Why You Must Create a Niche Market For Your Business to be Successful - ISSUE 24 - 2/14/12

As of 2010, Dun and Bradstreet estimated there were about 23 million small businesses in the United States. According to Kent Bernhard Jr. at Portfolio.com, since the recession started in 2007 due to the collapse of the housing market, there has been an incline of businesses in the business service sector (B2B) and a decline in customer facing businesses. The main reason for this is because consumers have cut back on their spending and retailers have struggled to survive.

The main point I am trying to make is the amount of competition for a small business owner keeps growing year-over-year. You can walk down the street and see retailers all around you, but since the majority of businesses can't be seen, it's hard to understand the enormity of competition there truly is.

To be successful, you must strive to set yourself apart from the competition from the moment you decide to venture into business for yourself. If you stop and think for a moment, there are only a limited, finite number of possible businesses for you to own, but there are approximately 300 million people in the U.S. and roughly 10% of them own businesses. These are people just like you. They eat, sleep, breath, have bills, have wants, aspirations, goals, motivation, and determination.

The very best way to set yourself apart from the rest is to create a niche market that no one else has except for you. You must think very hard about what you do better than anyone else in your field and focus your energy on that one area. As you grow and become known as the go-to company for your niche, then you can think about adding more products and/or services to your repertoire.

You are most likely the only person doing the work of many people. There was a Staples commercial on recently about Small Business Owners being the 'Jack of All Trades' I still laugh at every time I think about because it captured this situation so perfectly. Since you are doing all the work, there's no way you can do the work of 100 people so why on Earth would you offer services equivalent to 100 people? It just baffles me.

You may not have thought about this carefully, but begging for business won't get you anywhere. You have to prove you are worthy to your current and potential clients otherwise they are going to go down the street to the guy who has his act together. Always remember, people are looking for solutions to their problems, and finding your niche is by far the best way to solve problems because it allows you to repeat the same process over and over in a successful manner. Once you know without a doubt that you have mastered the skill of solving a particular problem, then and only then will you be able to move on to the next.