Choosing Your Niche Market - Developing Laser Focus,
When you particularize your career, it becomes easier to attract work. As a result, you end up making more money and working fewer hours.
That might sound like a trap but it's not because focusing on one niche market makes you better at your job.
In other words, focusing on one niche market will make you a better business owner and probably pay off the investment faster than trying to stretch yourself thin across multiple fields.
The reason for the success of niche markets can be explained by the concept of "competitive advantage." By specializing you're harder to compete against and survive in your industry.
Now, you may ask why it's important to focus on one niche market. There are a few reasons:
It's vital to have a clear picture of what you can achieve on your own - before holding down multiple positions in multiple companies. This way, if an opportunity comes up that will cost more than 1/3rd of your yearly income, you won't take that risk without knowing exactly how much you'll make in year 2 or 3 or 10 if they happen. This clarity of vision is the difference between success and failure.
If you're not clear in your vision of what you want to do, then it's easy to become distracted by shiny objects that have nothing to do with your actual goals. Only by knowing what your goals are can you decide if something else is worth a cut in pay or time.
By focusing on one niche market, it's easier to get competitive advantage because others will find your expertise difficult to match. With a focus on this one industry, you can become an expert in that field and avoid the need for marketing fluff. So much of the work today is marketing based, when instead, you should be able to let your work speak for itself.
The more specific your niche, the easier it is to build a brand that people will actually know and trust. And once you've built a strong brand, you can leverage it to increase your income by way of marketing. An added bonus of having a niche market is that you can create a very long lasting relationship with clients and help them market themselves on other platforms as well. Some examples:
Once you develop a niche market, don't be afraid to use those skills in other markets as well. If your expertise sits in one particular industry, then build up the kind of reputation that will let you expand into others industries that have similar niches - like consulting for example. This can be done by creating a niche website and increasing your visibility in that field. With a niche website, you can build a brand and create your own niche market.
Here are two good examples of people doing what I'm talking about:
Eventually, every business develops its own unique plan for success. Usually this plan includes being very good in one area and being willing to do whatever it takes to succeed in that area.
My point is that it's completely possible for everyone to set themselves up for success in one industry if they're focused on only one thing.
Again, the more specific you are in your niche market, the better you'll be at your craft and the more profitable you'll be. You don't need a large skill set to get started in one field.
Since it's impossible to be a specialist in everything, then it's important to pick one thing in which create an expert and then turn that into a profitable business through marketing.
If you want to find out what your strengths are and what skill sets that have, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnMd_JZRFXk
So how do you pick the right niche market?
Ask yourself these questions:
Are you a leader, or do you want to be one? Do you think your strengths are in sales or in design? Do you want to become famous as an expert in a niche, or do you want to make money by making products or services actually used by people? If your goal is to sell products, then pick something people need. If your goal is to make money by promoting other people's things and creating connections, then pick something that has some value.
"You'll never have enough time unless you're doing the most important things. And you'll never be able to do the most important things unless you make the most money."
"They say that a 'goal is the path to where you are going.' But if your goal is always just a step away, then it's never going to get done!"
As an example, let's say that you want to become an expert in something about horse training. You can start by reading about it on the web and talking with some people who know more about it than you do. Then, think of what this profession could be called and what services could be involved. For example, maybe you can call your business "Homestead Riding School.com" and your services could include training horses for kids or young adults. Then, search for a domain name like homesteadriding.com and you'll find that plenty of people are already selling horse training services on the web.
Now, take a look at some of the information available on this niche market:
This list can be used to develop an action plan to get started in a new niche market.
If you're an entrepreneur, then making money selling products is a good way to get started. It's also important to know that this type of business requires that you:
Let's take a look at how we might implement these things (on the internet):
So what we're doing here is creating a website or blog with two main functions:
And then we're getting the word out there on social media - of course, each of these things could be done better. The goal is to start getting your name out there first and using the right tools to help build your own brand called "Homestead Riding School.com". You can do this by offering free advice to other people or actually building a product or service to sell. If you're not sure what kind of product to make, you could simply offer an e-book, video or video course on horse training.
For example, if you're interested in selling horse training videos online, then your niche market might be "Videos on horse training" and then you could create a website that sells your videos. Or, perhaps something like this:
There are many ways to start a niche business online and all require some thought.
Conclusion:
There is a way to become an expert in one industry and there is a right way to do it. If you choose wisely, then you can avoid the most difficult thing in marketing today - which is getting your name out there and building trust with the people in your niche. If you work hard at it, then success will find you and your life will be much less stressful than that of someone who tries to have many different skills and interests or tries to sell products that are already crowded with other sellers.
Work on one thing, create a brand for yourself and use this brand as a marketing tool.