Quit Your Niching: A Beginner's Guide To Actually Starting Your Journey

[Devampre]

Disclosure: I had the thread title on my mind for a while and feel obligated to write something... hopefully of some value to others.

"What should I do?"

So you want to start a business? You have made a decision that you want to be an entrepreneur. You have decided that you want to provide people value and are determined to give yourself a better life. But, now what?

Many people who are new to business/entrepreneurship get stuck right at the beginning. They don't know what they want. They don't really know too much about who they are. They absorb a ton of content from books and the internet. And on top of all this uncertainty, there is that ever burning question, "what should I do?"

Sound familiar?

Many people that have created objectively successful businesses often get asked this question. And many hate being asked it. Especially because it is often asked by strangers that lack self awareness. How should they know what you should do? They likely don't know too much about you to answer that and they got their own lives to worry about. Sure every now and again you might get some really good advice from these people. But, they aren't going to hold your hand and build your business for you. You need to learn to do this on your own.

How?

Well in the next section I've came up with a process that I believe combines some of the best information regarding finding your niche, discovering opportunity, deciding which industry is right for you, getting started, discovering market demand and so on.

So if you want to stop action faking and you want to stop wondering, "what should I do?" Follow the process below:


The Process to Pick a Niche or Find Opportunity


1. Try some stuff, research different industries, talk with people

• Start going out and experiencing different things than you normally do. Go hiking, go to wine tastings, go to comedy clubs, join toastmasters, go to meetups, join clubs, get a different job, etc. Experience will present to you different opportunities and market demands that you wouldn't otherwise see.
• Once you start getting a better understanding of some stuff that resonates with you, go deeper. Some stuff may just end up being hobbies rather than business opportunities and that's okay.
• Now google "list of industries" or go here: Alphabetical Listing of Industries | OpenSecrets
• Research more about any industries that peak your interest via google, youtube, and perhaps join forums/groups if you find an active community online.
• Talk with other people in these industries, but don't be selfish and only ask questions to your own benefit. Be personable, be yourself, try to lead with value and let the answers to your questions and concerns come from natural conversation.

Now you might have discovered some problems/market demands in an industry that you can solve here. If that's the case just read 2B. If you're still a little lost read 2A.

2A. Choose an industry that appeals to you and write out why you wish to pursue it.

• You might have a few different industries that tickle your fancy. That's okay. Write them all down.
• For every industry that you are somewhat interested in, write out reasons WHY you want to pursue that industry. Get specific and avoid merely saying something like "to get rich." Write as much as necessary for each one.
• Now go back though your list and reread your WHY's
• You now may have chosen your ideal industry. If not use this ninja-hack method to decide: Eeny, meeny, miny, moe - Wikipedia
• You now have your industry selected! (Do your best to commit to this industry, but understand that you are never locked in this industry for life.)

2B. Make sure the problem/demand is fairly common and figure out the solution

• If you feel like you've already discovered an opportunity/market demand first define it by writing it down
• Now make sure that this is a common complaint among people in that industry/market.
• Get to understand this type of person. (What keeps them up at night, how much they could afford to pay you to solve their problem, their ambitions, etc)
• Now you need to solve their problem. Make sure it is something you are able to do or something you can find other people to do.
• If you are able to do this, you have a business idea
• Now research to see if there are other people doing this already and put it through CENTS (Don't be discouraged if there are competitors or it doesn't fully pass CENTS.)
• If you can deliver your new product/service and profit you have created a business

