Creating a profitable specialised niche through due diligence
What Sarah needs to do is to find a specialised sub-niche where there are sufficient interest and customers who are willing and able to pay her the asking price for her products and services. Demand will come from able and willing customers who will read what she writes and will pay for her efforts when it comes to monetisation.
But first, she first needs to spend time in reflection and investigation. This will take time. Because it is a hobby, she can take as much time as she wants to reflect, to talk to people, to search the Internet, and to read up.
In reflection, she needs to create (rather than find) a niche that she will enjoy doing. This specific niche will enable her passion to shine through the work she will do. It will build her credibility and authority.
We really cannot find our passion until we have experienced it. Without trying out, we will not know whether we have found our passion or not. We may even like what we created!
Making sure that there is a market for her product and services
The most common reason why start-ups fail is the lack of demand from customers. When there is NO demand for products or services, Sarah will not make any money in her chosen niche.
She needs to conduct the required due diligence and deep dives in the niche she intends to specialise in to determine market demand.
Getting out there and talking to people
To get the ball rolling, she is planning to meet up with people and connections she already knows in the industry. She needs to get personal feedback about her potential niche and solution.
It is also a good way to build or maintain her networks including building up new contacts through referrals and recommendations.
Create opportunities because customers can be wrong
Rather than waiting for things to happen or responding to your circumstances, get on the front foot by creating opportunities instead.
Depending on your niche, be mindful of what Steve Jobs said, “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
It’s our job is to figure out what people are going to want before we spend time building it.
The reality is that customers can be wrong or don’t know what they want. It is our job during the due diligence phase to separate truth from fiction. It is a phase where we have to immerse ourselves in what our customers are thinking and what they truly want so that we can find a solution for them.
The key, therefore, for Sarah, is to find out what her customers actually want without directly asking them.
Don’t gamble on your future but perform detailed due diligence
Sarah may be receiving conflicting advice from people when she talks to them. By performing the required research, reading, and due diligence, she can be in a position to make better decisions.
Skipping this all-important due diligence process can be detrimental in the long run. She needs to minimise the potential downside or risks through proper due diligence.
The margin for error is small; take the calculated risk instead
Gambling her time away at this point of her career is not something she wants to do.
The margin for error is small as we get older. We want to take less risk.
The devil is instant gratification
We are living in a time where everything must instantaneous. People have become impatient, seeking quick fixes to things.
Unfortunately, prematurely starting a business or developing a product can be detrimental.
It is not surprising to read that most start-ups failure because there is a lack of customer demand for their product or service.
Cultivate a mindset of testing and pivoting
Whatever Sarah does, she needs to make assumptions. She needs to test those assumptions with the appropriate stakeholder groups.
Sarah needs to structure her sub-niche through book reviews, hypothesis testing, questioning people if they like to know more. She needs to understand their challenges and pain points, and identifying potential solutions.
Based on the feedback received, she either needs to incrementally pivot her plans or take a different approach altogether.
Understanding whether there is a strong enough WHY
Now that Sarah has a feel for the niche she wants to go into, she now needs to pause and revisit her true motivation for embarking on this journey.
There will be personal and family sacrifices to be made. Late nights will be common.
Now it is a good time to pause and reflect on her WHY.
(1) What’s her desire, end goal?
(2) What does success looks like for her and her family?
(3) What measures of success can be used?
(4) What’s her timeframe for success?