Most entrepreneurs, bootstrappers, and freelancers know that niches bring riches. But most don’t realise that niches are needs that are specific to particular demography or psychography. So, finding your niche is about providing a solution to the challenges that people are looking to resolve.
The challenge of finding a profitable niche is that people don’t know where to start. Here’s what I learned while trying to find my niche:
- Make a list of the results or outcomes you can help people achieve. Having clarity on your offering is a great starting point. But don’t just list down your strengths/offerings (a.k.a. features), focus on the specific outcomes that you can help people with. Or you can try reverse-engineering this by listing the results that people you know are looking to resolve.
- Find 10 to 20 or even 50 people within your network and interview them. Ask them about their professional and personal goals for the next 3-6 months and the challenges they’re facing the pursuit. This exercise alone has given me world-class insights into the audience that I want to serve.
- Once you have clarity on your niche, stay there for some time before you widen it. Let success be a determining factor towards this move. Amazon.com, for example, started with just books but as they grew they expanded onto offering other stuff as well before turning into the everything store.
If you’re thinking why even bother specialising, I suggest working for yourself is a bad idea. You can’t be a generalist and hope to cater to everyone. Also, know that your potential clients and customers have an aversion towards generalist. They would instead consult or work with someone who’s “done it before,” even if that means shelling a fortune.
There isn’t a reason not-to-specialise in 2020 and beyond. You must, even if you’re doing just fine.
P.S. Check out Eben Pagan’s nice little video on the same topic.