Unique - Redefined in N.Y.

There aren’t many individuals who really strike me as 100% unique. But I met one of those individuals today, 10/28/10. And while this very impressive person runs what many would tag as an ‘ordinary corporate business’, the CEO behind this company is anything but ordinary.

In fact, he is outstandingly unique! The stage is his - I have determined he has outdone me in a few areas :) I also think he is the perfect example of what many can do in their world to “Shake Things Up!” So I am honoring him and his business genius in this “Shake Things Up!” Newsletter.

I can almost guarantee after reading this, you will be armed with a serious edge. An edge that will focus on a key aspect to living a vivacious, enriched life, being a mover & shaker, and to having ultimate success in business.

That edge is distinguishment. Separating yourself from others. Clearly displaying/showing/defining everything about who you are & what you stand for, or what your business is about - apart from everyone around you, in your industry, in the world.

This is not an easy task, as it requires quite a lot of ‘knowing thyself’ and having exceptional confidence to move boldly around with this uniqueness. And it requires enormous creativity both in thought, and in how you get your consistent message of You/Your Business to others. But this man shows it can be done.

So don’t just read this. As you read this, start to seriously challenge yourself by asking: “what could I do to leverage my distinction quickly?”

Really “Shake Things Up!” and aim for tomorrow, or perhaps this week or definitely within this month.

And just keep working on crafting your distinguishing elements in creative ways until it satisfies your perfection level. (Rounding it out, mine was 5 years & still going :)) And don’t forget to stay open-minded to allowing it to expand over time as you advance or mature or as your business grows, and as the years go on in the world.

Junior Sanchez started with his name. Junior stands for something but it’s not like any typical name which has an age old meaning behind it. It stands for what he does in his business. “Jointly Uniting.... (I’ll give him the honors of telling you the rest himself)

This alone is brilliant, and it’s quite powerful! His business is more than just his name, like my personal name and my company name, Jaxi West Companies. He is his business and his business is him. There is really no separation - he lives & breathes it. He believes so much in what he does and what he offers others, he unequivocally puts his name behind it - so far as he built his name around it!

He smokes me in unique ideation here! I would never have thought of this and I am actually a really big creator and user of acronyms - (as you experienced from the 1st “Shake Things Up!” Newsletter) because they are catchy and easy to remember (sans the U.S. Gov’t acronyms).

His company has 2 websites, one ‘official site’ and then a webs.com site. Not sure which came first or if he will ever drop one, but I decided to take a look at the second one (webs.com) out of curiousity.   “WOW” is what came out of my mouth twice and “‘oh, man, this guy’s genius” once, as I was clicking on the links on the site and the pages were opening.

This CEO did more than just brand his image with a fancy logo or tag line. He went 1000 steps beyond that. He sort of went about it like a musician who launches a music career.

He incorporated music and clothing into building his global image. He took two non traditional venues (as it would be viewed in the ‘corporate world’) and made this a part of his entire branding process. He should be my Spokesman for “Shake Things Up!”

Now, if I told you what this guy does, you’d be very surprised at how all this creativity came about from a company that really falls under HR. To me, that area is relatively mundane, HR in general. But, that is my personal perspective and not meant to pass judgement. I’d say the same thing about finance. But, I know HR is absolutely relevant and crucial to many companies, so I am not negating it.

What I am saying is - it would be one thing if this guy’s business was ice cream or bungee jumping, but it’s not. So it really impressed me how creative he got with all this.  

Like I stated above - I would tag his business as a ‘necessity of traditional business’. His business is essentially recruitment and placement. Those looking for a job and those who have jobs are the folks he interacts with daily.

So how does music and clothing come into this? Or why would he choose to do this? It’s not like the shirts are going to make him wealthy, and the music isn’t for sale (it’s actually a video).

So, I can only surmise the music and clothing is a way to capture the younger Generations. The other presumption I have -outside him just being brilliantly creative - is he is on a massive mission (you understand this once on the website).

For the industry he is in, and where we are in reality in the job market and economy (Absolute Truth #s: 18% unemployed /30 Million Americans without a job), I would say this is more like a Movement.

Movement’s are often accompanied by clothing, music, etc.- a way to spread your message to others, make it fun, grab attention, etc. But maybe none of this is his reasoning - this is all me just ‘knowledge guessing’. So I will leave it up to you to decide - or just pick up the insight and keep it in mind when you are thinking about that question I suggested earlier: “what can I do to establish or leverage my distinction immediately?”

