New Niche Finder

Pogo sticks were loads of fun when we were kids, but they took a lot of energy and effort, not to mention constant motion, just to stay upright. If you stopped even for a second, you’d topple over, right?

I see too many businesses doing the same thing. They focus on just one aspect of their business, and sooner or later, usually sooner, they topple right over…discouraged, frustrated, and confused.

Successful businesses are just like houses, they need to be built on strong, stable foundations. Houses are bolted to their foundations. They are solid and throughout all of the changes of design and rennovation over the lifetime of that house, the foundation remains solid.

Your business needs a foundation just as solid as the foundation under your house.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently as I watch a tug of war going on between heart centered business people and the bottomline, data driven folks. Each is operating from a very particularly viewpoint and very rarely do they meet.

What’s interesting is the businesses attached to either end of the rope appear to be struggling.

The businesses that really and truly prosper are those who live somewhere in the middle, incorporating the best of the extremes and weaving them into a coherent whole. They build their businesses on solid foundations with four strong corners,

1. The pursuit of meaning and the higher good. Some call this heart. Some call it spiritual. Some call it passion or doing what you love. Others call it being of service.

Whatever you call it, it’s that something bigger than yourself that imbues your daily activities and your business activities with meaning.

2. Providing high value and quality content in every aspect of your business..the articles you write, the products and services you provide, and even the ease with which your customers and prospects can communicate with you and buy what you have to offer (ie your systems).

3. Paying attention to the data. Doing research, testing markets, tracking key indicators, taking action (even changing direction) in response to those indicators, setting goals and measuring achievement all belong here.

4. Making a profit…bringing in more than you spend. If you’re not making a profit, you don’t have a business. You may be doing something else worthwhile but it’s not a business.

Focusing on just one, two or even three of these are not enough. In order to truly thrive you need to be consciously integrating all four. Together they create a synergy that’s far greater than anything they can produce individually.

Thanks for reading,

Next – So why is New Niche Finder so focused on the data?


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Technorati Tags: Niche Finder, Starting an Online Business

Before we go into how to distinguish a good market from a bad market and a good niche from a bad niche, it’s probably a good idea to look at what markets and niches really are, what they have in common and what makes them different.

Here’s what markets and niches have in common…they are all about demand, a demand for something that’s wanted because it solves a problem or meets a need.

When starting a new business or expanding an existing one, we are looking for products and services that meet the demand of a market. Put another way, you do not have a market until you’ve identified the demand.

The only difference between a market and a niche is scale and specificity. Markets are large as in broad and deep, and good markets encompass many possible niches.

On the other hand a niche is a very focused and specific segment of the broader market, which though smaller in demand is generally easier to sell for reasons I’ll go into later.

For example…
A market for organic food can be made up of niche markets for organic fruits, organic vegetables and organic grains. Those can be further differentiated into specific types of organic fruits, vegetables and grains.

So the very first question anytime your business is looking for new products and services is…where is the demand and is it large enough for what I intend to do?

Talk soon,

Next up…So why niche at all?

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Technorati Tags: Find Your Niche, Niche Finder

I know you’ve heard all the horror stories about how most businesses fail.

With internet businesses coming of age, we’re hearing how most of them are failing too. I’ve heard figures as high as 95% are failures. Yikes! Those kind of figures make the bad job market look like a gold mine.

I don’t know how accurate those figures really are. What I do know is that way too many people are starting businesses with fairy dust in their eyes.

The progression usually goes something like this…some event, product or service impacts their life in a personal way and they want to share it with others so they decide to build a business around it. That’s how I got into hospice work and grief counseling, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing to do.

The problem with this approach is it doesn’t take into account what people really want and what they’re willing to pay for, and without a strong customer base your business cannot possibly succeed. Period. No market. No sales. No profit. No business.

I see so many people starting a business without any real sense of what the market is like or whether there even is a market. They start with all of their hopes and dreams tied up in an idea that is doomed to failure no matter what they do to market it.

