5 Ways to Stand Out From The Crowd, According to Entrepreneur’s Editor-in-Chief
There’s a lot of noise. Let’s not be part of it.
Welcome to this month’s edition of The Feifer Five, Entrepreneur editor in chief Jason Feifer’s monthly newsletter. (Sign up here!) This month it’s all about standing out from the crowd — or (surprise!) embracing the things you thought you needed to get away from. After all, entrepreneurism is about balance.
1. Rise above the noise.
“What are you totally over?” Someone asked me that at a party over the weekend. I had to think about it for a minute. Usually people ask me about what trends I’m seeing, or what amazing stories I’d recently heard. But what am I hearing too much of? What’s become noise? It’s an important question, as no entrepreneur wants to be noise.
So here are my first three. What are yours?
- I’m over “disruptors.” I love ambition and change-makers, but the word “disruption” has become meaningless. I want to know what a company does, not what it predicts it’ll do. Tell me how you’re building a company today, not how you imagine an industry changing tomorrow.
- I’m over people confusing fundraising for success (and, I’ll admit it: the media is very guilty of this). It’s great if a company can raise the money it needs, but that doesn’t mean they’re winning the long game. Let’s make sure we’re setting the right expectations with the stories we tell. As one entrepreneur told me, “I didn’t celebrate getting a mortgage.”
- I’m over stories of people “killing it.” That’s just self-interested bragging. I like stories where people get real, where they reveal hardships overcome. Those are the stories others can learn from—and stories people can learn from are the ones worth telling.
5. We can help people by saying “no, because…”
Recently, I said no when a stranger asked me for help—and I explained why I was saying no. I shared the story on LinkedIn, and people there get VERY ANGRY!!!! and called me all sorts of names. But they clearly missed the point: Saying no is a form of helping, so long as you explain why you’re doing it. To make that clear, I wrote this plea for more people to say “no, because.” Please read it, and then do someone (and yourself) the favor of explaining a no.
Side-note: I said no because the person who reached out to me did nothing to connect with me. He was purely transactional, giving me no reason to engage with him over the many other people who reach out asking for my time. In contrast, check out this woman Page, whose resumes and cover letters just weren’t getting any attention from employers. So she wrote and performed a song about her employability. It’s genius. Nobody’s paper resume could ever compare. Somebody, hire her!
And that’s this month’s The Feifer Five! Sign up here to catch next month’s!
Welcome to this month’s edition of The Feifer Five, Entrepreneur editor in chief Jason Feifer’s monthly newsletter. (Sign up here!) This month it’s all about standing out from the crowd — or (surprise!) embracing the things you thought you needed to get away from. After all, entrepreneurism is about balance.
1. Rise above the noise.
“What are you totally over?” Someone asked me that at a party over the weekend. I had to think about it for a minute. Usually people ask me about what trends I’m seeing, or what amazing stories I’d recently heard. But what am I hearing too much of? What’s become noise? It’s an important question, as no entrepreneur wants to be noise.
So here are my first three. What are yours?
- I’m over “disruptors.” I love ambition and change-makers, but the word “disruption” has become meaningless. I want to know what a company does, not what it predicts it’ll do. Tell me how you’re building a company today, not how you imagine an industry changing tomorrow.
- I’m over people confusing fundraising for success (and, I’ll admit it: the media is very guilty of this). It’s great if a company can raise the money it needs, but that doesn’t mean they’re winning the long game. Let’s make sure we’re setting the right expectations with the stories we tell. As one entrepreneur told me, “I didn’t celebrate getting a mortgage.”
- I’m over stories of people “killing it.” That’s just self-interested bragging. I like stories where people get real, where they reveal hardships overcome. Those are the stories others can learn from—and stories people can learn from are the ones worth telling.
5. We can help people by saying “no, because…”
Recently, I said no when a stranger asked me for help—and I explained why I was saying no. I shared the story on LinkedIn, and people there get VERY ANGRY!!!! and called me all sorts of names. But they clearly missed the point: Saying no is a form of helping, so long as you explain why you’re doing it. To make that clear, I wrote this plea for more people to say “no, because.” Please read it, and then do someone (and yourself) the favor of explaining a no.
Side-note: I said no because the person who reached out to me did nothing to connect with me. He was purely transactional, giving me no reason to engage with him over the many other people who reach out asking for my time. In contrast, check out this woman Page, whose resumes and cover letters just weren’t getting any attention from employers. So she wrote and performed a song about her employability. It’s genius. Nobody’s paper resume could ever compare. Somebody, hire her!
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