How are you going to stand out and grow a wildly successful business in today’s overcrowded market space?

Niche down…

What do I mean by that you might be wondering?

Well – you are going to need to figure out what you want to do… then niche that down to something specific within that field.

Become known for doing one thing really well.

Do it better than anyone else.

Become the person everyone thinks of when your niche comes up.

 

Today, micro businesses like ours become really successful because the person running the business has figured out how to stand out in the crowd by getting really specific with what they offer and are doing it better than anyone else.

When I started – I was all over the place. I thought I would try to make templates, graphics, scrapbook stuff, take photos, have a portrait business, etc… I was unclear about what I wanted my business to be and that really showed up in what I was trying to offer. I was not an expert at anything and I was trying to figure all the ins-and-outs of how to make all the pieces fit together. I made some sales that first year – but it wasn’t the millions I imagined or at the pace I expected. Can we say “reality check”!?!?!

That first year – I tried to do a little bit of everything. But like with my photography – as I tried different things – I started to discover what I liked to do and what I didn’t like to do. That made it a bit easier to narrow down my focus going into the 2nd year of business.

Another thing that really helped me get through that first year and even make it to the 2nd year – was that this was my side hustle…

I still had a regular full-time job that I worked at for more than 50 hours a week in the Kitchen/Bath industry.

I was building this business up on the nights, weekends, lunch hours…

Heck – I even dreamed about it all night long!

This gave me to freedom to experiment, take my time, and allow myself to shift focus when I needed to.

Once I figured out I didn’t like taking photos of or for people, I didn’t like making templates, I didn’t like doing anything scrapbook, I didn’t like making graphics…

But I did love making art with my photos and using textures – that made it easier for me to really laser focus on that.

 

I started spending all my time and efforts on one specific area of photography – the art side of photography and textures.

And to this day – that is what I still focus on. That is how I narrowed down super specifically and grew an audience on the one part of photography I really loved.

Was I good at it…

Not at first…

But we all have to start somewhere…

So start now, before you even think you are ready.

That will give you time to make all the mistakes you are going to make BEFORE you have a big audience to witness it!

Am I good at it now?

I hope so…

Since I have built up an audience…

Something I’m doing is appealing to someone!

Am I finished? NO WAY… I still have tons to learn, things to improve, and places to go with my business that I will continue to grow and build for every year I remain in business.

It would really be great if you knew what that was you wanted to focus on before you started growing your business – but if you don’t – that’s ok.

Start somewhere – anywhere – just start…

Then as you begin growing your business…

Start to narrow down and weed out the things you don’t like and really ramping up on the things you do…

Sometimes you have to figure out all the things you don’t like to do before you can narrow it down to exactly what you love to do.

If you have followed my business from the beginning – then you may have noticed that my business has shifted a bit every year. It changes and grows as I change, learn new things, and grow.

No business ever stays the same…

You have to be adaptable to what is going on each year and shift your focus to continue to grow…

Once you have spent a good amount of time growing a following on your one specific thing… then you can focus on expanding out and offering new things.

For instance – I started with textures and building a business around that. Teaching that. Blogging that. Sharing that everywhere I could. Building an email list, groups and a community around that.

Then, and only then – once I had an audience and a thriving business around that specifically – did I start to expand into other offerings.

 

Start narrow, grow your audience, then expand out.

That is it…

That is the secret…

To really growing a wildly successful business for yourself.

But here is the hard part…

It takes time to build that up…

It is not a quick process…

And you have to work on it Every.Single.Day.