It was late. I was home alone. It wasn’t time to mess around and watch something like House of Yes. I actually watched the first 20 minutes and decided it was entirely possible Parker Posey would take a knife to Tori Spelling, in all her blousy white and billowy khaki glory.
Normally, I’d watch a movie I’d already seen a thousand times. Like Under the Tuscan Sun. But, instead Netflix brought me Kinky Boots, so I dove in.
So entertaining and what fantastic affirmation of so many of the things I believe in when it comes to business.
So for you, here, I have three business lessons learned from Kinky Boots.
Niche Down
That shoe factory couldn’t continue making the same lace-ups. They couldn’t survive. Lauren was the one who suggested that Charlie had better find a niche if he wanted to save his family business. When Charlie spotted Lola (!!!) in an alleyway running away from a gang of bullies and breaking her heel on the cobblestone, he had his epiphany.
I wrote about niching down, here, as one of my six secrets to a thriving holistic practice. So, ditch the fear of alienating people and get specific. Trying to please everyone leads to reaching no one. Would you go to your general practitioner if you had a really specific issue like, say, psoriatic arthritis? You’d go to a specialist.
Become the best at what you do — make the best product
The factory workers at Price & Sons Shoes were perfectionists. Lola came in and designed a shoe that would fulfill the “sex” quotient and the workers, those specialists, became positively obsessed with creating something that fulfilled every obligation required of this show.
The more specific you are, the greater quality you can add to your product. The broader you are, the weaker your message. When you’re specific you can hone your craft, you can go deep into your training, you can become and expert, you can become the best at what you do.
Hire or align with the experts who know what to do, if you don’t
Charlie hunted Lola down and courted her once he realized his factory would be at least capable to making a shoe for her and those with similar needs. He deferred to her expertise when it came to design and particularly to aesthetic and style. And that’s what made his kinky boot a success.
Hear this, now. It’s okay to admit you don’t know. It’s not only okay, it necessary if you want to become better than you are today. (That’s a song lyric and I had to sing it in my head to realize it was Madonna). So, seriously: align yourself with people who know more. Ask questions. Be honest about what you don’t know and get answers.
Ready for a final bonus learning from Kinky Boots? Be prepared to go to the mattresses and risk extreme embarrassment because you believe in your product, even if that means you have to walk down the runway at a shoe convention in Milan wearing only a dress shirt and tie, a suit jacket and thigh high red patent leather boots.