Geico, Amazon, and Google.
What do these 3 have in common?...
Aside from being 3 of the most recognizable brands they all began with a singular niche or focus...and have since expanded.
Geico - or as it was originally known Government Employees Insurance Company began by providing services for Government Employees (as the name implies).
Amazon once was simply an online bookstore...and has since expanded to be a marketplace and entertainment platform.
Google...well the list of services they provide now is too long to list here.
The idea of niching down for smaller businesses is one fraught with questions and concerns:
- What if I choose the wrong niche?
- But I can help sooo many others with my product or service...why limit that?
In actuality focusing on a niche can be so effective because it communicates to your audience you specialize in helping others just like them.
By staking your claim, you are communicating that you are able to go a mile deep rather than just scratching the surface.
For many new or emerging businesses, by focusing on a niche you can create the growth engine to later grow your offering as your business grows.
I’m not the first (or last) person to claim that 'Riches can be found in the Niches.'
In today’s post, I wanted to highlight a few examples of business owners in our community who have done a good job of finding their niche, tying their story and experience to that niche, and creating game-changing offers to serve their community.
- Retirement Evolution Coaching
Retirement can’t just be about retiring from something... If you aren't retiring to something new, you risk feeling unfulfilled in this third stage of life.
Enter Susan Farling.
After running a counseling and psychotherapy general private practice for over 30 years, it was time for Susan to retire.
For years she had been very focused and driven, then when it came time to consider retiring, things changed.
It was at that moment that she recognized an underserved market of those approaching (or who had recently reached) retirement.
She knew with her background in counseling she could provide some help with others that were experiencing the same situation she was. She was uniquely positioned to help others in this same place as her.
“…It’s scary taking the step to let go of the security of work and its routines. I have defined myself by my career for a long time. I turned to Susan for advice and found that decision to be one of my best. Without Susan’s empathy, insights and expertise, I think I would have lost sight of my goals and likely reversed course.…Now I am a new retiree, starting to relax and feeling so grateful I was able to have that support and guidance from Susan.”
A great example of taking your own experience and skillset and forming that into a much-needed service.
Are you (or a loved one) retired or thinking about retiring soon?
You can get a free consultation session with Susan here!
Golden Nugget:
In the coaching or consulting space?
Look at your own offer and work on crafting the narrative that led you to your current offering.
What aspects of your own history make you uniquely situated to help your niche market who are dealing with similar circumstances.
- The Car Mom
Where my company is based (St. Louis, MO), the name Suntrup is well associated with a line of car dealerships.
While car sellers aren’t the most ‘niche’-focused business you can imagine.
One particular member of the Suntrup family has created a large following and community by focusing specifically on the niche of mother’s in the car market.
Kelly Suntrup Stumpe has branded herself as the “Car Mom” and releases regular videos that breakdown and review the functionality of different cars for mothers. With the mission of helping mothers find the “perfect mom car” for them.
Her audience has grown to nearly 100k Instagram followers who follow her for car reviews and tours.
Golden Nugget:
Apply traditional information (car reviews and virtual tours) to the specific needs of your audience.
You’ll often find The Car Mom’s reviews referencing how sippy cups fit into a specific cars cup holders, or how many strollers fit in the trunk. All tailored to the interests of the audience that follows her.
- Divine Purpose Activation Method
This is a time of chaos and the symptoms of a pandemic social disease are prevalent. And it’s at times like these that many of us look for answers.
Humans, by our very nature, have the possibility to evolve, but the question remains what is the next step in our evolution?
Those who work with Stephany Yarbrough know that the next step is an advancement in consciousness.
By focusing on helping clients first understand who they are and reaching stronger self-knowledge, Stephany supports clients in achieving a number of personal goals and breakthroughs.
Think of it like how you manage your business and make decisions.
Without first knowing the strengths (or weaknesses) of your team and organization, it makes it difficult to take decisive action that generates real momentum towards your goals.
