Have you ever heard of a purple cow? If not, you are not alone. When it comes to your business, a purple cow is a thing that makes you stand out in the middle of a sea of brown cows. If you were to drive around the Bixby, OK area where I make my residence, you are very likely to see a bunch of brown cows hanging out a field together. They just stand around munching on some grass, squeezing out some……moo’s, and doing whatever else cows do. Now, if there was a big old purple cow in the middle of all of those brown cows, it’s going to draw your attention. You will be drawn to this cow. You will have questions about this cow. You will be curious about why there is a purple cow among all of these other “normal cows”. You might even venture into the field just to explore a little further. When it comes to your business, you need to be a purple cow. Best-selling author Seth Godin says, “You’re either a purple cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.”
Clay Clark understands the purple cow principle, thus, he has decided to create a purple cow to help draw attention to the Thrivetime Show Business Conferences. If you are driving around the Tulsa area and enjoying the incredible views (sarcasm), you might just see a purple cow that you were not expecting. At some very special locations around the city, there are some “Making America a BOOM Again” billboards that display business coach Clay looking somewhat similar to our current president of the United States. Now, Clay understands that this is going to raise a certain level of controversy. In fact, he fully expects it. He is absolutely fine with this. There are 2 reasons that I can see that he is okay with doing this. #1, he understands the essential nature of having a purple cow to grow his business. #2, he is an entrepreneur.
A purple cow is a thing that makes you stand out in the middle of a sea of brown cows.
As an entrepreneur, Clay likes to say that you are either “Dumb or Numb”. Being an entrepreneur does not make sense within the culture that we currently live in. The fact that 90% of businesses fail, and of the 10% that succeed, less than 10% of those ever become thriving businesses, it is very clear that a successful entrepreneur is a rare breed of a person. One of the things that truly sets entrepreneurs apart from most people is their ability to have a laser-like focus on the goal. With this laser-like focus they are not concerned with what other people think about them. No matter who is speaking negative or positive things, an entrepreneur keeps on tracking down the path towards the goal of success. This does not make sense for most people. Most people are controlled by what others think about them. Most people care way too much about their image or about rocking the boat and upsetting people. A true entrepreneur cannot be focused on these things.
In order to be a true entrepreneur, you’ve either got to be dumb, which means that you just don’t understand all of the positive or negative things that people are saying about you so you just keep moving forward in a sort of ignorant way. Or you’ve got to be numb, which means that you really don’t care what people think and you’re going to do what you think is the best regardless of what anyone says at any time. Either way, in order to be a real entrepreneur you’ve got to be able to take the punches. You’ve got to be resilient. You’ve got to be able to shut out all the different voices and keep your eyes fixed on your goal. No matter who you are or how great your company may be, there will be people who don’t like you. There will be people who try to stop you. There will be people who say bad things about you. This is the nature of the world and this is the nature of people. Some people don’t like the color purple. Some people will say that purple cow meat tastes worse than regular cow meat. A true entrepreneur can be “Dumb or Numb” to these things.
If you are reading this business coach article, then I believe it is very likely that you are a true entrepreneur. When you put your purple cow in place, it will draw both positive and negative attention. You must be willing to take a “Dumb or Numb” approach to this attention. I can pretty much guarantee you that there will be many people who are excited about this “non-Trump” billboard and many people who will be outraged. Neither matter. The goal is to be the purple cow and continue moving forward in helping find the entrepreneurs who really care about their business and want to be diligent doers who are willing to do the hard things to make their business grow. Which are you? Choose to be “Dumb or Numb” today, and don’t forget to figure out how to be a purple cow as well.
