I drive to Seattle four times a year to see a mostly naked woman holding a tiger cub while clinging to a rope ladder that’s attached to a helicopter.

Relax, it’s art. A massive piece of art that is hanging on the ceiling of my dentist’s office. When the hygienist chair reclines, the painting is all you can see attached to the ceiling. And it’s magnificent.

That piece of art is why I continue to make the 1 hour drive downtown even though I no longer work downtown. But it’s not really that piece or all of the other beautiful pieces that keep me coming back. It’s what the art represents.

I am a dental snob. My teeth have always been finicky and I once had a bunch of work done by a “dentist-in-a-box” that needed to be redone many years later. I now choose dentists on different criteria.

I am looking for a dentist who understands that they are not scientists, they are artists. Teeth are art. My wife teases me and says I should visit her dentist. I went there a few times with the kids to check it out. The landscape pictures on the wall fresh from CheapWallArt dot com tipped me off. Another dentist-in-a-box. No thanks. I’ll make the drive.

I bring this up because I wonder if you are aware of what makes you actually attractive in the market? It’s you. Today, you are what matters. You are the differentiator. Who you are matters to people like me trying to make decisions in crowded markets.

Stop sanding the edges. Break the gravitational pull toward corporate, safe, and boring. Throw away the Vase with Flowers print from Home Goods. Let the freak out. Be what you already are: one of a kind. Like what you like. Non-verbally brag to the world about who you are.

Some people won’t like it and they will tell you it’s wrong. But their opinion is dusty and they can go get their boring fix elsewhere. You aren’t here for everyone. You are here for people like me.