#6 Are you Unique in Procurement
Wielding the LinkedIn BLOCK button to preserve sanity
Hey Procurement Legend,
I have a confession - I shaved most of my beard off. I wanted to let you know first in case you had some affiliation to my beard instead of me 😅 it will be back soon enough.
I wanted to thank you for making November the best month we’ve had across Substack so far - with 24000 views of content despite me dropping the amount of content, I was publishing so I could go all in on quality 🙏
As a reminder, a paid World of Procurement subscription is only £5.99.
For this, you’ll:
Be brought up to speed with the future direction of procurement
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Understand how you can create a skillset that makes you in the top 1% of procurement pros
What I'm Reading
Are you unique in procurement?
In the world?
Probably.
But how do you convey that.
I’ve been reading a lot, but one call out here is that I’ve revisited a book called “Niche Down” focused on product category creation.
However, whilst I’m reading it for that purpose, I have a dual purpose.
The book is about what makes your offering unique and worthy to buy.
I’ve started to reflect on my content focus with Substack for 2024, and the idea of Niching Down further in 2024 is highly appealing.
It also gives you better ways to speak with your colleagues about how your procurement does things differently.
What I'm Thinking (about Procurement)
I’ve felt a little exhausted from LinkedIn recently.
My feed has looked like this:
Deeply religious posts that mock the deaths of innocents in Gaza
Hamas - Israel clashing (I don’t watch the news/read the news, and I’m damn glad of that)
People putting out opinions that promote get-rich schemes who don’t like it when you push back (even when they ask you to disagree with them)
A lot of talk about Chat GPT is often discussed without enough knowledge of the platform or the architecture behind it
Not to mention the Chat GPT drivel. If you want to learn how to create content, I’ve got a guide on LinkedIn for you that doesn’t rely on AI, and I’ll be putting together an exclusive video on this for paid members next month.
In short, I’ve learned a valuable lesson that the block button is essential to preserve my sanity and ensure I see content that better aligns with my goals (but should not be used to silence opinions where I disagree as we need counter-views in our lives).
One Procurement Tech-Focused Insight
I started working on a Notion template called Procurement OS months ago, and it’s been stuck in the build phase for a while.
Many of you want to experience digital procurement but might not have the budget yet.
There is a way to start without procurement tech, and using Notion to build databases and processes is a cost-effective way to do so.
Let me know if you want to see content around this, so you can build the system yourself and I’ll also package it as a template so you can buy it if you’d rather have the shortcut for your organisation.
#NotionAd
One Piece of Content I've Found Useful
I’ve been listening to podcasts again this week, and I always try to listen to non-procurement/supply chain-focused podcasts to increase my breadth of viewpoint.
This was a solid Tim Ferriss podcast, especially for anyone considering this year and what 2024 might look like for them.
My Procurement Reading List
Check this out here - make sure you get one of these books.
How you can Support World of Procurement Elsewhere
Take our Contract Management Course for Beginners
Digital Products (mostly free)
Daniel