3. Become an expert in a micro-niche of that industry

• It will be hard getting connections if you are seen as an amateur looking to make a quick buck in any industry. So one way to combat this is by leading with value. And one great way to do this is to become an expert within an industry you are trying to be involved in.
• When starting out, an industry is too broad to become an expert in. So we need to zoom in to a specific area that's maybe neglected and a little unsexy. (If you are in an industry like Mining and you never stepped foot in a mine it's going to be impossible to start as the "Expert of Mining.")
• So dig deeper no pun intended by researching and talking with more people in that industry. (If you chose mining as an industry research different niches within it first. This can be a lot of different things, such as mine safety, mining equipment, B2B sales, etc.)
• Now, you're going to likely have to go deeper again. There are probably people that are already leading experts in these first niches of the industry. (So if we went with mining safety we'd research into the dangers of mining. Perhaps we'd look into something like respiratory safety for miners.)
• Now, if you feel like you can become that micro-niche expert in a reasonable time frame, go for it. If not, go even more narrow until you find that thing that you can be known for. (I feel like respiratory safety for miners would be "niched" down enough, but you could go a little further. Perhaps an expert in respiratory safety for miners using reusable/recyclable materials.)
• Now offer others in that industry your expertise. This can be in the form of content marketing, consultations, or anything of value that is significant.
• Start researching and talking more with people in that industry that you chose. Eventually you'll uncover a pain point/market demand. (These can be as simple as wanting more leads, to something a little more complicated, such as inventing a physical product or creating custom software.)
• You may discover more than one problem and some may be impossible to solve. This is okay. But, bring your attention to all of these pain points and write them down.
• You may also discover that your initial expertise is not as valuable and it is totally okay to pivot (Maybe miner respiratory safety isn't something that the industry cares about.)
• But, it wasn't a complete loss. If you attempted to help others as a leading expert in an industry's micro-niche, you likely now have some contacts and information you did not previously have.
• These contacts and insights can help you discover new opportunity/market demand. (Maybe you discovered that the most common pain point in the mine's was the inability to keep employees happy and loyal. So maybe you want to look into how you can help solve that problem instead.)
• A big thing to remember is to always lead with value and not expect everyone to give you their time.

4. Join industry communities and strongly consider creating your own

• Join active online communities that pertain to your industry. Search for these on google, facebook, linkedin, etc.
• Create your own online communities for people in your industry to join.
• Build good relationships, lead with value and connect people within your networks if you feel they will be good together.
• These communities will present new opportunities and relationships that will aid your business and potentially create new business.

I covered quite a few different approaches and strategies one could use, so don't feel bad if you didn't do everything in the process (especially in 3. and 4.) There's a lot of different ways to figure out that infamous question, "What should I do?" And hopefully whatever was holding you back before is now out of the way and you can take action. If not, feel free to explain what's holding you back and I or someone else can try help you more directly.

Cheers!

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Monkeycom]

O'n tasqsotif vjev vjot vjsief fofp'v taddiif vu jewi tuni tusv ug iphehinipv. O vjopl nepz quopvt uavmopif esi csommepvt. Vjepl zua gus vji tjesi!

 

[Devampre]

O'n tasqsotif vjev vjot vjsief fofp'v taddiif vu jewi tuni tusv ug iphehinipv. O vjopl nepz quopvt uavmopif esi csommepvt. Vjepl zua gus vji tjesi!

Hmef zua ipkuzif ov. O nez upi fez siwoti vjot us neli tunivjoph iwip civvis.

 

[ownyourtime]

Vjepl zua gus veloph vji voni vu xsovi vjot. Vsavjgammz, xjev zua iyqmeopif ecuwi ot tunivjoph O xuamf piwis lpux vu fu xovjuav tuniupi moli zua dupwizoph vjot opgusnevoup.

 

[Fabrxce]

Et vji uvjist jisi emsiefz nipvoupif, zua qsuwofif at xovj wemaecmi opgusnevoup! Vjepl zua gus tjesoph.

 

[Ganglion]

Tvesv huoph uav epf iyqisoipdoph foggisipv vjopht vjep zua pusnemmz fu. Hu joloph, hu vu xopi vetvopht, hu vu dunifz dmact, kuop vuetvnetvist, hu vu niivaqt, kuop dmact, hiv e foggisipv kuc, ivd. Iyqisoipdi xomm qsitipv vu zua foggisipv uqqusvapovoit epf nesliv finepft vjev zua xuamfp'v uvjisxoti tii.

Vjot ot humf!

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Bertram]

canq

 

[Ian O'Bryant]

Vjepl zua, vjot ot eqqsidoevif epf howit e qevj gus pix ipvsiqsipiast vu cihop muuloph.