Dare to be different.

I had just landed a gig at a tech company as a product marketing director. Fancy new title, fancy new office, fancy new salary.

I was over the moon, excited about the possibilities.

Two weeks into the gig, the company’s tech failed on a really important day. What started as a tech failure quickly turned into a PR crisis and a communication disaster.

Something felt off. I tried communicating with my new boss but quickly felt shut out.

Three days into the crisis, I walked into my boss’s office and quit.

Three weeks after quitting, I was recruited back and agreed to it if I could have a different boss.

(I swear, I cannot make this stuff up, y’all. It was a truly wild career moment.)

With leadership changes, I decided they did need help, and with mouths to feed at home, I didn’t have another job lined up.

So, I rolled up my sleeves and got dirty.

In the dirt is where I truly discovered my lane of genius. It had been sitting with me for a while somewhere in the back of my mind and my ethos, but this moment of challenge hit me like a hammer to the head and I could not unsee it.

In my work, the going got tough.

Everyone dug in and salvaged what we could: Salvaged relationships. Fixed the tech issues. And then, we started figuring out how to pivot.

A colleague and friend told me to read Purple Cow by Seth Godin.

I ordered it on Amazon and devoured it. It made so much sense. It made product marketing suddenly make so much more sense. It gave me direction on what needed to be done, at least as far as my role in marketing was concerned.

Differentiation is the goal. Differentiation is the saving grace in this moment.

A couple of weeks ago, Devin Reed gave a phenomenal talk about how to build rapport and grow an audience online. He reminded the crowd that people buy from those they "Know, Like, Trust." (Go follow him if you are not already. His content is gold).

He taught us about the value of One Word, and how important it is to have your one word.

The One Word is the thing you are passionate about, best at doing, best at speaking about, and ultimately when someone thinks of you and what you do (or why they would call you), they think of that one word.

I’ve recently been talking a lot to myself, my team, and sometimes here on LinkedIn about the value of staying in our lane of genius.

The Lane of Genius is about focus. When you're really good at something, stay in that lane—stop getting distracted by shiny objects—and then turn on the jets and crush it in that one lane.

The dots connected for me between Devin’s One Word concept and my Lane of Genius thing.

Differentiation: It’s my lane of genius, and now I realize it's also my one word.

(Don't you dare ask me math questions y'all. But if you want to stand out, I could be your girl.)

In between all the pages of life that have happened since 2016, a lot has gone down.

• Started a branding and creative agency
• Productized creative agency services
• Got branding certifications by some of the greats like David Brier and Storybrand
• Did a lot of brand, messaging and creative projects

The funny thing is that it all circles back to Purple Cow and just how impactful that one book was on my thinking—and ultimately, my career.

Doing Different.

That’s what I’m best at. I get immense joy from helping our clients think differently about themselves and their brands, so they can show up uniquely in the market. I get immense energy from thinking differently about market needs and how to fill them. I feel renewed when I can think differently about leading a team and growing a company, without being stuck on the standards of the corporate treadmill.

Is being different good for everyone? Maybe not. Some companies do fine sticking to what’s safe, by making decisions that feel comfortable, familiar, and risk-averse. That works for them—and that can be ok.

But here's the thing.

If you want to stand out in people’s minds, if you want to create something memorable, safe often won’t cut it.

Brands that truly thrive are the ones willing to be bold, to stand apart, to embrace their uniqueness.

Differentiation isn’t just an option anymore; it’s a necessity in a crowded, noisy marketplace. Sure, it may feel “a bit out there” to some. But if you’re serious about carving out your place in the market, you’ve got to be willing to do things differently.

So yeah, I’m going to keep doing the different thing here for a while.

So I ask you to think about this: What’s your Lane of Genius?

If you figure that out, and really dial into it, you’ll also stumble onto your One Word.

Then lean into it like hell.

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