Have you ever thought about what makes you truly unique? And have you thought about how you can use this to your advantage as a business leader or entrepreneur? I’m talking about going deeper than cliches.
Last week in Rasa DiSalvo’s Intuitive Business Mastery program, we focused on what makes us unique and how we can use that to be a differentiator in the businesses that we run.
As someone who is always so focused on what makes each of the businesses/brands that I work with unique, I admittedly hadn’t carved out the time to reflect on this for myself (which is why I invest in coaching and masterminds, but I digress).
Reflecting on this for myself rather than just taking my clients through it was truly illuminating. This comes as no surprise to me because I see the impact of knowing this in the brands that I work with, but obviously we all need a reminder sometimes.
So here’s my call to action for you to do the same. But before you do that, let’s talk about a few different ways you can look at this.
What do you know makes you unique?
There are some facets of us that we know make us unique. These are our known superpowers. These could be things that we’ve known about ourselves for a long time or something that we’ve recently discovered about ourselves.
While you may know this to be true, it’s important to write it down so you can take an inventory of these items. So often, when we recognize this as something that makes us unique, it’s during the normal course of our days, not because we were intentionally reflecting.
By writing these qualities about yourself down, you can aggregate and see these beliefs about yourself. This also allows you to see potential trends or synergies in these qualities.
One example of something that I know makes me unique but just recognized and leaned into is that I bring joy and fun to the work that I do. Even though this was a recent discovery, after I reflected on it, I realized that people had been telling me this for some time.
What are the unique traits right under your nose?
Then there are some facets of us that we may not realize make us unique. There are two categories of this. Some of these qualities we may not realize about ourselves due to imposter syndrome, and in that case, we’ll need others to help us bring those qualities to the surface.
However, some of these qualities are right under our noses, but we don’t even notice them as being unique because they are so glaringly obvious. That’s what we’re going to talk about here.
The reason that we don’t acknowledge these obvious traits is because we take these aspects of ourselves for granted. It has come so second nature to us and is something that we ourselves and/or others have acknowledged in us for a long time.
But it doesn’t make us any less unique!
Let me give you an example to illustrate.
When we went through this exercise in the mastermind, my coach was listing off some potential items for us to consider; one of those items was “good with words”. As soon as she said it, I was like, “oh yeah… that’s me.” It was so obvious, because it’s what I do, that I hadn’t considered it as something that makes me unique.
And yes, other ghostwriters and copywriters are good with words as well. But this skill is still unique. It’s unique because, as I’m running my own race, my ability to be good with words is unique to the businesses that I’m helping. They have other areas of expertise, and being good with words may not be one of them.
How does this differentiate you as a leader or business owner?
It’s not enough to just recognize the qualities that make you unique. In order to leverage those traits most effectively, it’s important to reflect upon how you can use these in your career.
Some ways that you can do this are:
- Include them in your messaging
- Create assets that capture this essence
- Bring them into your style
And one of the most powerful ways that you can use this awareness after enough practice is to use it in your decision-making.
For example, I look for clients where there will be fun and joy from both sides in the working relationship. Of course, as someone with execution orientation as a superpower, we’re going to get excellent work done as well, but there’s no reason we can’t have some joy and levity in what we do.
I help time-crunched business leaders and entrepreneurs enhance their brand through my ghostwriting and strategic communication offerings. Sound like you? Book a discovery session using the link below!
Disclaimer: This blog should not be construed as providing, or intending to provide professional financial, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. It is simply meant to share my experiences with those who may find them relatable and helpful.