copywriting? A lot actually. A restaurant is a direct response business. Customers are there to order food. They make their selection, ask for it, and you bring it to them. No restaurant serves everything (besides The Cheesecake Factory); no copywriter does everything for everyone, and if they do, it probably isn’t great. I could go on.
The point being what did you do before and what you’re doing now are all part of your story, are connected in more ways you may realize, and can inform how you help others in your new work.
Have you ever had a major (or minor) victory that resulted in more than you bargained for? Several years ago, I ran a 5K for the first time (I wrote more about that here). This was a big deal for me, as I sort of lost myself in college while gaining a lot of weight, and was working toward feeling better again.
Having no real athletic background, I used the Couch-2-5K program. And it worked. Since then, I’ve applied what I learned using that program to a lot of other areas in life—basically understand and implementing the impact of small steps and how they lead to big change.
But sometimes, things aren’t handed to you with an outline or a step-by-step plan. So, based on the Couch-2-5K program, and my experiences in grad school, I developed my own “syllabus system,” a weekly, step-by-step plan to help keep me accountable to various goals.
And, seeing how I transformed over the course of a few months, I understand far more about transformation and how it really is the heart of appeal for any product or program. And now I love helping clients help their own clients’ transformations, too.
What have you done that you could apply here? I know there’s at least ONE THING.
3. Lean into the kismet of it all.
I love how Sahil Bloom says it: “If you want to create more luck, increase your luck surface area.”
There are definitely steps and formulas and plans and processes and tactics that work, and there’s also a certain “what will be will be” element to life and work, isn’t there?
But we have more control over our destiny than we give ourselves credit for. I am in a constant state of learning to remember this.
“Increase your luck surface area” is a very active statement. In fact, the subsequent Twitter thread lists 20 steps on how to do it. I’m not saying you must follow these exact steps (although there’s some great pointers here), but what I am saying is that we can and SHOULD feel empowered to take the reins of our livelihoods.
We ARE a unique set of genes, of experiences, of perspectives. We already are set apart, more than we realize. But it doesn’t stop at just being: We CAN offer value, impact change, reach new people. And we need to take action to do so. Consider what shifts or growth you want to see most, and then make a list of specific steps to move that needle.
Conclusion
So, now what? First, I’ll say that the opposite of intimidation is confidence. And, thankfully, confidence isn’t a stagnant feeling. You can actually grow it. And for me, mindset shifts like the above have been a great start.
Take a breath, take a walk and think about what’s next. Make a list. Start talking about yourself and your business differently, more concretely. If you need a pep talk, email me. The world is waiting!