A story about keys, locks and the peculiar habit of entrepreneurs

Imagine a market.

There are dozens, hundreds of people standing there. Each of them has a sign saying: ‘I open Instagram’, ‘I deliver leads’, ‘I build funnels’, ‘I do advertising’. Everyone is holding a bunch of keys. And they are all shouting: ‘Come to me! My keys are the most universal! I'll bring you customers right away!’ You approach one of them. ‘Do you have the key to my business?

He smiles. ’Of course! I have keys to everything! Sounds good. Too good, even.

After a week — silence. After a month — a blown budget. After two — a growing feeling that something is wrong here. And the problem is simple.

You have your own lock.

Every business has its own lock. Its own shape. Its own combination. Its own context. You have a unique product, a specific target group, your own customer selection logic. And the key to this lock can only be cut according to the original pattern. It cannot be selected ‘by eye’ from someone else's bunch of keys.

Meanwhile, the ‘locksmiths from the market’ do not know what kind of lock you have. They can only do one thing: put keys in the slot and see if they turn. And you wait for a miracle. You think they are masters. But they are just people who know where the doors to similar types of locks are.

They can only do one thing: insert keys into the slot and check if they turn. And you wait for a miracle. You think they are masters. But they are just people who know where the doors with similar locks are.

Why it works in a bakery — but not in your service

If you are a bakery, pharmacy or tyre repair shop, you satisfy basic physiological needs. Customers will find you. They will come. All you need is a banner, a presence on Google Maps, and traffic will appear. This is a case where the keys are similar. But even then, if there are three identical points next to each other, you have to stand out. But if you provide psychological, educational, B2B, consulting, design or non-standard services, then everything changes. Here, universal keys do not work. Here, precise adjustment is needed.

90% of the work is on your side

And here comes the most unpopular truth: you have to create your own key. Not just discover what it is — but design it. Understand: who your customer is, what their needs are, how they make decisions, and what exactly you offer them to make it work. The people you usually go to are not marketers in the full sense of the word. They are specialists in traffic, funnels, advertising, and launches. They stand in the market with signs and say: ‘We have access to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google — come on, we'll bring you people!’ And what happens? You bring them ‘something,’ and they try to find the right door for it. In the best case scenario, they find a lock that your key sort of fits. But it won't turn, it jams, or it opens the wrong room.

Because you create the key. The lock is your product and your customer. And they just insert the keys. They don't design locks. They don't cut keys.

⚠️ They won't step into your role in the business for you.

⚠️ They don't think for you.

⚠️ They don't know what you have ‘inside’.

But... they pretend they know. And that's the biggest deception. There is no other way. Either you take responsibility and build a system, or you continue to hope that someone else will do it for you.