FIND A PROFITABLE NICHE
Having, finding, or discovering a niche is your first step to start a business online from home. It is one of the most important things you can do towards having a successful business.
However, that is only one piece of the equation. Another very important piece is making sure it is a profitable niche.
Having a profitable business is the name of the game. What use is it to say you are in business if your business is not making a profit? The challenge is, how do you make sure it is profitable or at least have the potential to be profitable?
ALREADY IN BUSINESS?
If you currently are serving customers in any capacity, you’ll have most of what you need readily available to you–your past interactions with your clients.
Take a look at your past and current clients and ask: Is there a pattern? What stands out to you about these clients? Is it their age group? Marital status? Work status? Class status? Financial situation? Etc.
These are known as demographics. This is important information that you’ll need in order to decide how to best price your service to your audience.
Secondly, do some additional research to see who else is doing something like you are are wanting to do. Are there offers being made and to whom are they being made? Are there written, audio, video or a combination being promoted or marketed?
Again, this information will be a clue towards knowing how profitable this niche is that you are pursuing.
If you are not coming up with much, you might want to consider tweaking your niche idea.
DON’T BE THE FIRST
You don’t want to be the first person in any market offering a service that nobody else is offering. You will have an extremely hard time selling the idea especially when people have no anchor comparison.
An anchor comparison is something that people can use as a reference in understanding what it is you are marketing.
For example: If your idea is a brand new perfume, you won’t have to educate people on what a perfume is. They already know.
However, if you are marketing something that a person cannot in their mind say, it’s like such and such, you are going to have a very difficult time. You will have to educate them on what it is and that could be a very time consuming and costly task.
JUST STARTING OUT?
You might be able to see how this works for someone who already has a business and can curate the information to see if their business is in a profitable niche.
But what if you’re just starting out? You won’t have as easy access to such information from actual customers.
Obviously, you won’t be able to use a past and current customer list. But don’t think you cannot come up with enough data to decide whether or not your niche is profitable.
You have the experience in your niche. You know enough about your industry to make an informed decision.
I had a conversation with someone who was in the early stages of launching a beauty salon. She has been in the industry for years. She knows many others who are currently offering similar services to hers.
I told her that competition is a good sign that there is demand for a service like hers. It is obviously a profitable industry. It is a billion dollar industry. Just take a stroll in any major stores and see the vast display of beauty products.
My encouragement to her was to niche down to a certain demographics based on who she prefers to serve and start there.
In addition, you could do some research about what your competitors specialize in. Gather as much information as you can and choose your niche based on facts and figures—not just a gut feeling.
Here are the summarized guidelines that are derived from what we have discussed.
SUMMARY: A PROFITABLE NICHE MUST…
Have a history where people are wanting and buying your product or service.
Be accessible: your “tribe” needs to know how to best access your service and product. You also need to know where to access them.
Be large enough to sustain your business.
Reflect your passion. This serves as the fuel to keep going. It makes work not feel like work.
Not be over-saturated with people doing the same thing. Some are good. Too much might not be so good.
The clearer you are in your niche, and the more you know your market, the better it will be for your business.
Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Be a part of like-minded people found within Start A Business Online From Home Facebook group and get on the mailing list to get as much help as possible.
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