How to stand out when you are a small operation.

As a small shop, leaning into your personality is the best tool you have for standing out in a noisy marketplace, building a memorable brand, and creating marketing that draws in your audience instead of just sells them on something.

And the biggest piece of your personality is your purpose.

Why do you care? Why do you do the work you do? What difference, big or small, do you hope to create in someone's life?

Your purpose is personal. And think back to lesson one where we talked about the tree. What we're building here is the roots, the part of the tree that is underground and out of sight. This is not something you're going to tell your customers or your audience directly but it is going to inform everything else you do.

And because your purpose is not public, you're free to keep qualifiers off of what you do. So when I say small shop, all I mean is that you're a small operation. Maybe you're a small business. But you can also be a maker or artist who wants the creative freedom that comes with directly going to their audience. Or maybe you're an activist or non-profit. These lessons are thoughtfully designed to be valuable to all of you.

But that also means that there are lots of different types of purposes. A non-profit might be trying to end period poverty. While a small business might exist to bring joy and connection through food in a relaxed environment.

And so here is what I mean by keeping qualifiers off what you do.

No matter what your purpose is, it's enough.

As long as you genuinely care and are committed to doing the work. There is no value that comes from comparison. We need all these things in our lives. And more than anything, we need people who genuinely care.