The Fear of the Narrow Slice
It is common for entrepreneurs to feel terrified when looking at a tiny slice of the market, fearing that a narrow focus means leaving massive opportunities on the table. There is a lingering worry that being too specific will ultimately limit your growth and cap your potential. However, the reality is that trying to help everyone often leads to the market hearing that you help no one.
Clarity as a Competitive Edge
The true power of a niche isn't just about the size of the market; it’s about the sharpness of your message. When you drill down into a specific problem for a specific person, your marketing becomes crystal clear and speaks directly to the people you are trying to serve. This specificity creates a level of clarity and trust that makes you the obvious choice rather than just another option in a crowded field.
Scaling from a Stronghold
Choosing a narrow niche does not mean you are stuck there forever; rather, it provides the foundation you need to eventually expand. It is much more effective to grow your business from a position of dominance—a “stronghold”—than to try and expand from nowhere. By leaning into your corner of the market and owning it completely, you build the authority necessary to win big and scale sustainably.
Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/iam2731-why-not-charging-from-day-one-might-be-hurting-your-business/
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Transcription:
Gresham Harkless 00:00
And often when you are in narrow niche, it can actually feel very scary because you're looking at this tiny, itty bitty slice of the marketing and thinking like, I'm leaving so much opportunity on the table. I'm ultimately limiting myself, limiting the amount of growth I can have. But let me flip that on its head. Here's what actually happens when you start to get very, very, very, very specific. You stop competing with everyone and you start dominating somewhere. When you say I help everyone, people hear, I help no one. I heard this many times. When you're networking, if you're everybody, if everybody is your client, no one is your client. You want to keep that in mind.
If you're building something meaningful, you're in the right place. This is the I Am CEO Podcast. I'm gresh and for over a decade I've had the honor and the privilege of Learning directly from CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners just like you on how to build. After recording more than 1600 episodes, one thing has become clear. Success isn't about following someone else's blueprint. And as I like to say on the show, if you run your own race, you can't lose. Even when you feel the journey should be a straight and linear path. What I've come to find out is success is a lot more like a plate of spaghetti. So in this special segment and episode, I'm starting to curate and share some CEO hacks and CEO nuggets that I've been dying to share. Drawn from thousands of episodes with phenomenal guests that have provided awesome value on the show, but also my 10 years of business experience as well too. These lessons are designed to strengthen the foundational principles that every business is built on and guided by a simple equation that we always go back to with our content. Visibility plus resources times connections equals success. This is practical wisdom you can apply almost immediately. So be sure to check out the show notes for more resources and next steps on how to level up. And of course, enjoy this special episode of the I Am CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 01:57
The riches are in the niches. You've heard it, try to follow it, but it can be so much harder to execute. And often when you are in narrow niche, it can actually feel very scary because you're looking at this tiny, itty bitty slice of the marketing and thinking like, I'm leaving so much opportunity on the table, I'm ultimately limiting myself, limiting the amount of growth I can have. But let me flip that on its head. Here's what actually happens when you start to get very Very, very specific. You stop competing with everyone and you start dominating somewhere. When you say, I help everyone, people hear, I help no one. I heard this many times. When you're networking, if you're everybody, if everybody is your client, no one is your client. You want to keep that in mind. But when you drill down more and more and more and more, again you say, I hope E Commerce founders scale past seven figures with paid ads. Suddenly the right people know exactly that you're for them. Keep in mind specificity create creates clarity, and clarity creates trust. The riches are not in the niches because the market is huge, but because the message is sharp and crystal clear. It speaks directly to the people that you're trying to serve. You become the obvious choice instead of another option. Why? Because there's not that many options. Because no one's being as specific and crystal clear as you are. And here's the best part. Once you own that niche, you can start to expand into other niches. But you have to lean into that. Trust me, I'm somebody that's hit my head over and over again against having that idea of niching down. But you can't expand from nowhere. You expand from a stronghold. So stop worrying that your niche is too narrow, niche down, and own your corner. And then you can grow from there.