Laser Focus

When we first got into business, we were dreamy about what exactly we wanted to do. See, we’re able to do many things that are internet-related. So when we started, we thought we could do everything and offer all of the following to customers: web design, SEO, social media marketing, strategy, reputation management, etc etc. Nice eh? Soon we would be swimming in clients!

Wrong. We quickly realized that this was a very bad approach to business. Indeed we did get a range of clients who wanted a range of things done for them. This earned us much needed revenue but it also stretched us thin. We were trying to do too much with too few resources. We were extremely lucky that nothing disastrous happened (for example, if one of us had fallen sick – weeks worth of work would go undone!)

Over time, we realized that we needed to reduce the range of what we offered or we would burn out. And so we did just that. Currently we offer only or two from the range that we had initially started with and are looking to niche this down even further.

It is not immediately apparent, but it is true that a small business almost always makes more money and has a better chance of success if it chooses to attack a very specific niche. We almost failed because we were trying to be too general. Do not let this happen to you. if you are thinking of starting your own business, make sure that you have defined what it is that you do down to extreme specifics!

Good luck.