Purple Cow is the term that Seth Godin created to describe revolutionary products and services.
Purple Cows are different, unique. They stand out from the crowd, get noticed and find success.
And that’s great and all, but don’t be fooled by these Purple Cows.
They’re nice. But they’re also distracting.
Not Everyone Can Be Unique
Being unique can only happen so many times in any given niche. It doesn’t take long before you’re copying someone.
Ball point pens are good (if not mundane) example.
The Bic pen was revolutionary only because it worked. The same technology had been tried many, many times before.
The design wasn’t unique.
The technology wasn’t unique.
The success was.
Being unique happens once. After that you’re just improving on what was already there.
How many people do you think can develop a truly unique product and see it through from start to finish before anyone else in that market has the same idea?
If history is a good indicator, very few.
So where do you go from here? Are true Purple Cows a myth? A fluke?
If they do exist, how do you make one? What is the secret to creating the truly unique, one-of-a-kind?
Uniqueness is Resistance
Searching for Purple Cows is a form of resistance, of procrastinating.
You’d love to get to work today . . . but it doesn’t feel right yet. Maybe tomorrow you’ll have a better idea.
That type of excuse is logical, which makes it all the more dangerous. It is resistance at its most insidious.
The resistances says “If you can’t do it right, don’t do it. You don’t want your name on something that isn’t your best work.”
Believe that and you’re doomed.
It is a necessity for your work to suck.
There is no other way to be great than to learn how not to suck.
And there is no other way to learn how not to suck than to keep working.
Chasing Purple Cows is the mark of an amateur. Getting to work is the mark of a pro.
Let the Cow Find You
Any great writer has 100 shitty pieces to every 1 piece of brilliance.
Any great painter has 100 shitty paintings to every 1 masterpiece.
Brilliance comes out of failure.
Aerosmith said it best: “You gotta lose to know how to win.”
Trying to be brilliant stifles brilliance.
Trying to be funny stifles humor.
Searching for the Cow, stifles the Cow.
The only way to create a Purple Cow is to let the cow find you.
Sit down every day and work. Work with only your work in mind. You may create 100 mediocre products, but eventually the Cow will find you. You’ll find 100 ways to be better at what you do and 100 products to show for your effort.