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October 3, 2010

“don’t be the best in the world at what you do; be the only one in the world who does what you do.”

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[Last Fri­day I was sig­ning prints– 175 of these pup­pies. SAP, the large, Ger­man enter­prise tech com­pany put in a very large order, to give out to cer­tain key peo­ple within the orga­ni­za­tion. Trying to have a Smar­ter Con­ver­sa­tion. Exactly.]

“Don’t be the best in the world at what you do; be the only one in the world who does what you do.”

That quote is me paraph­ra­sing Jerry Gar­cia, lead gui­tar of The Gra­te­ful Dead. The thought always reso­na­ted with me.

If peo­ple like what you’re doing, and you’re the only one who’s doing it, you win.

Which is why I like doing Cube Gre­na­des. Com­pa­red to what most peo­ple are selling out there, they’re fairly unique.

It’s also what makes blogs so power­ful a mar­ke­ting device. Peo­ple can just see your own uni­que shtick evol­ving right there on the page, over time. They’ll either get it even­tually or they won’t. No sales pitch nee­ded. No need to com­pare your­self to some­body else. No need to fit into some pre-existing model, if you don’t want to.

It has never been a bet­ter time to be unlike anyone else. I hope you’re already taking full advantage…

7 Responses to ““don’t be the best in the world at what you do; be the only one in the world who does what you do.””

1. Diego Rahming says:

   October 3, 2010 at 8:04 PM

   I´ts velar to judge we indi­vi­dual evol­ved so in so small abs­trac­tion when com­pa­red to else abs­trac­tion fra­mes. Ter­mi­nal 10 years ratt­ling were defi­ni­tive when it comes to study and gadgets

   Reply
2. remington dayn-ryan says:

   October 3, 2010 at 11:25 PM

   *CAUTION
   The above quote may change your life
   thanks hugh!

   Reply
3. Cardboard Spaceship says:

   October 4, 2010 at 8:14 AM

   Great stuff Hugh, who would’ve thunk when we were sit­ting bullshit­ting in the Blue Parrot that one day I would wan­der the corri­dors of a Ger­man Soft­ware House, and see your bought and paid for by serious suits art on the walls, as ship­ped from Texas.

   Reply
4. Murphy says:

   October 4, 2010 at 9:47 AM

   great con­cept

   Reply
5. Crabs, Poppies And Danish Towns – Fernando Gros says:

   October 5, 2010 at 1:00 AM

   […] of a com­pet­it­ive way of view­ing rela­tion­ships and work. Per­haps that’s why I found Hugh MacLeod’s latest post so chal­len­ging, when he says, “Don’t be the best in the world at what you do; be the only one in the world […]

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6. Why School Teachers Should Be Paid Less | Web Site Design, SEO, Internet Marketing, and Training for Small Business says:

   October 10, 2010 at 1:21 PM

   […] Read the entire article at: http://gapingvoid.com/2010/10/03/dont/ […]

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7. Social Media and You , Archive » So what is inbound marketing, again? says:

   October 23, 2010 at 8:04 PM

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