The hotel where I stayed in Lisbon was located on a major pedestrian street just off of one of the city’s main plazas. The kind of street that is filled with souvenir shops, currency exchanges and outdoor cafes with menues in English, French, German and oh yeah…Portuguese.

Central pedestrian area in Lisbon

This street also always had some sort of street performers trying to make a few extra Euro. Often performances came in the form of the human statue – the people who cover themselves in various shades of paint and period costume then stand completely still on a pedestal waiting for someone to drop a few coins in their cup so they can “come to life” and interact before going back to statue mode. Snooze…seen that a million times from Vancouver to Sydney.

There were also dancers and street musicians to add a soundtrack to the comings and goings of this busy street. Nothing about this is particularily noteworthy – I’ve seen street performers in every city I’ve visited.  But one day as I was on the way to catch a local tram, one performer  did manage to catch my attention.

Famous trams of Lisbon

It was a young guy who sat on the street and played the accordion. Now I’m no accordion expert, but this guy seemed to know what he was doing at least to a proficient level.  But I think he knew that the accordion is not as much of a draw as flashy dancers or charismatic West African drummers.  He knew he needed a hook.

So instead of just dropping a Euro or two in a cup, passers by dropped the coins in a tiny cup held in the mouth of a tiny little dog. The kind of dog that was so cute that children and big, grown men alike stopped to do a double take.  The dog had the coloring of a miniature doberman pincher, but was even smaller and a little cuter.  Probably some type of Chihuahua. This dog had mastered the art of the sad puppy dog eyes, and the tourists just couldn’t resist.

Standing out from the rest. Photo Credit: Rafael Marchante/Reuters

The thing that stood out for me was that the tiny dog was the show. Although the accordion player was doing a fine job, I’d guess that 90% of the money he collected was because of the dog.  That got me thinking, about the importance of finding a way to stand out in the crowd.  You may be doing the same thing that that many other people are doing, but if you can market yourself in a different way or offer the public something special, you may just find a way to set yourself apart from the rest.

While I love to travel and I enjoy writing articles for this blog twice a week and researching trends in travel, I know I’m not the only travel blogger out there…far from it. Over the next few months, I plan to upgrade this blog, find a new look, a new identity that will hopefully make old and new readers take notice.  It goes without saying that I have to “play my accordion well” but I also need to do something a little different so people will take notice of my already strong product.  As money and time allows, I’ll be making some changes to this website, so make sure to keep an eye out for them. And in the meantime, please continue to stop by to see what I have to say.