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I am so glad that April chose Fascinate by Sally Hogshead for the ARTrepreneur book club. It puts into words things that we all basically know already, but maybe haven’t really thought about, and thinking about them is certainly very interesting.

We are all fascinated, whether only slightly interested or completely obsessed, with something – probably multiple things.  Bands you travel all over the place to see play live, TV shows you absolutely cannot miss each week, celebrities you love or love to hate…

Why are we attracted to these things? Do we really even understand what it is about that band that makes us spend hundred of dollars on a ticket? Do we have any real idea why a TV show about crab fishermen is so freaking awesome?

That is what this book is about – understanding why things fascinate us and how to make ourselves and our brands more fascinating to others.

“Anything, and anyone, can become fascinating.”

Fascination is, at least in large part, the key to success. Without triggering fascination, your product will fade into the background – and just become another “thing” in the endless sea of options, rather than the front runner in your category, field or area of expertise.

In her book, Hogshead covers the seven triggers of fascination and I chose three of the seven to talk about today: Lust, Prestige and Trust.

“Lust creates craving for sensory pleasure.”

Soft cashmere, delicious foods, tropic island sand between our toes … these are things we crave, love and appreciate.  In many cases, the things we lust after are “special treats” – not things we encounter or get to have everyday.

Perhaps even more interesting than how to make products more lustworthy was a lesson from the book about how to maintain lust. Hogshead talks about Godiva and how once they started offering their chocolates in more common and accessible places – their brand lost the lust factor. Once people could get it anywhere, it wasn’t as desirable, it wasn’t something that was a treat anymore.

The fascination with Godiva dropped off the charts once it was more widely available.

That is something we can probably all learn from.

“Prestige earns respect through symbols of achievement.”

An example of prestige that is outlined in the book comes from Grey Goose Vodka. According to Hogshead, Grey Goose “forced an entire category to realign” by pricing their vodka twice as high as “the other guys.”  This move alone, a higher price point, gave the brand an aura of prestige.

Other things that Hogshead tells us build prestige? Emblems and logos (this Gucci and Chanel) and limited availability of a product. Of course, celebrity endorsement couldn’t hurt either.

We are assured, in the chapter about prestige, that “the most authentic and lasting fascinations require you to earn them.”

Trust comforts us with certainty and reliability.

Trust is so important when it comes to selling anything, because in order to sell something someone must give their money to you and, as you may already know, spending money isn’t always easy. When we trust something we return to it over and over.

Hogshead cites consistency and repetition as trust builders. She uses McDonald’s as an example. Hogshead tells of a case in which a group of children were each given two sets of chicken nuggets, one set of nuggets were wrapped up like they would be coming from McDonalds and the other set was unbranded. When the children were asked which nuggets tasted better – guess what they said? The McDonald’s nuggets of course! But the truth is the nuggets were all exactly the same, just presented differently.

And isn’t it true that people tend to trust the name brands more than the generics? Those brands have a history and they all started somewhere, and from there they maintained consistency and utilized repetition. As the company built the brand, the consistency of the branding built trust.

You can see how these factors, lust, prestige and trust all play into fascinating people, so what are you going to do about it? How can you make your brand, your product and yourself more fascinating?

{You could probably start by reading the book, because I didn’t even scratch the surface here.}

About the Author: Hello! I’m Danielle, the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Administrative Assistant and summer intern and blog updater at The Merriweather Council. I enjoy sipping iced lattes, listening to boy band music, watching crime solving TV shows and putting things in hoops. I am often covered in little bits of thread and fabric but, well, ‘I want it that way’ 😉

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Editor’s Note: I picked Switch {affiliate link} as the first ARTrepreneur book club selection, because it remains the most influential business book I’ve read to date. I feel really good about this choice, because so many members seem to be benefiting from reading this book as well. I love how Danielle from The Merriweather Council shows you how just one chapter from this book can change your outlook on your business and help you move in the right direction.

As creative entrepreneurs, we spend a lot of time learning how to optimize, monetize, and overall improve our efforts, strengthen our businesses and rule the world. We seek help, guidance and advice about how to improve, what to add, what to take away and what to participate in. This is because we are extremely hardworking individuals and there are lots of great resources for such information. Sometimes we forget to stop and take a look at what we are doing correctly! Why don’t we spend more time focusing on that?

April selected “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard” by Chip and Dan Heath as our ARTrepreneur book club book for April and May. Quite simply, this book is about how to make effective changes to better yourself and your business.

Chapter two of this book covers what Chip and Dan refer to as Bright Spots.

What is a Bright Spot?

“ ‘What is working and how can we do more of it?’ That’s the bright-spot philosophy in a single question.” – Switch

Bright spots are, as Meagan Visser, one of our Book Club Babes, so simply summarized: “The successes of your business. They are the things that you’re doing that are working for you & bringing the desired results you want.”

Once you start thinking about what you are doing that is working for you and bringing you positive results, you have already begun to identify Bright Spots.

Identifying Bright Spots

What have you been doing or have done before that brings you a good result?  Do you have a certain product that sells well consistently? Is there a kind of blog post that brings in lots of comments and attention? Is there an avenue of social media that you enjoy using that draws people in to connect with you?  Is there a time management technique you use behind the scenes that always makes you feel really accomplished and productive? Do people constantly ask you to do custom work?  If so, these are your bright spots!

In the forums we shared what our Bright Spots were, I cited my product photos as one of mine. My product photos are bright and crisp and they accurately represent my items. Could they be better? Sure, anything could be better but for now they are working wonderfully! They’ve been used in treasuries over and over, they’ve attracted the attention of magazine editors and they’ve been used on a number of different blogs. That means people like looking at them, I am pretty sure. Not to mention, they help sell my products! I rely pretty heavily on my photos and I’ve worked hard to get them to where they are. This is most definitely my Brightest of Spots.

April cited her blog (you are here) as one of her Bright Spots because it allows her to publish valuable content for her readers and build trust and relationships with them.

Meagan suggested that if you are struggling to find Bright Spots in your own business, look at someone else’s and evaluate what you admire about their business. You could even possibly reach out to them and ask for some pointers.

What to Do Once You’ve Identified a Bright Spot

We can use our bright spots in an effort toward change by looking to these positives as sources of information and inspiration that can be carried into other areas. For example, April might be able to look at her blog and track trends and see what her readers respond to the most and then do more of that. Since I know that people respond to my product photos I can strive for the same type of quality in the photos I take for my blog.

“…relatively small changes… had a big impact on a big problem. …big problem, small solution.” – Swtich

Rather than stressing out when something doesn’t work, we can focus on what does and analyze those things to see why they work, and therefore prepare to do more of it in the future. Additionally, we can realize that not all ‘problems’ require huge overhauls but rather small tweaks that can make a big difference.

What are the bright spots in your business? What can you focus on when other stuff isn’t going so well? What can you learn from these positives?

About the Author: Hey there! I’m Danielle, and I am the artist/ maker behind The Merriweather Council! I am a 22 year old, recent college grad living and crafting in Boston, Massachusetts. My interests include traveling both near and far, reading books by Jonathan Safran Foer multiple times, drinking iced lattes and watching shows in which forensics are used to solve crimes (have you ever noticed it is often a fiber that cracks the case? A thread or a piece of fabric – totally way too awesome) and of course – making things! Ever since graduating in May, I’ve completely immersed myself in my crafty biz and I’m super excited to see what happens next!