Whether you are struggling with anxiety, or are trying to lose weight, or develop more self-confidence, having a trained professional assist you in looking inward can unlock the door to real self-discovery.
To learn more about how Stephany helps clients achieve greater consciousness and self-knowledge, find out more about the incredible breakthroughs she helps clients achieve here!
Golden Nugget:
With specific programs geared towards specific clients (Women, LGBTQ+, Men, Mixed), their clients are able to choose the community and program tailored to them.
By going a mile deep rather than a mile wide, their clients are able to get a custom plan that helps with the unique circumstances they are facing.
And this provides a community of people working together towards a common goal.
- Bee’z Consulting
Bee’z Consulting isn’t the only firm that provides change management and other business process consulting services, but the truth is many of them tend to target enterprise or large organizations only.
And beyond that when Silvina looked around at competing services, she noticed that the delivery of most programs or consulting services were dropping the ball with creating real change.
For change to really take hold...there were 5 key elements that Silvina and her team identified that needed to be present for any new initiative to take hold.
Silvina aimed to create a program that focused on outcome as the primary goal.
Rather than just providing advice and guidance. The Bee’z team defines their success by focusing on ensuring their clients get the results they are looking for.
Seeing a blind spot in the marketplace that was too focused on the philosophical rather than the applicable, she set out to apply instructional design into her consulting services.
The outcome was a program designed specifically for SME’s to achieve quicker results. They use these 5 core tenets to guide all of the offerings from Bee'z Consulting:
- Accountability
- Community
- Coaching
- Expert Insight
- Implementation Support
Golden Nugget:
Differentiate through the blindspots of other service offerings.
Focus not just on the ‘thing’ you sell. But how the design of your ‘thing’ uniquely helps your clients succeed where other services or products fall short.
- Jamaica Life Virtual Experience
There have been numerous studies and articles that emphasize the importance of social responsibility in today’s world.
Companies like Toms, Bombas and many others have made social programs a key element of their marketing strategy.
This public interest in providing help and support extends beyond splashy PR campaigns down to the grassroots level.
And like many nonprofits (and businesses in general), the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the typical way of doing things.
That’s where Jamaica Life Virtual Experience comes into play.
Jamaica Life Virtual Experience specializes in helping volunteers interested in making a difference within Jamaica.
They help match eager volunteers and interns with the right programs within the country.
Whether in-person or virtually, the JVP team works to design every aspect of their program to immerse their volunteers in the Jamaican culture.
Golden Nugget:
By emphasizing what you know and your experience, you are able to build a community of like-minded people and potential customers.
Look for ways to connect your story with that of your customers.
- Lefty's
Lefty’s, as the name implies, is a retailer that specializes in products for left-handers.
I was first introduced by a friend who is particularly passionate about his left-handedness.
Turns out he’s not alone.
And being a retailer who serves this community with functional products (left-handed scissors, notebooks, can openers, etc) as well as miscellaneous products (a particular favorite is the t-shirt below), they’ve grown into a significant online shop and expanded beyond their original location in San Francisco.
Golden Nugget:
Become a part of your community and tap into the pride shared amongst your audience.
And have fun with it!
- ValueX3 Acceleration
We’ve all heard of the unicorn stories from Uber, Google, and Microsoft. Large organizations that get top-dollar in their valuation.
But how do smaller companies use the lessons of the big-guys to maximize the value of their acquisition?
Based on their experience of helping over 5000 companies, the team at ValueX3 utilize and apply the same multitude of factors driving the Unicorns to create plans for hyper-value in smaller companies.
Their ValueX3 Program provides the training, execution strategy and course of action to create Maximum Acquisition Value.
Golden Nugget:
Many smaller companies simply undervalue their companies by not utilizing hidden intellectual property. For smaller companies having a proven system to identify specific areas to improve your valuation that may be blind spots, the effect is significant.
