Your ‘No’ List

The Hotpot | January 2026 | By Lisanne

27.1

I often think of the brands that truly resonate with us.

What unites them is focus — they win not by trying to be everything to everyone, but by being unmistakable.

And to be unmistakable, you have to be willing to be disliked.

Patagonia is a good example of this. They didn’t become a titan by selling more jackets; they became one by telling people not to buy them. By prioritizing the planet over a quarterly sales spike, they alienated the casual consumer and gained a tribe of disciples.

Even in high-stakes tech, Apple didn’t win the MP3 war because the iPod had more features. They won because they said “no” to the buttons, the removable batteries, and the complex menus their competitors were obsessed with. They chose the elegance of a single “click wheel” over the utility of a thousand options.

This discipline of refusal is what can break the status quo.

Take podcaster and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett. He quadrupled his podcast subscribers by doing the exact opposite of his competitors.

While every other podcaster was relentlessly pleading with their audience to “like and subscribe”—Bartlett realized that 60% of his listeners still hadn’t followed. Instead of doubling down on the generic digital plea, he replaced the filler with a raw, personal favor asking those who enjoyed the show to help him out. He bet on human connection over a overused call to action.

Joe Rogan decided to have long form conversations for his Joe Rogan Experience on YouTube, and not edit on the uncomfortable silences, in a world where most of the content is scripted.

This applies to us as individuals, too.

If you are a consultant who says “yes” to every client, you aren’t an expert; you’re a pair of hands.
If you are a writer who chases every trend, you aren’t an author; you’re a content machine.

I see this in my own work with The Hotpot as well. I’ve decided I will not provide “5-minute takeaways.” I will not pretend to have the answers when I’m still wrestling with the questions, and in a world of AI generated content, every line I write comes from me— even the minor human flaws and all.

By saying “no” to the traditional newsletter format, I am saying “yes” to a specific kind of reader—the one who is tired of noise and hungry for meaning.

In a world obsessed with scale, the most radical act is to be specific.

Because a brand is a promise. We can only keep that promise if we have the discipline to say ‘no’.
The brand has to be a filter and alienate the wrong people to attract the right ones. Its job is to keep the noise out so the signal can be heard.

We are often hesitant of being specific because we fear missing out, but real branding is very much about the people we refuse to serve, the shortcuts we refuse to take, and the “good” opportunities we have the courage to decline.

Distinction is found in our constraints.

So if we can’t list five things we’ll never do—even if they’d make us money—do we then really have a brand? Or do we just have a business?

The question isn’t how we can stand out. The question is: what are we willing to give up to be unmistakable?

Thank you for reading! The question of today:

Who is one person or brand that you love specifically because they aren’t for everyone?

Tag them below.

Curious to see more reflections like this? Click through to see the rest of the series on entrepreneurship. I’d love to hear what resonates with you.