I recently read about Morioka Shoten Ginza, “a tiny bookstore of “a Single Room with a Single Book” in Tokyo. It sells only one book; more precisely, multiple copies of one title that changes weekly…”

Wow. The bravado, the chutzpah!

Not just a weird and wonderful (branding) idea, what made it all the more remarkable for me is the sheer confidence of the owners to trust that they can provide a single, sole reason for people to make the trek, to make the purchase, for people to say “Yes!” to them.

This is what personal branding is about. Get rid of the clutter and the everything to everyone cliché. Find your essence, your genius, the differentiator, behind which you stand and through which you excel.

You run a bookstore. You have a single book to put upon the shelves. You want customers to flock to your store, to line up around the street. You are NOT Wikipedia. (No one is.) What is that powerful narrative you want to share with the world? How can confidently turn the store sign to OPEN and expect to succeed?

This is the work at hand, friends. In a world of freelancing, change, and uncertainty, your autobiography might be the only thing you have that can make a difference for you.

←This Much We Know.→