Why You Shouldn’t Copy Me
Video
Summary
- Don't try to build your personal brand by copying what everyone else is doing.
- Embrace your unique identity and do not conform to the expectations of any particular group or stereotype.
- Being different and honest about your beliefs makes you stand out more than fitting into a predefined mold.
- Trying to be someone else only makes you blend in and keeps you from being distinctive and memorable.
- In your marketing and personal branding, be authentic and share your true thoughts, even if they clash with the popular narrative.
- When you stop imitating others and showcase your unique experiences and knowledge, people will pay more attention and find you more interesting.
- Copying competitors can lead to worse outcomes; it's better to be original and creative with your content and strategy.
- Being copied by others is a sign that your original work is effective, but never settle for imitating someone else as it solidifies you as second best.
- To really understand your customers and improve your business, immerse yourself in their world and gain first-hand experience.
- Practice what you preach, and if necessary, change your behavior and strategy to align with the real needs of your clients.
- Do the work that others aren't willing to do, build a story worth telling, and your brand will naturally become unique and strong.
How To Take Action
I would suggest stopping the copycat game first. Be you. Your real, unique self. The one with different beliefs and ideas. Don’t worry about fitting in; worry about standing out. People like weird. It's real. So, embrace your weirdness, the things that make you 'you,' and ignore what everyone else is doing.
Here's what you need to do:
Identify what's unique about you and your experiences. What's your version of biohacking, UFOs, or whatever it is that you’re into? Dive deep into those interests.
Next, be honest in your marketing. Share your true thoughts, even if they’re not the norm. Having a mix of beliefs and showing your true colors will attract attention and build a real personal connection.
Stop trying to imitate others. If you've been caught in the trap of mimicking your competitor's marketing strategy, shift gears now. Create original content based on your thoughts and ideas.
If you don't understand your customers well, put yourself in their shoes. If necessary, change your job for a while, like Alan did. Learn first-hand what your customers experience.
Finally, do the hard work that others avoid. You'll grow, learn, and create stories worth sharing. These stories will naturally make you stand out and strengthen your brand.
Remember, being copied is a compliment, but never settle for being second best by copying someone else. Do what it takes to build a story and brand that's so unique, people just have to pay attention.
Quotes by Alex Hormozi
"if you want to stand out in your marketing or even a personal brand just actually saying what you really believe"
– Alex Hormozi
"as soon as someone feels like they have figured you out they'll move on"
– Alex Hormozi
"most people wear their clothing as a uniform to say I am this type of person"
– Alex Hormozi
"if you copy them what it means is that you accept the position of second place"
– Alex Hormozi
"if you tell the story that's true and so if you don't have the story to tell then do the [ __ ] that's worth doing that no one else is willing to do and then you'll have the story that will make you a one-of-one"
– Alex Hormozi
Full Transcript
they're like well that's what everyone else is doing so I need to build my personal brand you're not building anyone's [ __ ] brand you're just reinforcing an identity that everyone already knows about and does not find you interesting because you're same as everybody else if you remember when you were in middle school there was like the preps and The Goth kids and then the Bros or the athletes or whatever when we're growing up we're trying to figure out our identity and maybe some of you weirdos actually switch tables once or twice because you're figuring out who you were and what happened is we learned these identities that come with these sets of beliefs you see this a little bit in the political scene if you're a republican all of a sudden you have to wear a flannel and trucker has America and to shoot guns and on the flip side if you're liberal you have to just say all homeless people can do whatever they want whenever and we should let everyone across the border no matter what we all should raise taxes basically Ridiculousness on both sides what happened to the real middle people who just like hey you can marry whatever you want please don't tax me too much there's this middle and that's why people like Rogan have blown up because people are like he's a republican he's a liberal it's like he's just Joe Rogan like Joe Rogan is interested in UFC he's also interested in Aliens he's also interested in stand-up comedy he also has like like this kind of Fitness carnivore or whatever thing going and biohacking so he has these like very different interests that he's super deep on and no one would be like Joe so what we're thinking is you need to increase your biohacking by 15 so we can capture this audience no if you want to stand out in your marketing or even a personal brand just actually saying what you really believe the thing that you're afraid of saying because it maybe is two or three or four beliefs that don't go with the uniform that you wear every day actually makes you significantly more unique most people wear their clothing as a uniform to say I am this type of person people will look at you and they'll assume you're a goth or crap or whatever here's where it gets cool you start talk and then all of a sudden there's something over here and then there's another belief over here and what happens is they start paying more attention because you don't fit the mold it's my favorite way to differentiate any of the portfolio companies or even my own brand this may sound crazy actually just be myself because as soon as someone feels like they have figured you out they'll move on because they're like I can predict all of this person's Behavior they don't need to stay in tune or stay updated because they know everything about you already and I'm sure you've met people like this he wears this uniform he says these things he believes he is this person he's category 17. don't have to think about it again everyone knows the starter kit for Real Estate you know the haircut they cut the side here right buzzed on the side hard part hard gel over