Most of these people aren’t business people by training. Most of them aren’t natural marketers. Many find the idea of sales abhorrent. As unskilled as many of these folks are, their lack of skill is not the reason they fail.

The skills of business, marketing and sales can be learned and/or outsourced. There is no reason for a business to fail because of a lack of skill. Most of these folks know that so they spend a ton of money on developing their skills or hiring people to do the work for them.

And their businesses still fail.

Why? Because they’re in a bad market. Through all that learning and coaching and hiring, nobody ever tells them, they’re just in a bad market. I hate telling people they’re in a bad market too, but really it’s the kinder and more ethical thing to do, don’t you think?

And that is why market research is the most important data you can ever collect. In the entire life of your business, it is the single most important thing you will ever do.

With good research you eliminate the dud markets and identify ones that may have potential. Follow up on the good potential markets with some down and dirty testing, and you can identify a niche market in which you are very likely to succeed.

By doing good research and testing, you can pretty much flip that 95% failure rate on it’s head, turning it into a 95% chance for success.

Personally, I hate taking risks, but those kind of odds I can live with. How about you?

Talk soon,

Next up…what information you need in order to differentiate a good market from a bad market.

Related Article
Are you building your business on a pogo stick?
So why is New NIche Finder so focused on the data?


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Technorati Tags: Niche Finder, Niche Ideas, Niche Research

Okay, so why, if I’m so interesting in seeing you weave the 4 pillars of business together, is New Niche Finder so focused on data?

Excellent question! The answer is this…it’s the missing piece for the majority of businesses I work with.

My natural tribe has always been the heart centered, quality crowd. It’s who I like to hang out with, it’s who I attract, and it’s who I most want to serve.

The biggest obstacle in the vast majority of these businesses is they forsake the data and profit as if it doesn’t matter. I personally think of it as being business phobic, and I gotta tell you, jumping into business while you’re trying to hold your nose at the same time, just doesn’t work. I know because I’ve tried. It just doesn’t work.

As any therapist can tell you, it’s the unconscious aspects of our psyches that tend to bite us in the butt when they go unacknowledged. Well they might not say it quite like that but you get the idea, yes?

Business is no different, and the area reluctant entrepreneurs ignore the most is the data. They ignore it to the detriment of long term profitability. It breaks my heart to watch otherwise smart people shoot themselves in the foot.

So focusing on the data isn’t because I think it’s more important because it isn’t. Rather I’m focusing on it because it’s the most ignored. Remember this isn’t about becoming “Corporate Borg.” It’s about integrating data, profit, quality and heart into a cohesive whole…a financially successful business that serves the greater good.

Thanks for reading,

Next – Why the data revealed through online market research, keyword research and competition research (all the things I do here are New Niche Finder), is the most important data you’ll ever need in your business.
Read Changing the Odds – 95% Failure to 95% Success!

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Technorati Tags: Niche Finder, Niche Research

Hi!

It breaks my heart when I see people chasing after bad markets. Whether it’s because there is no market as in no one’s looking for what you’ve got or it’s a bad market because there’s too much competition (a little is good but too much makes it really tough), trying to build a business in a bad market just leads to disappointment, frustration and no income. So unless running a hobby business floats your boat, you need to research your market.

Don’t take my word for it, take a look for yourself.

This is directly from some research I was doing for a client. I’ve edited out the actual keyword for privacy’s sake, but just imagine if this was your business. How long do you think you’d be in business if these were your numbers?

Here are the figures that matter…
Zero Searches
Zero Traffic even if you’re in position #1 (SEOT measures the traffic if you’re in #1)
A Flat Graph in Google Trends
Zero Adwords Traffic (AWT)

AND…

451,000 Web Pages Competing for this Phrase

What’s wrong with this picture?

451,000 pages competing for zip, nada, nothing, zero traffic!!!!

Any questions?

Susan

P.S. At the very least, get a second opinion before you pay anyone to design a website for you. I will do a quick Up or Down Niche Review for $25.

Technorati Tags: Niche Finder, Niche Research