Finding Your Distinctive Advantage in Uncertain Times
What talents can you leverage to provide exceptional value that clients can't find elsewhere?
When I came across Alex M. H. Smith's innovative approach to business strategy, it struck a chord that resonated deeply.
His focus on leveraging a business owner's distinctive talents to deliver exceptional value aligns perfectly with the work I've been doing to help micro-businesses navigate economic uncertainty.
If you've been following my journey, you know of my concern about how our faltering economy will impact very small businesses like ours. You've seen me exploring how to best support my clients during these challenging economic times—first by asking about your challenges, then by introducing my "Just In Time" business advice model.
Smith's work—as outlined in his book, No Bullsh*t Strategy: A Founder's Guide to Gaining Competitive Advantage with a Strategy That Actually Works—adds another vital piece to the puzzle we're solving together.
His approach encourages business owners to identify an offering that employs their distinctive talents to their greatest degree while providing exceptional value to clients.
This isn't just theoretical—it's exactly what I've been working on with clients who are not just surviving economic uncertainty but positioning themselves to thrive through it.
Take Kari Joly' Estill, owner of Joly' Vita Bookkeeping & Consulting.
By zeroing in on her QuickBooks training—a blend of video tutorials and one-on-one sessions tailored specifically for small business owners—she's created a high-value offering that meets a critical need: empowering small business owners to maintain accurate financial records without the overhead of a full-service bookkeeper.
Alex Smith's 90-Day Strategy Challenge: A Personal Reflection
Eager to deepen my understanding, I recently joined a webinar Smith hosted. At the conclusion, he gifted participants with his high-leverage blueprint titled "The 90-Day Strategy Checklist."
One exercise in Smith's checklist prompted me to list key competitors. I initially balked—competition has never been my lens for viewing my work or my colleagues.
Why? Because I fundamentally don't see "competitors." I see collaborators.
While competition assumes scarcity—a limited pie where my gain is your loss—collaboration is rooted in abundance. It's about pooling resources and expertise to create greater collective value. This perspective aligns with my deeper vision of fostering a more equitable, compassionate business ecosystem.
My initial resistance led me to an important reframing:
Who are the collaborators in my community?
Who shares my vision of creating value through cooperation rather than competition?
This shift not only felt more authentic to my values but also revealed unexpected opportunities for partnership that I might have overlooked.
Finding Your Distinctive Advantage
As I continue working with clients through these uncertain economic times, Smith's core question keeps surfacing:
What distinctive talents can you leverage to provide exceptional value that clients simply can't find elsewhere?
In my "Just In Time" model, my distinctive advantage is combining decades of small business experience with a flexible support structure that responds to real-time needs—like a business GPS that recalculates when the inevitable yet unexpected detours arise.
What's yours?
As we navigate this economic uncertainty together, I invite you to reflect: What makes your offering uniquely valuable? Who are your potential collaborators in creating greater impact? How might you position your distinctive talents to become even more essential to your clients?
Ready to Find Your Distinctive Advantage?
Economic uncertainty doesn't have to mean putting your business growth on hold. In fact, it's precisely when clarity about your distinctive talents becomes most crucial.
If you're ready to identify and leverage what makes your business uniquely valuable, let's explore this together. My "Just In Time" business advice model is designed specifically for moments like these—when you need focused guidance without long-term commitments.
We'll start with a complimentary 45-minute session to see if we're a fit; after that, you'll only pay for the time with me that you actually need—whether that's a quick 30-minute strategy session or a deeper dive into positioning your distinctive talents.
Think of it as strategic insurance during uncertain times—an investment that reduces confusion and enables you to move forward with confidence.