How do you build a business, brand or product by doing the complete polar opposite of what everyone else is doing?
As you can see from Smobble HQ, the company I created, it doesn’t look like the “conventional business” that most offices are. That’s because I believe in a strategy that looks at what everyone else is doing, then doing the complete opposite.
You see in most cases when you follow what other people are doing, you end up executing at a smaller scale thus giving you smaller results. I want to show you how to differentiate and separate your business and products from the existing products out there to get amazing results.
Keep in mind that it’s usually only 20% of people that are making 80% of the income. Rather than jumping in and trying to fight for a slice of the pie, I’m going to show you how to create your own pie.
Principles of the Blue Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy is a book on business and management that was published in 2005. While it’s a decade-old, I find many of principles remain valid and continue to use them today.
1. Research the Marketplace & Breakdown Your Competitor
The first step is to look at what other people are doing in the marketplace and to break things down bit by bit. The example given in Blue Ocean Strategy was the business of running a circus.
For decades, the circus niche was dominated by the Ringling Brothers. Their competitors all copied what they did, but tended to execute things on a smaller scale due to insufficient funds. Here is what their business model looked like broken down:
Features:
- Price for Admission: Low – to get mass numbers
- Star Performers: High – heavy reliance on a single superstar that pulled in the audience
- Aisle Concessions: High – pushed snack foods and drinks at higher prices
- Multiple Venues: High – the circus tended to go on tours and set up in many different towns
- Unique Venues: Low – usually pitched a tent in a field or took a cheap venue
- Animal Shows: High – they used elephants, lions and other exotic animals to execute tricks
Ringling Brothers saw massive success using this business model; they absolutely dominated the circus niche. It seemed impossible for a new circus act to be able to compete. But that is exactly what Cirque du Soleil managed to do.
2. Do the Opposite
Once you understand the model of your competitor, do the opposite for your own business.
In the case of Cirque du Soleil, this became their business model:
- Price for Admission: High – tickets to the show became a luxury
- Star Performers: Low – Cirque du Soleil doesn’t put the spotlight on a single person, allowing the show to continue despite people falling ill or leaving
- Aisle Concessions: Low – this did not become a primary focus
- Multiple Venues: Low – the show rarely travels and tends to stay in one place, making their audience travel to them
- Unique Venues: High – the perform in high-end, upscale venues that are very unique, such as the Bellagio in Vegas
- Animal Shows: Zero – they completely removed animals from the show, cutting costs significantly
Today, Cirque du Soleil is dominating their niche by doing the exact opposite of their leading competitor.
This is the kind of thought process you should have whether it’s your business, product or service. If you’re going to do what everyone else is doing, you’ll be just another “me too” product. Not only will you get the same results as everyone else, in all likelihood you’ll receive less. This is because your biggest competitor has probably been in the market longer than you, has more experience, higher reputation, more funds and is perceived as better.
3. Case Study: Internet Income Intensive
In any business venture I’ve entered, I’ve always looked at the Blue Ocean Strategy. So let me walk you through my thought process when I ventured into the seminar business.
Traditional Seminars:
- Price of Admission: Low – ticket prices are usually cheap or free to get people into the events where they would later upsell them
- Multiple Speakers: High – often they invite other speakers, allow them to make sales and take a cut
- Theory-Based Learning: High – seminars tend to have speakers teaching theory in a textbook/lecture-style. People take notes then maybe implement once the event is over.
So when I began planning my seminar, I knew that I wanted it to be different. I went the opposite route despite people advising me against it. To date I’ve done this event in over 20 countires and have had the privilege to work with thought leaders and experts such as Sir Richard Brandon, Tony Robbins, Les Brown and more. I believe I’ve taught tens of thousands of students around the world.
This is what my seminar looks like:
- Price of Admission: High – I charge around $5,000 for my 3-day event
- Multiple Speakers: Low – I don’t rely on multiple speakers, it’s usually just me
- Theory-Based Learning: Low – I’m a huge believer of learning and doing, so I minimize theory and maximize hands-on experience whereby participants literally build their online businesses in the room. By the end of the event they leave with a fully functional website that can be monetized and will have traffic; the majority of the heavy lifting is done in the room itself.
So as you can see, my seminar model is completely different from the norm, as my graduates can attest.
4. Added Bonuses
The final thing when it comes to the Blue Ocean Strategy is to be able to think of different features that are currently non-existent in the current marketplace.
Cirque du Soleil bonuses:
- High quality music
- Dance performances
- Themes – water based, gymnastics, fire
The same goes for your business. You want to think of at least three additional things that do not exist in your marketplace, and add it into your business.
For my seminar, I added these:
- Post-Training – most events end without any follow up or support for the graduates, so I created a special training post-event that allows my graduates to continue their education
- Experiential – I wanted it to be more than just “implementing steps,” so I focused on engraining the mindset needed to succeed
- Coaches – I wanted students to be able to raise their hand and within 5 seconds have a trained coach by their side helping them, so I added a team of coaches in the room
So as you can see, all I did was look at the current marketplace then do the exact polar opposite.
Back in 2010 I had a Clickbank #1 digital product that was on the marketplace for two years. It was called Work From No Home, which was a 7-figure launch. At the time people were talking about “how to work from home,” so I went to opposite direction and created a product about “how to work from no home,” which focused on how to make money while being constantly on the go.
Main Takeaway
For every product or business you decide to get into, research the marketplace, break down your competitors, and then do the opposite.
If you’ve been in this industry for as long as I have, you may have heard of a person called “Rich Jerk.” I first purchased a product from him 9 years ago.
Back then I was buying all these different products and getting numb to all these make money online products. Along came this guy who was incredibly rude and in-your-face, and he called himself “Rich Jerk.” His marketing techniques were the complete opposite of what all the other “gurus” were doing that it was so refreshing to see him, and he ended up making multimillions of dollars from being the “Rich Jerk.”
I still use principles from the product I purchased from him 9 years ago and I’d love for you to check out his new product. Look at how he positions his launch and how he manages to do the opposite of everyone else successfully.
Find out more about the Rich Jerk here.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments in the section below and I’ll talk to you again very soon.
