How to Build Specifically Rather Than Loudly
Prefer to listen rather than read? Listen to the podcast episode covering this same topic here → Quietly Disruptive Podcast
In the last post we looked at why hustle culture is one of the most expensive things a founder can buy into. Today is the other side of that conversation. Not just what to stop doing, but what the alternative actually looks like in practice. And the alternative is building specifically rather than loudly. It is knowing exactly what you are building, knowing which actions actually move you forward, and understanding that when you do it in the way that is right for you, the right people will always find their way to you. Building specifically is not about doing less. It is about doing the right things for the right people with the right intention behind every decision.
Know Exactly What You Are Building
Nothing else works until this is in place. You cannot know whether a strategy, an opportunity or a client is moving you forward if you do not know where forward is. This is what I call a destination sentence, that one clear line that describes what you are here to do and why it matters. Without it, you could follow every piece of advice and take every opportunity that comes along and still end up being pulled all over the place rather than moving in the direction you actually want to go. With it, every decision becomes simpler because you can check it against that sentence. Does this move me closer to my destination or further away? Who do I say yes to? What do I create? Where do I put my energy? The sentence answers all of it.
Build Specific Relationships, Not Broad Networks
This is not about working the room and collecting as many business cards as you can. It is about building genuine relationships with specific people. We all know what it feels like to have that one conversation with the right person and to watch how things change in an instant. That is what building specifically looks like when it comes to relationships. It is not about trying to be in every room or on every platform or saying yes to everything. It is about being selective and being in the right rooms so that you can find the right people.
This does take a bit of trial and error. I have spent the past month doing around twenty networking events, experimenting to find out which rooms are right for me. And it is very interesting because when you walk into the right room you feel it immediately, and when you are in the wrong room you know within the first five minutes. If your intuition is telling you that a room is not for you, it is almost always right. Trust that and keep looking for the rooms that are.
Create Content for a Specific Person, Not for Everybody
This is not about creating content that appeals to the widest possible audience and hoping the right people notice. It is about creating and curating content for a specific person so that when they find it they think, how do they know this, that is exactly what I am experiencing. When that happens, it is the specificity of that content, the fact that it was written for that person rather than for everyone, that makes them stop. It is not the algorithm. It is not the perfect posting time. It is not a hook. It is content that resonates with the person on the other end because it was created with them in mind. Generic content, no matter how polished or how perfectly AI has refined it, does not do the same job as content that was written for a specific reason about a specific thing for a specific person.
Word of Mouth from Right Fit Clients Is the Most Powerful Thing You Can Build
This is the fourth and the most powerful of all, and I have put it last because it only happens when the first three are working. When you are clear on what you are building, working with exactly the right people and delivering something that is genuinely brilliant for them, those clients tell others who are looking for the same thing. That referral is worth more than any amount of loud, broad marketing because it is specific. It comes from someone who has experienced what you do, who has seen the result, and who is recommending you to someone they know needs the same thing.
And here is the part that most founders do not think about. Every right fit client is a potential referral to another right fit client. Every time you take on a client who is not the right fit, you lose that option. The wrong client might not get the right result, which means the referral at the end does not happen or it leads to another wrong fit client. Saying yes to the right people at the beginning has a compounding effect that ripples outward in ways you cannot predict at the time.
The Thread That Ties All Four Together Is Specific
Specific clarity on what you are building. Specific relationships with the right people. Specific content for a specific person. Specific clients who become specific referrals. It is not about being loud and broad and trying to appeal to everybody all at once. It is about being laser focused, building for the right people, and concentrating your energy on the things you know will move you forward. When you build that way you do not need to shout because loud is broad and quiet is narrow, and narrow is where the clients and the people and the results that are right for you actually live.
Hustle feels like momentum. Building specifically might seem slower, but it compounds. You are making headway step by step, inch by inch, and every step is in the right direction rather than around in circles. I can speak from experience on this one. Building specifically gets you somewhere slowly, quietly, and exactly where you are meant to go.
About the Author: Becky Benfield Humberstone partners with Quietly Disruptive founders to build businesses that change their corner of the world, on their terms. If you started your business because you believed things could be done differently, and you're ready to make that vision real, she gets it. Based in the UK and working globally via Zoom and in person, she's done this work herself, more than once.
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