For both young and experienced entrepreneurs, gaining a competitive advantage in today’s crowded and distracted marketplace can at times seem extremely daunting. We all know how difficult it can be to keep up with the competition. What if you were told that your best competitive advantage is to be more of…who you already are?

In an interview with Lewis Howes on his, “School of Greatness” podcast, New York Times bestselling author, Sally Hogshead shares exactly how she learned how to separate herself from the competition at a very young age. Here are 3 ways in which she will help you to gain your competitive advantage and fascinate the world around you.

Highlight Your Differences

The greatest value that you can add to the world is to become more of yourself. In doing so, it’s important to understand what makes you different. You don’t have to be better, you have to be different. Better is incredibly expensive and exhausting. Different is better than better. When you can identify when you are at your best, you can do more to leverage your unique talents and abilities. In other words, you don’t have to change who you are, you have to become more of who you are. It’s not only important to focus on your strengths, it’s also important to highlight your differences.

When you become more of who you are, it becomes easy for you to find your own lane and become confident, empowered, and inspired at what you do and your relationship with others. Here’s a fun fact: when you feel confident, your mouth produces more saliva. Your listener unconsciously hears this and instills more confidence in you because your communication is helping to put them at ease. As a result, the more confident  you become in yourself, the more others instill confidence in you. This will allow you to grow both personally and professionally throughout your career.

Find Your Flow

When you’re in the flow, your listener gets in the flow and they become fascinated. They begin to focus on you and this is where rapid rapport is built. When you know when the world sees you at your best, it becomes easy to deliver that over and over again. This will enable you to find the opportunities that allow you to show up in the best possible way and fascinate your audience, clients, and consumers. As leaders, if we can create ways to fascinate our employees, they will become far more engaged, productive, loyal, motivated, excited, and happy to come into work. If we can fascinate our clients, they may be willing to pay up to 4 times more for a product or service.

The average attention span today is only about 9 seconds. If you can fascinate your prospect in 9 seconds, you can gain a huge competitive advantage. When Sally learned how to harness the first 9 seconds and create an instant emotional connection with her client base, her speaking fee went from $3,000 to $35,000 a keynote within 2 years. First impressions lead to the long-term relationship. The key part of first impressions is about being so authentic and compelling that you can build the gateway to the rest of the relationship. The greatest gift that you can give to someone is to show them what makes them valuable.

Specialize In Extraordinary

When you understand how people see you at your best, you don’t have to try to be all things to all people. Instead, focus on the areas that are going to be rich and ripe with growth opportunities for you and your business. High performers standout from average performers because they have a specialty. They don’t try to be all things to all people. They hone in and double down on what they do naturally and exceptionally well.

The number one way for us to out do our competition without outspending them, is to find ways to fascinate our clients and consumers on an emotionally engaging level. People don’t hire you because you’re balanced, they hire you because you are extraordinary in some specific way. If you can describe yourself in 3 adjectives, the right kind of client is going to be instantly attracted to those qualities in which you are providing. Sally’s three words are, “Out of the box”, “Social”, and “Energizing”. My 3 adjectives are “Clever”, “Unassuming”, and “Independent”. These are all very fitting considering my archetype is “The Secret Weapon” and my primary and secondary triggers are “Mystique” and “Innovation”.

What Is Your Archetype?

If you like what you have read so far, head on over to howtofascinate.com/you and use the assessment code “schoolofgreatness” for your FREE Fascination Advantage Assessment. We would love to hear what your archetype is. Leave a comment below and let us know!

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Creative Consultant, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies such as Cornerstone Agency, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and consumers. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe.