All living things have something about them they use to survive, humans use intelligence, zebras use stripes. Researchers had gone to Africa to learn how stripes protect them from predators. All zebras blend together in a herd, so to better track a few, they painted red dots on their sides. Researchers set camp and would track the zebras in the morning. By morning the zebras with red dots were gone, dead and eaten by lions.

They quickly figured out that, like the researchers, lions cannot follow a single zebra in a herd. Normally lions must wait for weak stragglers. However, the red dots allowed them to track a single zebra until they took it down, and eat it.

In business, what is your Red Dot? How can potential customers remember you, to track you and differentiate you from the competition? Businesses can all blend together! All real estate agents say they sell houses faster and for more money. All restaurants have the freshest ingredients. Some even put fresh in their name - Baja Fresh, Chevy’s Fresh Mex, Hello Fresh, to name a few.

Businesses, even a gig worker, will benefit from a Red Dot. Reply to a potential customer and include your website, you'll stand out. When those potential customers call back, it is because they are interested in what you do – you stood out!

This story and advice came from Rob Ryan, who sold his company Ascend in 1999 in a $24 billion merger, at the time largest technology merger in history.