Revolving debt, as anyone with a credit card can attest, is more stifling than a rugby dogpile. By dumping negative on top of negative, it keeps you stuck, hungry, and unable to feel true freedom.
But as onerous as being in debt to Big-Brother-esque financial corporations can be, there is a subtler, even more transfixing form of revolving debt that can hamstring your best efforts at working productively, being effective, and feeling free.
It’s the revolving debt of normalcy.
Say what?
Everybody wants to fit in. And each of us has old pictures in their minds from the time when “being cool” was hot — yes, even the in-crowd.
But yearning for a sense of social normalcy only straight-jackets your success as a small business.
Because when thoughts of, “What will they think? Will they like it? Will they buy it?” start dominating your mental landscape, then you’re spiraling quickly down the toilet-bowl of revolving debt.
Maybe not financial debt (or, not yet). But spiritual debt, the kind of soul-gnawing itch that tells you you’ve given too much of yourself away, yes. Because following anyone else’s idea of what’s right for your business is as exhausting as sitting in rush-hour creep.
Not to mention, it’s the worst way to get noticed, liked, and listened to (and ultimately, bought from), even though that’s the intention that drives you to adopt the vanilla attitude.
Why?
Because people don’t line up for vanilla. They don’t want to listen to you say all the same things everyone has already said.
People — the people that are waiting for you — don’t want you to fade into the monochromatic background of normalcy. They — the people that need your help — want you to stand up strongly for who you are and what you believe, even if (or especially if) it goes against the grain.
Don’t be a sheep… be a shepherd.
Why is standing out so important? It goes back to the primary rule of marketing: People listen to you because they want what you have. That’s right; they see the success (however they define it) they want in you, and figure that listening to you is the best way to get it for themselves.
So do you think people want vanilla? Do they want to be sheep? Do they want to blend into the crowd? Stone the bloody crows, no!
They want to be inspired, strong, and capable of standing on their own. They want to be able to resist the black-hole-pull of normalcy, and sound their own barbaric yawp across the rooftops of the world (hats off to Whitman). And the last thing that’s going to get them that is a vanilla sheep.
But a shepherd? That’s a world apart.
Shepherds aren’t in spiritual debt, because they aren’t letting the sheep dictate their pace. Shepherds stand out in a field of sheep, and that why they’re followed.
But, if I stand out, will people like me?
No, they’ll love you. They’ll love you because you aren’t letting your fear get the best of you, like their fears have bested them. They’ll love you because you’re unique, just like they want to be.
And, speaking your own message is as energizing as a caffeine IV drip. Stepping out with your own passion, bringing the love you have in your heart to the world juices up everything you do, because nothing is more enlivening than freedom. It will free you from the malaise of conformity and the debt of inner emptiness.
So go on — beat that drum, sound that yawp, and get out of debt. Your clients will love you for it.
Image by falcifer.
