If you do everything we've been covering in this series —you dare to be different, you choose who you're for, you become remarkable—, something that scares many owners is going to happen: someone is going to criticize you. Some people won't like you.
And your first instinct will be to soften up, go back to safe, please everyone again. Don't do it. That criticism is one of the best signs you're on the right track.
Who never gets criticized?
Think about it for a second. Who does no one ever criticize? The brown cow. The bland, forgettable, "for everyone" business.
No one bothers criticizing something they don't even notice. Being criticized means you provoked a reaction. And provoking a reaction is exactly what being remarkable is about.
The opposite of people talking about you isn't praise: it's indifference.
Memorable things divide people
What's truly remarkable doesn't produce lukewarm, even reactions. It splits people in two.
Some love you intensely; others don't like you at all; and very few land in the middle. That division is the shape memorable things take. A business everyone rates as "meh, it's fine" is a business no one loves and no one defends. You want the division. The love on one side is worth more than the rejection on the other, because the ones who love you are the few who talk about you and grow your business.
Cilantro
Take cilantro. Some people love it; to others, it literally tastes like soap. No one is neutral about cilantro.
Would cilantro be more successful if it toned itself down so as not to bother the people who taste soap? No: it would become bland and no one would care about it at all. The strong reaction in both directions is exactly the point. It's the same with anything distinctive and loved: the people who hate it are the price of the people who love it.
Fitting in is failing
Here's the mindset shift. Trying to fit in, to bother no one, to please everyone… that's not the safe road. It's the road to failure.
What to actually do with criticism
Now, this doesn't mean ignoring everything people tell you. There's an important difference between two kinds of criticism.
There's the kind that, deep down, says "you're too much of what you are." That's the price of standing out: thank it and move on. And there's the kind that points to a real problem you actually should fix. Learn to tell them apart: fix the real problems, but never file down the very thing that makes you memorable just because it's not for everyone. Losing the people you were never for isn't a loss.
When a client gets nervous over a few pieces of criticism, part of our work at DISSAU is helping them read it well: protect what makes them different, instead of panicking and blending back into the herd.
Where to go next
If your business is ready to stand out on purpose —and you want a partner to help you get there, and to keep your nerve when it works—, that's exactly what we do at DISSAU.
This was the sixth article in the series. One is left, and it's the most important: what happens after you become a purple cow. Because purple wears off, and staying memorable is a discipline, not a one-time win.
See you on the road. 🐮💜
