What Makes You Different?

I am finding that my USP changes as time goes on.

When I started writing for others under my own banner, I saw my USP as my unique combination of education and experience. Not many Computer Science grads double majored in Communication Arts and also have an MS degree in Computer Information Systems. A series of layoffs and other professional upheavals suddenly became my strength when I realized that I could tell a potential client, "I have worked in your industry, I served the same customer that you are targeting, I have been your customer and/or I lived in a community like yours and understand what folks there are looking for."

The majority of my clients have been small business owners; so I am almost always working directly with the person who started the business. My endeavors to learn what makes them unique in the marketplace seems to have the unintended, yet wonderful and exciting, side effect of reminding them of why they started the business in the first place. As we work together to define their USP, package what they are selling and formulate a strategy for presentation, I turn from writer to business consultant and confidante.

Most of my clients provide services rather than goods. It's so much fun for me to help them explore what their capabilities are and to discover new services that they had never considered as something worthwhile to market. Not only do I get to help them sell what they have already built but I am helping them to grow into something more.

I am curious by nature and ask a lot of questions - something that is not always welcome in a corporate setting. But, it's my ability to ask the right questions that has enabled me to be more than just a writer for my clients.

 

What makes me different is that I try and put myself in unusual situations and then write about the experiences. That's partly why I live in East Timor.