Nice Work Advice on good ideas, creativity and bold business moves

On how to create a mindset of optimism and value in your business

The last bits of summer are upon us, and there’s typically a ramp-up in work that comes along with it. This is why we chose to focus on ways to brighten how we work this past month. In August, we explored the phenomenal concepts within the Blue Ocean Strategy, and how to build unique value and less competition within your company. We’ve also explored topics around cultivating your creativity, being courageous, and how to confidently share your bright ideas. 

If you’re new here, at the end of each month, we gather up our inbox of questions and open inquiries and pull together a Q+A that revolves around the specifics. 

If you ever read an edition of our newsletter that applies to a personal situation you’re experiencing and want some custom advice on the subject, you can tell us about it and ask a question via Instagram, leave a comment on Substack, or respond to any newsletter you receive to your email. We’ll share it + our answers in this monthly column.

So, on the menu for today’s Q+A: how to be different when your product already exists on the market, how to structure creativity in a way that creates momentum and tough situations around being courageous at work.

Let’s dive in, 

Jade + Rachel

Get caught up on the last month! ✨

Exploring the Blue Ocean Strategy

Calling in your creativity

On being brave

On malicious positivity

Nice Work Advice Column 

On how to create a mindset of optimism and value in your business

Q: What’s your advice on differentiating your product or offering when it already exists on the market? I feel like it’s so hard to not be in a competition spiral in my business when I’m constantly fighting for airtime to declare we’re the best version of whatever’s out there. 

Jade:

One of the things I’ve learned as a yoga teacher, that applies to so much of life, is that it’s not so much about what you teach, but how you teach it. In this case, it’s not about what you sell, but how you sell it. There are always going to be people doing the same stuff you’re doing, but it’s your unique essence and human flare that will attract the right customers to you. 

If you’re already level with your competitors on price, quality, and features of your product, go back to your ‘why’. Build a story around that and mean it. And invite you or your team’s unique creativity to be the differentiator. Branding should reflect equal parts who you truly are AND who you want to attract. 

People are going to be drawn to the way your brand carries itself within the market. And your brand won’t be for everyone, and that’s okay! There absolutely IS enough business to go around. 

Rachel:

I like the blue ocean approach to this, which is: You don’t have to be the best product, service, or company ever. Because that would mean you would need to handle alllllllll of that business. And as Jade says, there is enough business to go around, so there’s no reason you need to approach this from an all-or-nothing standpoint. What you should do, though, is figure out exactly who you want to be selling to - and who you know you could sell to, if they knew about you. Differentiate for them, specifically! The Blue Ocean book talks about this as “tiers of noncustomers”, which I recommend reading through. It solves for the pressure of needing/wanting more customers without racing to the bottom against everyone else. I did this exercise for my business about 8 months ago, and it really decreased my anxiety about needing to constantly find more customers. I realised that so many more people could be customers, if we just built some avenues for them to do so. So we did. 

We’re thinking of launching a monthly Nice Work online session for our subscribers - an office hours of sorts to come in and ask questions like this, for real! Let us know:

Q: I just read your article on creativity and loved the tips but feel like I still need more guidance on how to use my ideas to move forward in actually BUILDING something or making a change. For reference I’m trying to figure out how to start a side business around a personal brand. 

Jade: 

My gut is urging me to offer the distinction between a creative practice and a planning practice! And for a lot of people, these are totally separate. So, if you’re bogging down your creativity because there’s always a looming “how do I use this” mulling on in the back of your brain, you’re likely taking yourself out of the important creative process a bit! 

I read an opinion piece (wish I could remember the source!) recently that resonated with me deeply as a writer, and think it applies here too. It simply argued that the Oxford comma (and other written-word nuances) actually aren’t at all meant to be for the writing process. Writing is art and has no time or space for such nuance. The Oxford comma is for editing. A totally different job and skill set. 

In the case of more broad creativity, allow it to first be unbound and free in its expression. It’s not for you to refine and make sense of yet. Only to capture. THEN, find a totally different time to think about your ideas more linearly. For planning and actioning towards big life changes, I really like mind mapping. 

Rachel:

I hear this as: You have the creative ideas to create a personal brand/side business, and now you’re seeking that same creativity to show up as scaling and building it. As you’ve probably worked out, planning and launching also requires creativity, but a different kind - a kind I like to call “scheming.” And when scheming, a few of the same rules still apply. First, be undistracted so the ideas can come to you. You will still need the help of Google, but turn your notifications off. Second, have some kind of a planning tool - a notebook, maybe an online whiteboard (we like Miro for this!), or even a Google Doc. Third, work through some questions on your product! Like:

1. What are other people selling that I could sell? What is their product - coaching? Courses? A product or some kind? Or just information?

2. What is no one selling that they should be?

3. Who are they selling to - from what they say/do/market? (You might need to work backward here - “Based on the aesthetics of their site, the types of courses they run, and the way they post, I think they’re going after Gen Z women…”)

4. What are their price points for this? If I can’t figure it out, what would I pay for it? 

5. How much do I need to make annually to be comfortable (Pro tip: Revisit the calculus on setting rates from this newsletter!)  

Don’t forget: Some of thinking of these answers might still require sitting on a bench in the sunshine, sketchbook in hand, zoning out in your own thoughts. Or you could be at your desk with a plan. Regardless of where you are, write it all out - or draw it. Decide what kind of product you want to offer. Then, from there, start to create some scenarios of how much you’d want to sell them for, how many you’d need to sell to hit your goal. Once you have that, then you can really scheme on HOW to sell it. That’s an exercise all its own: Do you need a website? Do you need an Instagram? How often do you need to make your product obvious to the market to get the sales you want? (PS. I find this kind of creativity super fun - I bet you will too. Let us know how it goes!)

Q: I’m an engineer at a tech company and we’re building a brand new software. The way that our team works, it’s not really my job to develop the path that the software takes, just to be handed the path and figure out the steps to make it possible if that makes sense. Anyway, I’ve got the path that I’m meant to work on but I actually don’t think it’s the most efficient way to go. Wondering if you have any tips on how to approach a totally different team without them feeling attacked?