The Opportunity to Enter for the First Time

Looking back on this past year, I remember all of the problems that arose. There are some things I started with the fear of failure, and as I think back, I think maybe I may have been too reckless, but I was the first to try everything and worked hard to be first. Fortunately, although it isn’t perfect, I think this was the year where I built up my own brand to some extent.

“Because brands are ultimately defined by people, people must first be differentiated.”

Therefore, I decided to live a life different from others. Through a service that I created on my own accord, rather than through existing services, I branded myself and gave customers reasons to choose this new service. I started giving lectures around the world, started to make a useful service that others were not providing, and ran a mentoring program, which was all a part of the process in which to make my own brand different from others.

The reason I strove to be the first in this field is simple. Success is not guaranteed just because you are first, but if you are, you have the opportunity to be noticed by customers before anyone else. Of course, it is important to have a perfect entrance with the proper preparation, but if you lose the chance to be first during the preparation period, it will be difficult to recreate that opportunity. So, I first worked towards creating awareness of being a pioneer in my field.

Of course, even if you are the first to enter a field, if you are unable to capture the hearts of customers, then there it is no use.  Amazon started its online bookstore in 1995, and many people regard it as the first online bookstore.  Powells was, in fact, an online bookstore that was founded a year before Amazon. Unfortunately,  not many people ever heard of it. Although Powells was first, they were unable to capture the attention of consumers, and because of this, they were forgotten to Amazon, the second up-and-comer of the time.

There is, in fact, no reason to dawdle. Recent trends come and go so quickly that they may be difficult to grasp. The reality is that while someone thinks of a good idea and is planning, others are already selling that product. Even now, people still believe that if they prepare well and have a quality product they will succeed, but that is no longer easy to do this in this day and age. If you miss the timing, any good product today will become redundant tomorrow.

However, simply moving quickly will also not guarantee success. If all you do is focus on the timing without having a good idea, consumers will not be interested at all.  That is why you must first have a proper business idea and be the first to build upon that brand, and the next step after that would be to get the right timing. The beginning of success is to first, with a proper strategy, show consumers the brand you have built, then through proper timing, capture their hearts.

In the end, the most important thing is to build up the brand first. If you focus only on getting a head start and sales, you may be successful at first, but a brand that is not original will eventually be forgotten. The best way to succeed in a rapidly changing modern society is to build a brand with good ideas and proper timing.

The best time to announce your new ideas and brand is today. I hope that through proper differentiation and timing, you will be able to make your mark with your brand in this era of consumer evolution.