The push recently has been the idea of absolute inclusion. As a business plan and a plan for having a good life, this is an extremely bad decision.
To do a job or produce a product well you need to know who you are selling it to. This requires that you exclude individuals who do not need that product or service from your marketing campaign.
Narrowing down the demographic you want to sell to helps a lot. A large business isn’t going to need the same services as a small business, and a small business doesn’t necessarily need the same service as an individual or freelancer. Not everyone needs a welder or a writer or a coder. Each individual or group has their own specific needs and wants.
In order to meet those specific needs you need to exclude those who don’t need them. It’s not malicious, it’s to ensure those who actually want the product or service get the product or service. It’s more about knowing who your audience is and tailoring your business to fit that audience.
Now this has to be done within your moral preferences. For example as a writer I’ll write fiction, non-fiction, business to business, and other types of copy but I won’t do it for genres that are labeled “Adult content”. I have to exclude those genres because they don’t fit my preferences or skills.
You can’t make a product that is going to please everyone because societal factors come into play as well as personal preferences and utility. A lot of people like chibi statues, I don’t see the need for them, i am excluded from their target audience just because I have no desire to acquire them.
A lot of the time people exclude themselves from your market just by their actions. A real world example of this an individual who I refer to as “My problem player”. Long time followrs of my D&D adventures will recognize him as my old compatriot the Ranger. As a player he is indifferent and as a person he is an insufferable individual. Very few people can directly cause me to grind my gears like this guy.
He has been a snag in a number of games and conversations that I’ve had. And he has pushed several people away through his behavior (with me being one of them). Additionally his personality just doesn’t merge that well with mine. I try to be good at what I do and I automatically take the position that I am the dumbest/least experienced person in the room until proven otherwise. The problem player seems to automatically assume he’s the smartest and that he will pout and sulk until he gets his way.
If you don’t jive with someone or a group you need to exclude yourself or them from the situation. That way you won’t accidentally damage relations. The Exclusion is best for everyone involved because some groups are just going to be hostile to each other because of their personalities.
Exclusion can save a situation by removing problematic factors. Just like a quarantine. It also allows you to focus your products and services the most efficiently.
What situations have you experienced where excluding something could have helped?
Think about it.
Sincerely,
The Irreverent Gentleman
gentlemansuniversityofmanliness 