Purple Cow and Your Career Success

More on Seth Godin's books.

SG is the author of Purple Cow and other marketing books.

Interestingly, I first came across the Purple Cow back in 2006, when I hadn't even heard of SG. I was researching how to give effective presentations, and found an online article with a strange title: "Embrace The Purple Cow". I had never heard of SG or Purple Cow, and the significance of that title completely slipped me.

Funny how seemingly random events come together when you're ripe for a new idea in your life.

A few months back, I received an email invite from the professional networking association I used to attend. The invite was for a talk about business success and... the Purple Cow.

So, what or who is a Purple Cow, and what's the hype about?

According to the marketing blurb on the book -

"You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible...

Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.

Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow.

And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable.

It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place."

Here's SG's advice on how you can use the Purple Cow to find your dream job:

#1 You can't be Purple at the last minute. You need to be Purple before you start looking for a job. That means doing a remarkable job at work (hence the amazing referrals you'll get for internal jobs) and with clients (hence the unsolicited job offers). People who are remarkable in the way they deal with customers and clients rarely find themselves unemployed for long.

#2 Fight the temptation to print 1,000 resumes and to submit yourself to the cattle call that is the typical job search. This won't work. You'll get an average job if you do that. Instead, focus on the people who are searching for a truly special hire. If you're that person, it'll happen. What usually occurs though, is that average people are pretty desperate and try to persuade the hiring person that they are in fact remarkable. They end up not getting the job because their references belie their assertion.

So...

• Be remarkable
• Build a network of people who truly want to hear from you

...and you'll find the job you seek.