Stuck at Niche Selection - A Sign of the Resistance?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about resistance and how it manifests in our lives.
Resistance is more than mere procrastination– it’s our deep inner fear of expression often masquerading as productive tasks or “stuff we have to do.”
It’s the VA you hired to write your copy. It’s the Indian development firm working on your web app. The resistance is the birthday party you needed to attend. Resistance is having an emotional obsession with the President’s job performance.
I know– I’m going a little McCarthy on the resistance. It’s probably overkill. Today, an extreme idea popped into my head: is our obsession with niche selection a symptom of the resistance?
Uh oh.
* * *
There’s a bunch of well-documented problems with niche selection. Here’s some:
Selecting one is seems to be the #1 sticking point for people hoping to be an entrepreneur.
It’s hard to fail with a niche. You might hang around the thing (failing) for years.
Selecting a niche feels too permanent. It’s difficult to emotionally commit.
It’s no wonder so many people can’t get past niche selection.
Now I know that might not sound all that revolutionary, but I’m not kidding around here– instead of thinking about a niche, you should be thinking about a specific product or service.
You’ll likely be in a bunch of niches over the years. The equity you build up over the years can follow you from niche to niche. Over the past 4 years I’ve sold everything from portable bars to cat furniture to SEO services to website development to make money online to outsourcing consulting — YOU NAME IT I’LL SELL IT! !!! :D
Thank god I didn’t select a niche! I selected products. Here’s two techniques I use to do that:
Rip, pivot, and jam – Identify products in a space you are interested in. Figure out if they make money. If they do, figure out what they don’t do. Or how you could do something similar but different. Better. More expensive. Different color. Different market. Different channel. Then GO! (That’s the jam part).
Brainstorm a nexus benefits / price / and rhythm – Instead of putting yourself through long walks week after week trying to decide if you really want to go after your passion of personal development, or entrepreneurship training, or personal fitness, just start pulling together a benefit cluster of a product or service you think should exist. Example: BENEFITS: -1 hr on the phone, 30 page ebook, 3 email follow-ups, forum access with 24 hr answer service. PRICE: $17 dollars RHYTHM: monthly recurring.
Then walk around for a few days asking everyone you come in contact with (call them if you must): will you buy this from me?
A few years later, when you are cash flowing and hiring people to keep up with the demand, you can take a long weekend and figure out what niche you are going to get into. :)
Cheers,
Dan