What comes first – the chicken or the egg?

We live confusing lives. Especially if we choose to do it on the leading edge.

In the world of commerce, businesses lead the way in making (and losing) money. So, an individual who wants to make money thinks that running a business is the way to go. Every business starts with a business plan – some more complex than others.

When I started my business, I tried to put a business plan together. It had sections containing product/service, fulfilment, accounting, sales, marketing, employment, quality, human resourcing and a few others.

In the chicken and egg scenario, there are only two choices. But in the business game, every component seemed equally important. Just like in life, where we seem to need to juggle so many balls together to keep the show on the road. It is no wonder that it can cause deep depression and feelings of hopelessness – even amongst the seemingly successful.

After years of experimentation, I have found that the secret to success lies in the discovery that the chicken is in fact the most important.

You see, without the chicken – there is no need for the egg.

Putting it another way, if the world did not need chickens – then the eggs serve no purpose (other than just for food). But if there were no eggs and the world wanted chickens, then there will be a way to make chickens without the need for eggs.

Back to business and life. I have discovered that the most important part in business is the marketing plan. Marketing has to come first before everything else. Any business that does not get this part right is doomed to failure – no matter how good the other business components are. Remember ‘Betamax”?

I always thought that marketing was only for business. Until I recently realised that the quality of a life is very much dependent on the how good that life is marketed. In this game of life, we all play a role. Until we can clearly define that role (one of the key concepts of marketing), we become like lost sheep in a NZ paddock.

Personal branding may seem like a fashionable modern invention – but t is just another example of our society’s recent discovery of the importance of ‘personal marketing’.

How to create that irresistible personal brand.

I spent a lot of time in the markets when I was young. My parents were market gardeners most of their lives and this was the environment in which I grew up. At a young age, I used to spend time after school helping my dad sell at his market stall. Then when I was studying at Uni, weekends and holidays were spent at the vegie section of Sydney’s Paddy markets.

You would think that after all this experience, I would have learnt a few things about selling and marketing. I can tell you that I learnt only the basics and not much more.

And this is the thing. We can spend a life time doing life and only end up doing the basic things until the day we die. Life is so forgiving that we can afford to muddle through it and still get to the end.

But if we want to push the boundaries of life, we must know that marketing controls life’s borders. If you are in a Job all your life, you may think that don’t need to know how to market (wrong!). But if you are in the business of providing jobs for people (as in running a business), then you will not last long without decent marketing.

Job seekers like to put themselves ‘in the market’ for better opportunities (or any opportunity). We put our possessions on the market. Punters for companionship ‘go to market’ in pubs and night spots. But most do not score well because they do not know the basics of marketing themselves.

If they only knew that flogging themselves off successfully was only a matter of 3 simple rules of creating their own personal brand.

Rule #1. You must be unique. You would think that since everyone is born to be like no one else in the world that this is simple to do. But look around and you will see more people trying to be someone else than those few souls who are just happy to be themselves.

Rule #2. It is a team sport. Because we are all unique, we have different skills and these determine our position in the team. The main thing about team sports is sharing and if you have any successful participation in any team sport, then you know that there are a host of other ingredients as well.

Rule #3. You have to keep working on it. This is because the world is driven by work and change…. then fuelled by discovery.

We are all unwittingly branding ourselves (and if you don’t do it, others will brand you). And that pigeon hole is where you are spending your life…

If you take a more active role in the branding process (it is never too late to start), your world will start changing as you start finding another pigeon hole …or make you existing pigeon hole that much more interesting to live in.