A few months ago I decided to follow my heart and pursue my dream of starting my own business.
Ever since attending Seth Godin’s Ruckusmakers conference in March 2015, I have been infected by the entrepreneurship bug. I developed an itch to build something on my own. To build something of value.
Seth Godin & I at Ruckusmakers
Today, operating and living in a digitally dominated world, I see two major problems:
- Social media is noisy: it is becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses to cut through the clutter and capture the attention and interest of their ideal customer.
- People are afraid: individuals are having a hard time finding the confidence to show their authentic selves on social media in order to connect and build meaningful relationships.
Social media platforms, strategy and best practices are constantly changing.
What worked yesterday won’t necessarily work today. A campaign that made a brand “go viral” last month isn’t going to work this month.
In order to benefit from using social media to attract your audience, build your brand, and connect with customers, you have to be brave.
You have to do something different.
Why?
Because there’s no fun in doing what everyone else is doing. That’s the easy way out.
Imitation doesn’t work because it doesn’t cut through the noise. More importantly, fitting in with the rest and following the crowd isn’t exciting – to you or your customers.
Your heart doesn’t beat loudly when you’re playing it safe; your heart beats when you’re being brave and taking risks.
That’s where the magic happens.
Speaking of magic, there’s a myth about Pythagoras.
As a theorist, Pythagoras was always working through something. One day he got stuck, so he went for a walk in town and passed a blacksmith’s shop.
As he walked past, a beautiful sound echoed in the air. He peeked his head into the shop and saw five workers inside, each using a hammer to bend iron. It turned out that the beautiful sound was a result of the hammers all striking the iron in unison.
Seems like magic, right?
Well Pythagoras, being the man he was, wanted to discover what made the sound so beautiful, so he took the hammers and went about studying their weights and heights. He discovered that each of the first four hammers had a weight that was a multiple of the other.
The fifth hammer, however, didn’t follow any of the rules.
Pythagoras threw out the fifth hammer in his theory, but it turned out it was the fifth hammer all along that caused the beautiful harmony.
The fifth hammer added a boldness to the sound.
Without the fifth hammer, the sound would have been flat and dull.
That’s exactly how you need to be on social media: loud and original.
To grab attention, you can’t sound like everyone else.
You want to be the fifth hammer.
My passion – for creating and building social strategies – is what led me to start a business.
My theory – that you need to be bold and brave on social media to be heard – is what led me to name my business Bravery Beats.
To be a part of the movement, I encourage you to share how you’re being brave on or off line using #BeTheFifthHammer.
To find out about our current offerings, visit our site and let’s make noise!
Really nice post honey. You are the fifth hammer! Love you,
Mom