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In celebration of her first book, Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months: A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works (Adams Media, March 2010), Melinda Emerson is annoucning contest winners featuring a prize of weekly small-business coaching sessions. “The contest brought so many worthy applicants that I found it impossible to choose one winner,” describes Emerson.  “I narrowed it to two winners who agreed to share the one-on-one coaching.”

Entrepreneurs Jennifer Furr, owner of PictureThatSound in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Chris Bell, owner of ChrisBell3rd & Company in Columbia, Maryland, will work with Emerson weekly and blog about their experiences.

In 2009, Jennifer Furr decided to leave her steady job in the pharmaceutical industry to pursue a dream – bringing a product to market that she couldn’t find in the retail world.

Jenn Furr

Furr founded PictureThatSound to fill an unmet need in the US memory-keeping market.  The company’s first product pairs a photo matte with a recordable device for sound.  Furr describes being pregnant with her second child and wanting to capture the ultrasound image with the heartbeat sound in her scrapbook album. “There are so many sounds that we take for granted, that we think we’ll always remember. Sometimes I close my eyes and picture a sound in my head, like my toddler’s giggle, my grandmother singing, or even my husband snoring. We provide a product that allows you to capture a photo and an audio snapshot of that memory, all in one.” Visit www.PictureThatSound.com.

Chris Bell

In June 2009, Chris Bell decided to use his creative business development and technology sales expertise to launch his consultancy, ChrisBell3rd & Company, LLC to exceed sales revenue objectives on behalf of executives, investors, and owners of small to mid-sized IT software and life sciences software companies. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be coached by Smallbizlady, and I am thrilled to have been chosen.  I know she will help me grow my business,” said Bell.

ChrisBell3rd & Company, LLC exercises proven best practices with the latest in Sales 2.0 technology to deliver customized business development and sales approaches that uniquely fit their client’s product-type, corporate culture, and revenue goals. His mantra is simple: “Nobody cares what you know, until they know that you care – all is business is personal.”   Visit http://chrisbell3rd.com

Emerson says, “These two emerging entrepreneurs are exactly the type of dedicated small-business owners that I love to coach.  I was so touched by each of their stories of starting a business.”

Jennifer and Chris will receive coaching twice a month for one year and an autographed copy of Melinda Emerson’s book Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, her life planning journal, and her Audio CD: 10 Things You Must Never Forget in Business. Emerson will also coach both entrepreneurs every other week throughout the year. The winners will be required to blog twice per month about their entrepreneurial journey.

Melinda Emerson “Smallbizlady” is a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach. Her areas of expertise include small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Melinda is a well-known expert in achieving bottom line results and has helped many entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses.  Melinda hosts #Smallbizchat, a weekly talk show on Twitter for emerging business owners. Melinda publishes a blog about running a profitable small business www.succeedasyourownboss.com.  Her first book Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to Start a Business That Works” was released March 2010 from Adams Media.  For more information, please visit www.becomeyourownbossbook.com

What the heck is a niche? Webster’s Business Dictionary defines a niche as a “particular market or specialty area where a company finds it profitable to concentrate its efforts. Niche marketing offers a concentration of clients in an area of limited competition.”

This blog post is excerpted from my new book Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months; A Month-By-Month Guide to a Business That Works which will be released on March 9, 2010 by Adams Media.  Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months walks you step-by-step through the Emerson Planning System, which will reduce your learning curve as you start your business.

Most start-up entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to go after too broad a market. They chase either too many clients or too many diverse industries.  Even though they have limited time and resources they chase every ambulance going down the street that they think might have money in the back.  After months of doing this, it is their business that is on life support in need of emergency care.

If you try to sell to anyone with money—you’re going to struggle in business. And you will not be known for anything.  Consider this; lots of people sell shoes. Why should anyone buy them from you?  Lots of people sell marketing consulting services.  What makes your services so special? Anyone can print my business cards. What difference does it make to my business if I use your service? Do you have an answer for this in your business?

Nobody wants a generalist; they want a specialist—with experience in solving their specific business need.  When a vendor has exactly what the client needs to fix their problem, the conversation moves past selling straight to budget, timeline and delivery. And the best thing about being a specialist is in most cases you can charge more for being one, too. 

Some advantages of niche businesses are :

• It is so much easier to market your services when you know your customer.
• Running a Niche business removes a lot of the guess work in your marketing efforts.
• Industry circles are typically smaller so referrals (which is how 90% of business is done) can happen much more quickly.

But how do you choose a niche that’s right for you? A niche can be anywhere from under (or on) your nose (think Breathe Right strips for snorers), to cyberspace, where eBay and YouTube, among others, have generated millions. You might stumble on it. I spoke to a CPA friend of mine who only specializes in restaurant accounting.

Go With What You Know. Some popular niches include virtual call centers, personal training, beauty salons/spas, travel agencies, gyms, computer repair, technical/online support and business coaching.

Work for A Business Like The One You Plan To Start. If you work for a business like the one you plan to start, you may see a niche that your employer is ignoring.

Look for “You Must Be Kidding” Opportunities. The enterprising entrepreneur will find a pot of gold in everything from bathroom maintenance services, pest control, window washing, maintaining septic systems, to building a business pet sitting.

Turn a Hobby into a Money Machine. Stories abound about cookie makers (Famous Amos, Mrs. Fields, etc.) who went from the kitchen to national enterprises because they were tuned into America’s taste buds.

Invent Something. Mother Necessity is always looking for solutions to problems. The Butler Bag, PedEgg, plastic garbage bags, the Jet Ski, and WD-40 are just a few of the many products created by inventors who made a niche where none existed before.

Focusing on a niche market is a choice.  Would you like fish in a big lake or a small lake just after the trout have been stocked for the fishing season?  The smaller lake gives you far better odds of eating fish for dinner that same night.

Are there any other ways to fine a niche for a small business? I want to hear your experience.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Melinda Emerson “Smallbizlady” is a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach. Her areas of expertise include small business start-up, business development and social media marketing.  Melinda hosts #Smallbizchat, a weekly talk show on Twitter.  Melinda’s first book Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to Start a Business that Works is due out in March 2010 by Adams Media.