2 builders who never spoke to each other

Take a side and accept who it excludes

An offer designed to please everyone gives nobody anything to identify with, so define what you are for and let that sort people. Naming your own definition of success, or your purpose rather than your service list, separates you from the category you keep getting confused with.

The method

1. 01

   Aiming to be liked by everybody leaves you with no stance and nothing anyone can identify with, so accept that a defined position excludes some people.

2. 02

   People actually want to know which side they are on, so give your audience a side, because the sorting itself gives them context and identity.

3. 03

   Pick a definition of success your competitors are not using and make that definition itself your point of difference.

4. 04

   Name your offering after what it mostly is, because buyers forgive a small side of something they did not order but resent being sold a garnish as the main course.

5. 05

   Separate your category from the one it gets confused with by stating your purpose and values, not by listing services, because service lists overlap between categories and purposes do not.

What it returned

• Most people hear growth company and assume an exit; Hillman argued Philadelphia's opportunity to stand out was to define growth as talent spinning out and starting the next local company.

• Hillman's analogy: a steak with greens on the side is fine, a salad with a few strips of sirloin on top sold as steak is not.

• Written to settle a recurring argument on the coworking mailing list about whether a coworking space and an incubator are the same thing.

• Hillman answers the cafe versus coworking space question in two parts, loneliness and context.

Sources

• Rant: Coworking vs. IncubatorAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2008-09-01
• The Importance of LinesAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · Defining Self · 2011-02-01
• The Long Term RelationshipsAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2011-09-01
• How I Learned to Make MoneyAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · Pattern #2: Find new value to provide · 2011-10-01
• “Open-plan offices were devised by Satan in the deepest caverns of hell” and other similar nonsense you might read about trends in the workplaceAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · Lesson 1 - There is no "better for everyone" · 2013-11-01
• How coworking can work for more people than you ever thoughtAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · What would change if we learned how to choose an environment that was best suited for the task we were trying to accomplish? · 2015-05-01
• What JFDI really meansKelani Nichole · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2016-08-01
• Posts about #tummlingAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · Why do some freelancers work out of cafes vs. coworking spaces (and vice versa)? · undated