The team at ValueX3 has specialized in serving tech companies and private equity funds, including being the exclusive valuation advisor to the SBA's SBIC program (a $24 billion fund of funds).
- Ann Batten - How to Get Your Health Back
“You need experience to gain wisdom.” - Albert Einstein
From a long history of dealing with personal health challenges from cancer to hip replacement surgery, Ann Batten, learned firsthand the strengths and blindspots of the current healthcare industry.
And she’s been working with clients and creating a community of those dealing with chronic illness and pain to provide a safe space to learn, network, and support others in the community.
She runs courses designed to share information and custom plans to help you heal your immune system and get your energy back as well as providing someone to lean on as you traverse the web of health systems, pharmaceutical companies, insurance plans, and medical opinions that may be getting thrown at you.
It’s a lot to unpack and deal with BEFORE you even get down to the business of actually feeling better.
Golden Nugget:
Draw upon your own life experiences and the niche you find yourself in as a buyer to help inform ideal niches to provide services for.
- Denise Gauff - ESL Pro Services
The workforce today is more globalized than ever. In my companies alone we have team members all across the country and world.
When it comes to helping team members from different backgrounds communicate Denise Gauff and the team at ESL Pro Services work directly with non-native English-speaking business professionals who work with clients (or work directly for companies) in the US & Canada.
By focusing not just on language, but on stress placement and intonation, her clients have noticeable improvement in their communication during meetings.
Rather than focus on the heavy competition of beginner English language learners, Denise and her team serve a community of intermediate to fluent non-native speakers and look to help them improve their clarity specifically for the workplace.
To speak with ESL Pro Services about their programs, you can reach them here!
Golden Nugget:
A niche within a niche.
More and more these days consumers are searching out solutions unique to their circumstances.
By targeting a niche within the ESL niche, the team at ESL Pro Services has been able to breakthrough in a crowded market to provide a specific solution to their audience.
- AMU Consulting
ISO 9001 in short is a standard of management principles that works to ensure customer and key stakeholder needs are met with regards to a product or service.
There have been studies related to the impact being ISO-certified can have on a business.
But at its core the standard is meant to help create better systems of management throughout and organization.
You may be reading this and be very familiar...or you might be like me and while the key management principles of the system are familiar the ISO 9001 code was something new as the top countries for certification tend to be in Europe and Asia.
Since the core of the standard is to develop more effective management principles that can then be advertised to your customers, your partners, or stockholders, getting the best advice around when traversing the world of ISO certifications is critical.
Within this niche is AMU Consulting. The team at AMU is experienced in international management systems and they work with clients to consult, teach, or audit for compliance.
Learning from a team with experience auditing for these standards is tough to beat.
You can learn more about what the team at AMU Consulting does here!
(note: the AMU team is headquartered in Mongolia, but have served a wide variety of clients looking to achieve international management system standards across the globe)
Golden Nugget:
Communicate how your niche audience communicates.
If you sell to business owners, you want to use the jargon and terminology they use.
If you sell to management, use the jargon they use.
Recognize that your different audiences might have different goals and communication styles. Meet them on the level your niche prefers when targeting those individual audiences.
Sign up for my upcoming L.E.A.D Blueprint Workshop
Want a better way to get leads and clients? Sign up for my upcoming workshop that goes step by step through our lead generation process that has been so successful in our clients’ businesses -- the L.E.A.D. Blueprint.
In the workshop, I’ll be teaching:
- Exactly what an Authority Leadership Platform is and how you can leverage our Authority Amplifier process to position yourself above the competition, putting your business on an entirely different playing field.
- How to target high-end prospects using online platforms (social media + email) in a unique way that builds instant trust by doing the polar opposite of what most ‘salespeople’ try
- How to develop real relationships online using a highly-personal Multi-Touchpoint Messaging Campaign to naturally guide the conversation towards an appointment
- The right way to automate processes that build trust, improve credibility, and increase responsiveness in your campaigns.