One of the biggest challenges I see with newer entrepreneurs is the resistance to choosing a specific group of people to work with and/or a specific area of expertise to build their business on.
Many entrepreneurs have a specialty (WHAT) but no target audience (WHO).
Others have a target audience, but don’t offer a core expertise. Instead, they try to be all things to that audience and find themselves and their clients lost in a sea of choices.
If you have just the WHAT but not the WHO, or vice versa, you’ll likely still enjoy some level of success. However, it’s going to be much more difficult and take much 
longer to see results than if you define both.
This graphic visually shows the sweet spot of any niche –>
The horizontal is the WHO? Who are you serving? What portion of the marketplace are you offering your gifts too?
The vertical is the WHAT? What’s your area of specialty that you’re offering to the WHO? What is your expertise?
The sweet spot is here these two W’s intersect.
So how do you find your niche’s sweet spot?
Here are 3 steps to help you do this:
Step 1: Define Your WHO
Who are you most meant to serve? Which portion of the marketplace calls to you? Which group of people resonates the most for you? Who are your most favorite clients and customers?
Step 2: Define Your WHAT
What area of expertise are you going to focus on with your WHO? Even if you can do everything, it doesn’t mean you should. What’s the one thing you do for your clients that you absolutely love?
Step 3. CHOOSE and MOVE
Once you know your WHO and WHAT, you can move forward from there, finding where they gather and exactly what they are struggling with, then offering ways to help them.
If your WHO and WHAT still seems fuzzy, get help. Get coaching or some kind of support to help you suss it out.
But at some point, you simply have to choose a group of people and an area of expertise to offer them and move with it. Over time, the specifics of your WHO and your WHAT will become more defined, and you can hone your market and your message then, but if you wait for it to be perfect, your business will stagnate. And the only way to get unstuck is to choose and move.
Share with me your WHO and your WHAT below.
For those of us raising families, or taking care of aging parents, or funding another dream, being able to custom-design a business that fits the lifestyle we want is the ultimate goal.
But here’s where I see many promising entrepreneurs struggle: they aren’t comfortable taking the risks that are required when growing a serious business and a profitable brand.
Even when that entrepreneur finally decides she’s ready to step into creating a business that’s highly profitable, designed around the lifestyle she aches for, there’s a tendency to question, to doubt, to hesitate, to hold back.
Because the next step is risky. The opportunity she’s been seeking is on the table in front of her, but she gets scared to follow her instinct that NOW is the time and hesitates just long enough for her brain to kick in and start generating a whole host of reasons why the risk in saying YES to herself is too great.
Things like:
“I can’t spend that kind of money.”
“I need to get XYZ in place first.”
“I don’t have time to make that kind of commitment.”
“I’ll join next year.”
All of those statements may be valid. They’re also the ones that will hold you back and keep you spinning in the same spot. If you’ve been there, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
If you’re ready to move out of that spot, you’re going to have to do two things: 1. change how you think and 2. change what you do.
I’m not saying you can’t create success on your own – you can. The question is, how long do you want it to take and how hard do you want it to be?
Big business shifts require faith in yourself and taking action at a higher level. Faith in your own inner guidance and taking action at a level that really stretches you, pulls you forward, and creates a new level of success so much sooner than you could on your own.
Notice I didn’t say take MORE action. I said, taking action at a higher level. As a business owner who is committed to not working more than 15 hours a week on average, I don’t want to work more. But I always want to work smarter to make the big leaps.
To help my clients start thinking in these same terms, I share with them my own story, as well as stories of others, famous and unknown, who took the leap of faith even when they had no idea where the resources were going to come from to do so.
So when you’re in the place of making a decision about taking that leap yourself, if you know in your heart (though your ego may be gnashing its teeth), that it’s a YES, know that the Universe has a delightful way of putting onto your path everything you need to help you.
I’ve certainly experienced this myself and often hear the same from my colleagues and clients. In fact, one of my private Platinum clients shared at my last workshop that, ‘you hear everyone say it, that I had no idea how I was going to pay for that program when I signed up, but as soon as I did, the money showed up.’
It happens all the time.
So, is it your time and your turn to build that really profitable business and brand? What opportunities are in front of you right now?
For example:
– Do you have a list of interested clients who you know you could help if you followed up with them?
– Is it time to finally raise your rates?
– Do you want to create a new income stream to generate more revenue?
– Is there a live event you could attend that could help move you forward faster?
Or is there a mentor whose level of success and lifestyle resonates with you who has a coaching program you could join?
Follow through on those or whatever else came to mind as you read this. Ask yourself what do you really want – and how can you get that? Then have faith and take the leap…
I’d love to know how this resonates with you. Please share your thoughts below…
Recent Comments