Everything I Know by Paul Jarvis

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But then she realized that everything she was afraid to lose was something she was grateful to have.

Rallying points

Do you remember in medieval times (me neither, but stick with me) when you were in battle, possibly losing or confused, and then someone would hoist up your flag? You’d get the urge to fight just a little harder and move toward that flag, hopefully with more soldiers on your side doing the same. The flag became a beacon that instantly identified a common cause. Got to make it to my flag, you’d think, and then you’d be surrounded by like minds (in this case, minds that didn’t want to kill you). And from there, you could further your common goal.

The idea of flags as broadcast messages and rallying points is as old as culture. Flags are more than just well-designed fabric with nice logos. They proclaim an immediately identifiable idea. What they stand for is more important than what they look like. You either believe it, and therefore stand behind it, or it doesn’t resonate and you know it’s not your flag. It’s a black and white, cut and dried sort of thing. In those old times, everyone wore basically the same suit of armor, so it was hard to tell who you should help and who you should use a sword against. Flags were used to differentiate the two.

Even now, it can still be hard to tell who’s the right audience for your business, versus who most certainly isn’t a good fit. I like the idea of focusing your work around a “rallying point.” It’s more than simply branding, messaging or even business goals. It’s a line in the sand, with your work and the values it represents on one side and everyone or everything else that doesn’t fit on the other side. It immediately illustrates who’s part of your small army. It can be scary to draw that line in the sand – especially when it’s your business. Doing so immediately alienates certain people or entire groups. But raising a flag is important because it acts as a beacon for those individuals who are your people, your tribe, and your audience. You hoist it up and they know where to find you.

What would a rallying point look like for a non-medieval business? Think of a corporate mission statement, like the lululemon manifesto. If you aren’t into yoga, sweating and positivity, you won’t like what it says – but then you wouldn’t buy a pair of their pants anyway (unless you’re into see-through pants). But if you do, you might read it and think, “HECK, YES. THIS” and you’d probably already be wearing their logo. A rallying point doesn’t need to be as specific as a manifesto, though. In my own business, it’s really just defining how I feel about design, SEO and programming by writing lots of opinion pieces on my blog. If someone wants to work with me, and then reads what I think about my industry and disagrees… they probably wouldn’t have been the right fit and would make me want to pull my hair out. But if someone finds me, digs what I have to say about what I do, and then we launch a project together—I guarantee it would at least start from common ground and understanding.