The competitive advantage of being "quirky"
I was reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss, and one thing I really enjoyed was this quote by Derek Sivers:
"When you make a business, you're making a little world where you control the laws. It doesn't matter how things are done everywhere else. In your little world, you can make it like it should be."
When he first built his company CD Baby (https://cdbaby.com/), he originally had an automated, standard email to let you know when the order's shipped, but instead decided to change it to something I'd like to consider "quirky":
"Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby Shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow... We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM".
For the longest time, I've been following templates on welcome emails, but never really took the time to be myself when it came to writing something as small as an automated email.
What are your thoughts to being quirky in business? I know that now, I'm going to revisit my mailchimp campaign and make it unique!
Being yourself is such a competitive advantage. Don't try to seem bigger than you are: you're a guy building a startup, and people appreciate the realness in the vulnerability that comes with that.
Agreed!
Always be quirky! Always be yourself...as they say, everyone else is taken!
I mostly built up Ministry of Testing by doing the things I believed in, even if I didn't properly understand why or where I was exactly heading.
Sometimes I felt like I shy'd away from doing things 'properly', but actually it was what it needed.
I think it's easy to get obsessed at how to doing things properly, but the sooner we realise that everyone is making it up as they go along, the better.
I like products that have personality, but that doesn't necessarily mean quirky. I can think of more cases where quirkiness feels forced and annoying than where it feels authentic, and that's a turn off for me.
I see what you're saying - it's kinda like a person forcefully trying to be funny when that's not who they are 😂
Being yourself and being quirky are separate things. I wouldn't necessarily want a quirky doctor who wears a clown suit to work.
There are plenty of people in the world who can never portray quirkiness nor would they want to. And also I don't think they do. We don't all have to be quirky.
My newest business isn't meant to be quirky. It's supposed to be useful.
It should ooze useful-ness. Everything I do and say in the copy, its helpful and useful.
And there are plenty of people who just can't write great copy. Let alone good copy.
Side Note: Authentic and Real are very different. You can be Authentic without sharing the raw real stuff that nobody cares about.
Great point - depends on the industry and the founder and brand's personality trait. Just like your point, you wouldn't want a bank speaking to you in a quirky tone, and this might fit better for different businesses.
And interested in your last point - what are some examples of the "raw real stuff" that nobody cares about? For example, taxes?
Here's an example: My newsletter I write has a little tiny bit at the bottom about where I'm editing it from. From time to time I'll write more. But it's totally not needed and I'll stay "on brand" as much as possible. I just say "edited in Thailand" or "Los Angeles" and get a few replies every once in a while from eagle eyed readers who want to meet up. And that's authentic.
Real and Raw:
"I'm editing this newsletter on a Macbook Pro. It's old and crusty. I should clean it. I've been using notion a while and I don't really get it. It's like notes, so? OMG I just saw a bird pick up a dog!"
Got it - Appreciate these insights here Andrew!
Just a note - this was written a long time ago pre-covid-19!