So here’s where the music comes into play. On his webs.com site, the viewer is informed about his company in a video that has some pretty wild & unique music - but the music is 100% appropriate. I actually thought maybe he asked a band to write the lyrics for his company. That’s how much it meshes.

Another link he had on his webs.com site was ‘shop’ - I immediately clicked on it - thinking ‘what could he really sell?’ I instantly thought it was a book or something that was Infopreneurial (selling his knowledge), but I was wrong.

He sells t-shirts with his company name and different messages and pictures (depending which shirt) that you can purchase. Now at first one might think, who would wear something that is someone else’s business name? But think about it, you do it daily most likely, a Nike shirt, or music band’s shirt, so perhaps he thought: “why not Corporate America’?”

It took me a moment to think about why he would do this in the recruiting field, again, this isn’t like selling the new widget or even a nifty tech product like Apple does. But I then quickly realized he was willing to play a little because he is so confident in his business and himself, he believes his name can be as big as FedEx one day perhaps.

He thought big and he didn’t wait until he got big to do something about it. This was something that I learned very early on in my sales years thankfully: to think BIG and act BIG immediately - that day even - ‘as if’. As if you are Big! And the other golden rule is to always think global, not local. Even if you don’t think you will be - with the internet you now easily can be.

Okay, so up to now I have been painting a pretty mundane picture of his industry - recruiting and placement - again, probably from my own personal opinion on the field. Note: I was in this field for a brief stint when I lived in Southern Virginia, so I feel I can share my opinion openly, because I also fully acknowledge it’s importance.

But Mr. Sanchez didn’t just set up a typical recruiting and placement business. That again would have been too boring for this advanced thinker. He also didn’t declare a speciality on what industry or professional level he would work with, he works with everyone.

But what he did do, was create his niche in another way. He decided to work with prison programs - working with and placing ex-offenders.

He took on one hefty challenge - but it’s most likely because he believes everyone is entitled to 2nd chances. You really don’t get involved in the prison programs unless you are truly dedicated, as there aren’t many who do, so those that say they want to, are heavily counted on to come through and make a difference (no matter what aspect of a prison program you get involved in). So it’s about your word and your reputation.

He is also ideal to be the one to do this type of program. From going through his websites, you learn he believes in every individual and what each person could bring to a company. So, he incorporated his own personal belief right into this company (as I did with my previous company, BLC). This is what I call being Passion Driven, not Profit Driven. He carved a challenging niche - but one that everyone benefits from.

Society as a whole benefits from this fellow’s business and his dedication to fight for the underdog. The ex-prisoner isn’t falling into recidivism traps, and thus society is kept safer (no repeat crime) and he is helping this individual become a productive, contributing individual instead of one who was costing Americans their tax dollars to support him (in the prison).

So the work Junior is doing in his 2nd Chances Division could also be considered part of his corporate social contribution to his community, state, nation and even the world. This is a true win all around. I’d say this entrepreneur has thought of everything.  

Junior Sanchez is carving a path and leaving a spectacular trail...one towards success, leadership, creativity, and harnessing the uniqueness of each individual. I’d be keeping my eye on him, and following his footsteps, if I were you.

Remember, year after year it gets harder to stand out from the crowd, both in business -as more enter the workforce & it’s increasing competitiveness, and in life - as population grows over time & everyone is grabbing for everyone’s time or attention. If you aren’t thinking outside the box and stating boldly who you are, you are not doing justice to your own potential or natural gifts.

Be all of who you are, do what you love, do what you are exceptional at, and be humbly bold (there’s a fine art to this) letting others know about the awesomeness of you and what you can do for others!

If you follow this 4 point rule (my rule), you will always be remembered. Being remembered is the 2nd biggest key to success. The 1st is your own drive and determination. This CEO has mastered the 1st, and he accomplished the 2nd with me.

Junior Sanchez breaks rules! And that is what I am all about! So of course, I Love it! I hope this man inspires you, as he did with me, and puts some fire under you - to get you to “Shake Things Up!” in your world and craft your distinctions in who you are or what your business is about and share that message with the world!

If you are intrigued to find out more about his business and this outstanding professional, the one I also believes deserves a dual title: CCO - Chief Creative Officer, see:

Junior Sanchez {LION}
CEO, Founder Rift Success
http://riftsuccess.com
http://riftsuccess.webs.com (the video & clothing are here)

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