The Shaolin Kung Fu Guide to Building Your Brand Online

That’s scarcity. Just a few of people in the world can do it.

If you’re working to grow your audience or business online you might know something about scarcity. Customers, readers, money, time – they can all be pretty scarce.

On the flip side it’s easy to feel lost in the crowd. Just another freelance writer hanging out her shingle. Another blogger shouting into the void. Dime a dozen.

So what does Shaolin Kung Fu have to teach us about building brands and standing out from the crowd?

Almost everything.

Brands today are generally understood as a set of responses and expectations we associate with a product or service.

There’s an inherent unique quality associated with brands: you don’t have a brand unless people remember it, and people won’t remember it unless there’s some noticeable difference that sticks in their minds.

In other words, you can’t build a brand by following the status quo.

Live the Way

As mesmerizing as Shaolin Kung Fu can be it is much more than a show. There’s nothing fake about these guys – they’re arguably the best-trained martial artists in the world. The weapons are real. No strings attached.

“Fake it until you make it” only gets you so far. There’s got to be solid bedrock beneath the landscaping.

Brands are built on action. Nobody buys sales copy anymore – they smell it coming a mile away. You can sing your own praises all your want, but until you’re able to show evidence of real positive action, to demonstrate the game-changing effects of your product or service, you’ll find the going very tough.

Instead of worrying about how you can sell yourself better focus on how you can make your product or service better – and build a more memorable experience for your audience or customers. When you can point to proven results and happy customers (instead of promising a glorious future) you’ll build authority – and authority rules.

Cultivate your dedication

The warriors of Shaolin train relentlessly –  from the time they wake at 5am until 9pm, breaking only for food and short spurts of rest. They sleep on wooden planks and bathe with cold buckets of water.

The results we see in their feats of strength and endurance are the culmination of around 1,400 years of martial arts development – and for individual monks, a lifetime of training.

Unwavering motivation like this comes from a deep belief in your work and the principles with which you carry it out.

Overnight success is a myth. That company or product that seemed to spring suddenly from a crack in the pavement? There’s a story of underground blood, sweat and tears behind it.

It’s tough to get through the rough times if money is the only motivator. Yes, cash flow matters – but it can’t be your story.

There’s a great quote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs from his commencement speech to Stanford’s 2005 graduating class that hits this square on the head:

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

Uninspired work is unsustainable.

Harness the power of less

Life for Shaolin Monks is simple.

Train. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

A singular focus. An incredible result.

Working online makes it easy to get sidetracked. The information stream is massive, and if you even dabble in consuming content you’re likely to often find yourself hours down the line with little to show for your time.

Limiting yourself can produce extraordinary results.