Dare to Think Differently

One of my weekly MarketingProfs emails this week featured Dita von Teese discussing building a personal brand. Though Ms. von Teese was branding herself, her advice can just as easily be applied to any business - find a niche or an untapped corner of the market, position yourself there and work to be the best.

Says von Teese, "I think that the most important thing—and the point that a lot of people miss—is they're trying so hard to follow a formula, and to fit in to what's the right thing, and you can see it everywhere. They see success. They say, 'That's how you become successful.' But, to me, I always looked at it a different way. I wanted to fill a void, I wanted to be different. That was going to be the secret to my success. And I looked at the people that I think are very, very successful throughout history, and they all had something different, that was maybe a little bit risqué, and they were very individual. And those are the people that stand the test of time. Not just ordinary beauty, or trying to fit in. You have to have something more. And I was always willing to take a chance and believe in what I did."

For more on how Dita von Teese crafted herself in to an icon, watch the video here.