17: What is your "story?"
Why is your story important? Why is everyone always talking about “your story” being such a big deal when it comes to starting up your business and making your mark locally? We live in a world where there isn’t usually just one plumber in town. Nor is there just one home builder. And unless you live in a remarkably small town, there are going to be multiple cafes, restaurants, mechanical workshops, social media managers, web designers and fashion outlets. If you are planning to open a new business, you are going to come up against competition that has been doing it longer than you, has better contacts than you and has more reputation in the marketplace than you. You are up against the odds. If there isn’t a very big difference between what you, as a graphic designer does, against what every other graphic designer in town does, then you’re going to find it very hard to get any momentum. You will find yourself having to either offer your services at a much lower rate to get a market share, or you will have to have a wider offering of related services than the others do. And if graphic design is all you know, that may be a problem. So if what you do is the same as what most in your field do, then you’re going to have to have a less logical and more emotional reason for someone to choose you. And that will tend to come in the form of your “story.”