"I get knocked down, but I get up again. You're never going to keep me down." That's right, my friends. That tune has been in my head all week long. Let me tell you what happened. I mentioned before I have been working on this project for over a year and a half. I'm sorry, I don't want to tell you about it quite yet, but I will soon, I promise. All you need to know is that it's something that I've been working on for quite a while. It is something that is very near and dear to my heart. It has changed me in so many ways and I can't wait to share it with everyone. The process is really long and as you can imagine, being a busy mama or a busy parent or busy anybody, it is really hard to find time for things that don't just fit into your regular day.
Because this project was so important to me, I was finding time to make the time and carve out this time. It is something that really means a lot to me and I think it's going to mean a lot to a lot of other people. Well, I'm finally getting sort of closer to the end of this project and I decided to start looking around and see what could be similar out there if I'm thinking of putting a cost to it, or maybe it's something I give for free. I start doing my research and what do I find? But low and behold, my exact same idea already exists. Almost even the same name is already out there in the world. And it was created four years ago. And I know what you're going to say. You're going to say, Courtney, if you had this project that was so important to you and so near and dear to your heart and you cared so much about it "How come you didn't do this research sooner?"
I didn't because the idea came to me so organically and it just popped in my head. I started to try it out on myself, and I really liked how things worked, and I really thought it was something incredible. I still do. I believe this is something incredible that I could share with so many people and it's going to make a big difference for a lot of people.
But here it was already sitting on the Internet. My idea. So that's why today is sharing with you my top five tips if you find yourself being not so original. So before I even give you my tips, this is important. Before I even decided what the next step was, I had to really feel the feels. I say this because I find sometimes that we are all in such a rush to bypass feelings and push them away and figure out the solution? I felt disappointed. Then I put on that tune and I was ready to get back up again.
TIP 1: ACCEPT IT
All right, that's not to be harsh or simple, but it needs to be done. If you think about it, I mean, really, everything has been done before. One of my mentors, Marie Forleo, has this great podcast, The MarieTV Show, that she always talks about what if Lady Gaga never became a singer because there's too many singers out there, or Oprah never became a television talk show host because there's too many of those out there. My idea is what if you went into it not only just accepting the fact that everything has been done before, but if I had gone into it, expecting it. Then the surprise wouldn't have came right? I would have known. Yeah, my idea is really awesome, but I'm sure someone's already done it before. To be honest, if I went into the whole project thinking someone's done this, I think I would have even planned it out differently and I would have done a lot of things differently. That is my tip number one, go into something like this.
Number one, expecting that someone might have already done it before. And if they have done it before, then accept it. Because now you can move on to step two.
Tip 2: Know the reason why you created what you did
What does it mean specifically to you? People can call it your reason, your why, your purpose. It will not only give you the passion you need when things are getting tough, but it can set you apart as well, I think about the company, Toms. I love their shoes. They're super cute. I just bought a pair recently that had little golden bees on them, and I almost bought like three more pairs. They were just so darn cute, I just had to have them. But I also buy them because what they stand for, they know their purpose. They know their reason. They know where their why is. And when you look at their shoes in comparison to someone else's, it might give you that little nudge to be like, hey, yeah, I want to buy those ones instead. So it's really important to know what you're doing and why you're really doing it. Sometimes if you realize the reason isn't for the best reasons, then it might be time to move on from that project and find a brand new one.
Tip 3: Figure out the differences and amplify them.
This is the time you want to do your research and take a lot of time to do it. There is no way that whatever you've created and what's already out there is the exact same. Go through it and don't ignore the fact that this thing exists. Check it out. Take the time, and whatever those differences are, make them even bigger and greater than if you can even connect them to that reason or your purpose or your why now, everything will be building on top of each other.
Tip 4: Add YOU to it
So once again, there is nobody like you in this world. You are what makes whatever you made or whatever you created or whatever you think unique and why people should buy from you. It's because of you. I love how people can be super successful in multi level marketing companies. I always think, like, how can they be so successful if they're all selling the same thing? And the reason is it's because that person who makes that connection with you and gives you that experience, they are the person you're really wanting to buy from. It doesn't matter what they're selling sometimes or sometimes they're the difference between person A and person B. Find the reasons that make you you and add it to that idea or product or service, whatever you've created, make sure it has a you written all over it. If you're thinking, how can I possibly add more of me to my business? Or say, maybe you're thinking, Why would people even care about me or my likes or my interests or something like that? I have recently discovered that I'm very visual. If you want to have a fun little exercise, create a mind map or even just brainstorm about all the things that you love. It doesn't necessarily have to do with your business, but it could potentially maybe it's just things that kind of make you you make you a little bit quirky, make you a little bit different, make you a little bit unique. I know for me, I started creating my list of things that I love
I love my musical theatre. I love playing Mario games with my boys and by myself, too. I love candy and treats. I love a good dance party. I love some bad reality TV shows. I love games and competition and moving my body. Those are all things that on the first hand, I thought, why would these people care that those are the things that make me me, but they are the real things that make me me. And that's why my friends like me, and that's why my family like me. So why not share those things? For example, last week I threw in a story about my grandfather because he was very important to me and I thought it was kind of random. Like, why would anybody care about my story about my grandfather and how incredibly frugal he was? But when I shared my podcast with people, that's what someone told me. That was their favourite part of my podcast that week was my story about him. It was something unique that was just from me to you guys. Another fun story is my mom recently started a yoga business, and she was Googling names, and I couldn't believe how many yoga businesses are out there online, in person, all over the place. Like, every name she put into Google there showed up a yoga business with that name. She started feeling like, is this really the thing I want to do? But it was it was something that she's been trying to do for many years. It took her awhile to get through the training. It took a while to create her vision, and she realized what she was bringing to the table where some of these other yoga companies can't is that she is a mature woman who started yoga later in her life, and it really helped her get over some medical issues. It has built her strength, her confidence, and all of these incredible things. Now she decided her perfect person is somebody who is exactly like that, a little bit older, a little bit more mature, someone who's starting yoga and probably thinks they can't even do it because it can be a little bit scary and intimidating. She now realizes sharing who she is is what makes her company that much more unique.
Tip 5: You can always walk away from the project you're working on.
You always have a choice. I tell my kids this all the time, you may not love what the choices are, but you always have choices and you can decide. What's worth more putting more time and effort in this thing that you might have worked on forever, that someone else also hardly done or walk away?. It's like the time I started a band in high school with my girlfriends. I might be using the word band very loosely. I mean, we didn't play any instruments. We were more of a girl group. And when my friend wrote a song that I thought was going to be the next big hit I took a listen to the latest N SYNC song at the time and it was the exact melody!
So that was one of those times that I decided it was not quite worth it. The fact that we didn't play any instruments, we couldn't write a song and we weren't really into it. We decided to walk away. There you are, my friends. The top five tips if you ever find yourself in a situation and realize, hey, I'm not as original as I thought I could be but know that you still are because you are amazing. You are incredible and if you keep adding that uniqueness to everything you do it's going to be wonderful.
Has there ever been a time in your life when you have been had this great idea or you've been working on something really important and you realize it's been there done that. Someone's already done it. And if that had happened to you, what did you do next? I really want to know.