My friends and I were at a barbeque the other weekend where we met a couple and over the course of drinks, burgers and brauts the cliché but expected question arose of what everyone did for a living.
The woman answered first to say that she worked as a meeting planner and organizer. There was then a few beats of silence after she said that as everyone quickly tried to figure out what a meeting planner was. Once the assumed realization that it was a futile position the attention was direction to the man who responded to the same question to say that he owned a company that designed and made custom doors.
Instead of silence there was then a series of follow up questions on what types of doors he made, how big the doors got, what materials he used to make doors as well as all the unique uses for doors such as vintage doors turned into kitchen tables or even wall art.
Unfortunately his partner no doubt felt embarrassed by the sudden shift in energy.
The question everyone asked themselves in their mind was “who needs someone to plan a meeting for them?” They then answered their own questions in their mind within a split second “no, probably not.” My guess is that she has to constantly defend or define the purpose of her position in conversations like these.
Contrast that with his role of doing something, which was not only unique – but generated interest and intrigue. What he did was art – not in the traditional sense – but in the fact that he created something he was passionate about that others could develop an interest in.
Relate this now to your endeavors. Are you working on something which is futile, standard, useless in the minds of your target consumers? Or are you developing something which has the potential to be different, exciting and stimulate interest, intrigue and conversation?
This is why we need more custom door makers and less meeting organizers.
James Patrick
IG @jpatrickphoto
jamespatrick.com
