Monday Mornings

Client: I want to start a marketing consulting business
Me: What kind of marketing?
Client: Social media marketing and branding
Me: That’s kind of broad, isn’t it?
Client: But I can do all of it. I used to work at a marketing company and want to utilize all my skills
Me: Can you pick one thing you really want to do?
Client: I can try, but why would I leave money on the table?

Of all my recurring conversations that I have with clients, the “One Stop Shop” conversation ranks near the top. When considering a startup model, many aspiring Solopreneurs tend to start their businesses as Generalists–One Stop Shops, and find success elusive as they try to be everything to everybody.

Successful startup Solopreneurs realize that in order to make grow a business and make money, focus is key.

Think of all the successful Solos you know or know of. They started as Specialists. They started their business with a narrow niche and over time, develop deeper and deeper knowledge until they are the overwhelming authority in the niche.

They then monetize that authority in different ways, a practice much more sensible than that of the Generalist, who widens their scope of expertise and can’t seem to monetize a superficial expertise in “everything”.

Then Versus Now

Before the modern day Internet became the way to find solutions to problems, people bought to Generalists, usually found in the yellow pages or word of mouth. So “marketing” companies had the authority on everything about marketing, “management consultants” the authority on everything about organizations, and so on.

Nowadays, people search for precise needs immediately through Google and social media. Not coincidentally, the easiest way to start and grow a Solo business is to structure a business around one of these needs.

Deep Versus Broad

Imagine buoys floating on the water. Each buoy stands for a specialized niche.

Specialists have one buoy. Their niche will be “blog development” [to a certain market] or “Facebook consulting” [to a certain market], etc.

Generalists, sensing that one niche isn’t enough, will start their business to include multiple niches, and yes, have multiple buoys. As the sketch below illustrates, your buddy labels himself an “Internet marketing consultant”, offering three very different services. This is way too broad.

Generalist Service Offering

Why would anyone do this? Because offering the “one stop shop” creates a feeling of financial security. It makes us feel safer than putting all of one’s eggs in a single basket (niche) because supposedly “no money is being left on the table”.

However, what it’s really doing is spreading a Solopreneur way too thin and preventing momentum, expertise, and sustainability.

Compare that to the Specialist.

Unlike the business above, you decide to start your business as Facebook consultant to a certain market. You build FB pages and run advertising campaigns. Working with the same analogy of the buoys, the illustration below show you can see that there is only one niche now: “Facebook consulting”. Beneath that, there are three core services, all integral to own the niche: “page design”, “ads”, and “connecting Facebook to other social media”.

Specialist Service Offering

And underneath the three core services, there are even more specific services.  For instance, under “page design”, there are specialties in “landing pages”, “Facebook ecommerce”, and “welcome pages”.

You can see that the “Facebook Consulting” niche is deep in its potential scope of services.   In choosing to go deep rather than broad, you’re upside is much higher than just adding general activities.

And here’s why.

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The Economics of Specialists Crush Those of Generalists

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Niches turn into mass market fast

Realize that today’s Solopreneur specialist—especially you tech geeks—is tomorrow’s generalist.

Because of the democratization of technology, everyone with a computer and some skills is rushing into a modern day gold rush of B2B and B2C services.

A “Facebook consultant” might be considered a niche business today, but with the rush of competition and increasing demand, will soon be a non-niche business.   Don’t fret.  Because the Facebook consultant has already developed deep expertise, “Facebook page design” OR “Facebook advertising” OR “Facebook connecting” can evolve into a new stand alone niche.

And maybe even later, when competition arrives at his new niche, “Facebook landing page consulting” OR “Split-testing Facebook ads” can step in.

In each new generation, a new depth of expertise will be created in order to keep ahead of the rush of competition.   The Specialists stay on top of the competition by designing deep businesses.

Building the Infrastructure is Easier

It’s easier to build your first website, create products, and write about something specific.   As you learn more and deepen your knowledge base, you can easily add more information to your site and marketing literature.

You’ll Gain More Authority

You’re certainly less bound to get caught up not knowing something you should know, which is a common occurrence with Generalists who claim they know “everything about [a broad subject matter]”.

For instance, I know a bit about marketing.  But I would never draw a circle around “Marketing” and say that’s my specialty.  Again, people don’t search online for “marketing” anymore.  They want to know how to increase sales through their website or how to make existing customers repeat customers or how to develop a larger social media footprint.    If someone asked me a marketing question outside of a Solopreneur startup context, the probability of me giving a good answer goes down. And that’s fine. I don’t want to know how Fortune 500 companies market.

While its nice to have a general perspective of your industry, most of the time perspective doesn’t make money,  specialized solutions do.  Rather than focusing on becoming a Renaissance Man, pick a narrow niche and learn everything about it that you can to develop a guru status.  Gurus can charge higher prices than Renaissance Men.

Your Brand Will Grow Faster and More Sustainably

Simple sells.  It’s easy to build a network, make your first sales, and attract a following when you have something original and highly targeted.   You’ll be known as the person who does X rather than just another faceless consultant or coach.  And networking—both online and offline—becomes easier because it’s easier to sell what you want to sell than try to guess what the other person wants to buy.

How Do I Think Deep?

Start with an organization chart like mine, and don’t feel compelled to draw little fish.  What’s the overall niche?  Next, define the three services that you would need to provide to be an expert in the niche.  Finally, if you know, break down those services even further.   This should set you on your way.

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Please share your experience of picking your niche.  Has anyone started as a Generalist and made the move to Specialist recently?

Tagged as: generalist, generalist or specialist, niche, solo startup, Solopreneur, solopreneur startup, specialist