This post will take you 15 minutes to fully understand. You will also have to watch 3 videos. You have been warned.
I have spent two months trying to formulate this idea I have and I am still not able to do it. Since I am at a stand still I have decided to just put what I am seeing out there and let people make what they will out of it.
Several months back I saw the video for Goyte’s song “Somebody I used To Know” for the first time. I then saw a cover version done by a group called Walk of the Earth. Then I saw a parody of that cover by the group The Key of Awesome. I was completely taken back by the progression made from one song. I could not help but feel that there was a lesson there that could be translated into business.
Goyte wrote and performed a song that got popular. It is a wonderful song and the video makes it even better. Watch it here now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY
The band Walk of The Earth then did an AMAZING cover of it. They took something that existed and put their own twist on it. It worked and they became pretty popular. They did not rebuild the wheel. They just took what they saw and made it their own. Watch that here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsoRSI7ei4E&feature=related
NEXT the comedy group The Key of Awesome did a parody of the Walk of the Earth cover version. Three versions all linked. All three are popular and made these people known to larger audiences, but they were all based in one song. Just three different visions of the same thing. Watch it here.
So I have spent months trying to put to words how in business you do not need to re-invent the wheel. You do not need something completely original. You just need your version of it. Do not try to be exactly like the most popular one because that NEVER works. See something and put your twist on it to make it unique and people will find it and love it if it is worthy.
So there you go. Oh, and I think I am getting sick.