On going deeper. . .
Close to this time last year, I started to explore going deeper into a specific niche. All of the savviest business builder folks point to niching as the way to create a successful, self-sustaining business. Their position states that you (the business owner) want to have a specific audience in mind. A target audience of “women” doesn’t count. Too big. A target audience of “women business owners” is also too big. But a target audience of women lawyers who are solo practitioners is just right. In choosing a specific niche to work with, that specific audience will flock to you because your service is exactly what they need. The point is you don’t need every woman to be your client, just the ones that really have a need for your service or product. That’s enough.
I had resisted this notion for a while because while it rationally made sense to me, it felt exclusionary. My business model has always been as inclusive as possible: all women were welcome. It didn’t matter their age or education level, what their job was or their race. Every woman I knew could use some self-esteem boosters. Why offer these tools to only a few? The reality is that while thinking I was a specialist–a life coach for women who wanted to become more confident–really, I was a generalist: a life coach who (aside from tackling financial abundance work with clients) would work with women on most issues because so much does relate to self-esteem. [Side note: If in doubt yourself about whether you are truly a specialist or actually a generalist, read Seth Godin's post on this very subject here. Seth Godin is brilliant. There are a few people that I consider to be brilliant. My friend Jevette from grad school is one of them. A friend from Miss Hall's, Marina. Mr. Godin has been on my brilliance list for a while. Subscribe to his blog. His posts offer precious and pithy insight, applicable to anyone interested in distinguishing themselves and their business in a sea of mediocrity.]
Generalist no more, I decided. Initially, I talked to a few experts. These conversations were less successful. If you want details, let me know. After these fruitless explorations, I decided that I was actually the expert and so assigned myself some work to do: surveying the readers of my ezine, In The Pink; talking to my Passionality team leaders; doing some how-to work on niche identification and speaking with a few fellow solopreneurs like my good pal, Sarah Stitham of Revamp.
I have come up with something that speaks to some of my passions (a key aspect of defining a niche) and one that is specific. Right now I am working on the new business name. Keep your eyes open for a post next week, sometime after Wednesday’s issue of In The Pink, which will give the full details. In the meantime, ask how this story relates to you:
- How can you go deeper?
- Are you willing to risk alienating some of your fans/friends to pursue a more meaningful path?
- What have you done recently that scares you?