suit don't forget the glass is very important maybe the high level BMW mid-series wax with rims maybe a picture of the a watch he's like yeah just bought this beauty those guys are all the same and so what they think they're doing is they're like well that's what everyone else is doing so I need to build my personal brand you're not building anyone's [ __ ] brand you're just reinforcing an identity that everyone already knows about and does not find you interesting because you're the same as everybody else I think that you would be better served actually doing you and that comes with all the weirdness that you are because I've met some of you y'all are weird as [ __ ] and if you stop pretending to be this identity that you rap into the starter kit of whatever Instagram influencer you're trying to copy and you just worry you what happens is your unique individual personalities are like weirdness because everybody had different parents everybody was born in different cities everyone has unique things like your dad might have been a mechanic you might know a bunch of [ __ ] about cards and if you bring that up all of a sudden people look at what they expect from the real estate starter kit and then all of a sudden you've got these points over here and you become interesting and people lean in they pay attention because you don't match the mold I'm going to shift this to business there was this time where there was this competitor who moved in my Marketplace when I had a local gym guy was outspeeding me and I was like man I'm gonna have to do something about this so what I did was I copied the guy's landing page so I copied everything changed the logo whatever it was like probably 90 the same here's what's crazy his page did worse than mine did why am I copying this guy I actually just got worse outcomes from this fast forward our gym launch days somebody came to the marketplace started marketing really similar stuff I subscribed to the list to see what the emails they were sending and they were my emails literally 100 word for word didn't even like swap anything out they were my email I'm like man I'm thinking about copying this guy but hopping on his newsletter he's just using my [ __ ] A lot of people say stay in tune with your competitors you consume everyone else's stuff I actually don't feel that way I actually turned off all my ads on my news feed when I made my marketing or made my content I just made it about whatever stuff I felt like talking about and so people were like man your stuff's always so different and so original whatever and it's really easy to be original you're just not looking at everyone else's [ __ ] the act of consuming everyone else's stuff what ends up happening is that their thoughts become top of mind for you and you become another Mickey Mouse another Instagram influencer starter kit they've got the what the car 100 hustle zero percent grind if other people copy you it's a good sign because it means that what you're doing is working and most people aren't original if you copy them what it means is that you accept the position of second place you accept that they are inherently first you literally say you are better than me at this and if you claim to be the best at whatever it is that you're trying to do or at least that you're trying to be the best you copying their identity their look their feel their brand means that you are accepting to lose you will never win because you aren't going to beat them at being them quick stories client and our software company Alan who was a real estate agency so we worked with agency owners in that business and so this guy was continually struggling like you couldn't really ever break through there and he was always selling new people and they would always turn out the back whatever it took me six months of like just battering him over the head with this publicly embarrassing him to finally get him to change his behavior I was like you're not that good it's not some marketing hack it's not some sales hackers like you're just not that good I was like you you sell to Realtors he was like yeah I was like have you ever been a realtor he was like no then you have no idea what they go through and what your marketing looks like and what your sales process looks like is the same as every other [ __ ] person trying to sell Realtors promise you put your terrible agency go take the 12 weeks pass the test and actually be a realtor sell some [ __ ] houses using your marketing skills that you claim to sell in the first month of him doing this he was like oh [ __ ] he's like these leads aren't as good as I thought they were I was like no [ __ ] that's why no one wanted to keep paying you but you know what he did over the next 12 months he got better and better and better at it and here's the crazy thing 12 months later he actually still a realtor and he's making more money because he actually got good at it but here's the thing if he had kept trying to look like everybody else he would have been Mickey mousing until he kept trying some new thing or new some new hack but he just didn't confront the work and you know what happens now is that if he actually did want to go back to the agency thing and actually did want to help Realtors he would have the context to do it and it would make him unique because so many other people are just like him pretending to be to model their Instagram page after the same things the other influence that they're looking up to does rather than being like I wanted to figure out real estate most people don't do that they just look what everyone else is doing do the same thing water it down and then literally blend in like everyone else and they wonder why they don't win you've heard me say replicate before you iterate right that comes to skills if you want to learn how to sell right next to the guy who's making calls you want to learn how to knock on doors walk with the guy who's the best guy on the team who knocks doors right you duplicate the skill so you know you can do it that's different than replicating a story and replicating an identity I've seen like hermosify and hermosi style content and a Rosy style edits it's not about the captions it's about the content what they can copy is the way it looks and feels and sounds so what they can't copy is the story behind it fix the story and the brand will take care of itself if you tell the story that's true and so if you don't have the story to tell then do the [ __ ] that's worth doing that no one else is willing to do and then you'll have the story that will make you a one-of-one
