Niche Niche Weird: Dennis Moseley Williams Returns To JUST PRESS RECORD

You’re already hard to copy. I should probably tape that one to a mirror. A “Hey weirdo, you can use this” post-it note reminder.

Because it's true: your unique way of going about life makes imitating you impossible.

Which feels good until you remember the wrinkle. That being hard to copy isn’t doing anything for you if nobody knows you exist.

You need to be impossible (or at least really hard) to ignore too.

That’s why talking to Dennis Moseley Williams is so helpful. Not to mention - his previous Just Press Record better half, Josh Spector, too! They’re my people to remind me of all this stuff (maybe this will make them yours too, watch it if you haven’t already).

I’ll paraphrase a point Dennis made that I’ve been replaying ever since we pressed stop. I know Josh would second this one.

For the most part, people already know what you do. Functionally, at least, they get it. What’s left, and what they really want to know next, is who you are.

Your variables make you unique. Your weirdness makes you memorable.

It’s almost mathematics.

Dennis’ framework for this is “niche-niche-weird.”

That’s the progression from gathering around what makes us similar (including commodities, services, etc.), to gathering around what makes us different, passionate, and specific (the non-commodifiable, experiential, etc.).

A lesson straight out of my own life from this past weekend -

If you like movies (niche!), and if you like horror movies (niche!), then perhaps you'd gather at a drive-in where people show up in costume, trade stories about their favorite practical effects (there was a theater blood demonstration), and debate the progressive values inherent in the still deeply troubling 80’s flick, “Sleepaway Camp” - all while ordering the best chicken nuggets you’ve ever had in the last location you’d ever expect to find them (weird!).

This is the line where businesses move from just offering products and services, and start curating experiences.

It’s not a “we all need something to do on Saturday night” theme, it’s a “we’re the kind of people who will hang out in a parking lot, admire all the movie shirts and costumes, and appreciate the spook factor of seeing scary movies on a larger than life screen” theme.

What makes it work, or how you know you’ve achieved “weird” status, are what Dennis calls “customer secrets.”

Customer secrets are the things only your people know and want to share. They're the thread strangers can tug to see if their niche-openness might lead all the way to good-weird status. Shared secrets spread the word. Shared secrets turn into belonging signals.

Shared secrets are the ultimate signifier of the Godin-ism, “People like us do things like this.”

When you share a weird, specific truth about who you are and what you’re into, you’re not just differentiated by execution, you’re differentiated by identity.

You’re already hard to copy. You've already put in 10,000 hours just wearing your skin around. And yes, there's some horror movie poetry in that sentence, but there's a lot of truth in it too.

Because anybody can become impossible to ignore as soon as they stop hiding the quirks that came with them and share them in the open.

Think about your niche niche weirds. You probably have several.

Think about what falls short. Don’t be surprised if it’s your job or employer. This takes real intentions and - personality.

You have to directly ask: What's holding back the full realization of your weird? What would make someone share a customer secret about you?

Listen to Dennis break this all down right here. He was inspired by a clip I shared with him from my conversation with Julia Duthie and Nancy Burger. They’re going to be as delighted and surprised by what he shares as he was when he heard their clip:

ps. Shoutout to our old friend Elliott who, while talking about "Sleepaway Camp" - which my wife and I had just watched and she was still fretting over - not only furthered the take we'd been discussing about the character trauma, but also leaned over and said, "You do know this place has the greatest chicken nuggets in the world, right?" THAT is a customer secret. We had no idea. Chicken nuggets at a drive-in showing a horror movie fest. Of course we got them and… crack. Incredible.

Pps. Why did Cultish Creative sponsor NEPA Horror Fest 2025? There’s a video for that. Here you go.