Entrepreneurial Journey with Thomas O'Grady

Most of you listening to this podcast, you’re thinking in terms of wanting to have more money, save more money, start a business, have something on the side, or work on something for additional income just to put things on the side; you’re saving for your future or saving for new things.

This episode is one of my favorite topics, and this the positioning of your business or yourself. When I say “the positioning,” you’ll often hear people talk about “branding.” Branding, precisely, is the name, term, symbol, or feature used to distinguish. However, think of in terms of positioning, like in sports.

Where do you position yourself if you’re playing on the tennis court? Where do you position yourself if you’re a basketball player, playing a certain position? A soccer player? A football player? Positioning is not just where you’re standing, but knowing what’s around you; knowing and owning your space. That’s it. Owning your space – that’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about positioning a product or business, how to own that space so that you maximize your customers and your profitability.

Did you ever feel, in a sense, that an ad that you see on TV or hear on the radio was just like it’s talking to you or talking to friends of yours? Why are friends of yours important? Because if you notice that ad, that means when you’re in need of whatever they’re selling, that will be in the back of your mind so they will still relate. Another part of it, and this is part of the positioning of the product, is if a friend goes to go by something and you’ve got a favorable opinion on it because you have seen an ad – you have a positive influence on them.

Think in terms of luxury cars. You build a luxury car that nobody’s friends know about… By the way, Ford did this in the late 80s, early 90s. They built a car, and they targeted it so well. They targeted so well, and only informed and sent lots of literatures and brochures to those people who would be buying it. The problem is that a lot of what that person is buying at that time is the image that that vehicle projects, and nobody even knew what it was.

Let’s look at some of the success stories, and some of the other stories as well. First of all, take a look at Volvo. How has it niched its way into the market and owned a space? It is known synonymous with safety. That doesn’t mean that you’re never going to have an accident, but it means that it’s built this protective shield around you, you have a certain image. It even projects it by the amount of space that is usually inside a Volvo. Usually, because a couple of times, they have designed a car that has less headroom, which would seem to fly in a direct competition with the concept of safety.

Look at how well Starbucks has done. What has it tried to create as an image? And it has done it very well. The third place that somebody would go: You go to work, you go to home, and you can go to Starbucks to relax. It plays a little bit of light music, has comfortable places for you to sit, has some Wi-Fi for you to interact with or to get on to the internet if you want to, chat with friends, meet people, etc. That has given Starbucks the ability to have this massive network of stores all over the place.

Does that mean that they have the best coffee? I don’t think so. I don’t know whether they believe it or not, but they probably don’t have the best coffee. There’s actually ones that I prefer, and maybe you prefer, but it is reliable also everywhere you go. Every Starbucks you go to, you’ll get the same preparation, the same coffee done the same way. It’s reliable, and that place to relax. Often, in Starbucks when I’m someplace, in a strange city or something,