#thinkdifferent
On the other hand, this is a familiar story. Everyone’s doing it. Blog, tweet, post, like. Eat, sleep, repeat.
In a digital world in which no one will shut up, maybe that’s the best thing to do. It sounds simple (obvious, even). If everyone is overexposed, who’s going to notice you? That’s not to say that you’re not brill, interesting and all round fab. That’s not to say your opinion is not valid or compelling. It’s just that, again, someone else has said it before. In the exact same way (read: online).
If you don’t #doitbetter, do it different. Stop adding to the endless online chatter and make your point in the real world. Make a speech as a thought leader, start a campaign as an activist, build a bricks-and-mortar business. There’s nothing wrong with old school.
Jennifer Lawrence focuses, laser-like, on her phenom acting and doesn’t feel the need to snap, tweet and Insta everything in her world. She is anti-‘social’ in the best possible way but that doesn’t mean J-Law doesn’t speak out. She is a powerful advocate for gender equality, making equal pay a particular passion despite being the world’s highest-paid actress in 2015 ($52 million) and 2016 ($46 million).
Because she is not incessantly up in your business, when Jennifer finally voices, Hollywood takes notice. When the A-lister and Oscar winner discovered later in her $52 mil year, 2015, that she was paid less than her male co-stars in American Hustle (7% cut of the profits to their 9%), she penned a candid essay slamming the outrageousness. Then she promptly demanded her due, earning $20 million for the following year’s Passengers. That’s how you make your point without adding meaningless sound bites to the online noise. Slay, girl.
Consider doing something left field and check the success it brings. Loads of celebs don’t think different, instead following the tried-and-tested formula of releasing a fragrance, book and maybe even a fashion line. But who releases a cellphone game? Kim does — to the value of nearly $200 million. If someone does stray from that well-trodden licensing path, they usually think different within their field. Not that that’s a bad thing, quite the opposite — it’s leveraging what you know and what you’re good at. Actress Drew Barrymore, for example, co-founded production company Flower Films, which produced hit flicks like Charlie’s Angels, Donnie Darko and He’s Just Not That Into You.
But it’s rare that someone starts a (seemingly) random venture so, if they do, it probably aligns with their true values. Any purpose-driven effort will likely bring overwhelming success so it might in fact be better to go rogue than stay with what you know. Getting out of your comfort zone can really pay off.
Jessica Alba is a $340 million woman. (At least, she was prior to a few challenges — more on that later). The actress-turned-entrepreneur co-founded an ethical goods empire of baby, beauty and home products in The Honest Company. At the time of the start-up’s highest valuation of $1.7 billion, she was among America’s richest self-made women.
Once a unicorn, a company worth more than $1 billion, The Honest Co. has faced its share of setbacks, primarily in bad press and litigation over allegedly misleading claims. In business the fight is par for the course, but this latest episode is a hard lesson in damage control. But as Jessica herself says, starting a business takes gumption and tenacity and, if it were easy, everyone would do it.
To her credit, though, Jessica has helped to push forward the celebrity business model into one that develops a real connection to consumers rather than the same old that expects to put a face to product. For all you budding celebs (or mere mortals launching a venture that marketing will apparently drive), try to think different and build a business through customer connection and resilience not just build a brand through overexposure and endorsements.
