Your $100k A Year Business Blueprint Part Four

So far, we’ve covered the basics of a successful business, explained what sort of products you need to be offering and at what prices – and given you some real live examples – and looked at how to structure your ‘range’ of products.

Now we could spend some time discussing profitable niche markets… and how they are perhaps one of the most exciting secrets of this $100k a year business blueprint.
Hint: Think small not big!

The most powerful and easiest way to find a great niche market is to start out not by thinking big – like Bill Gates did when he created Microsoft. But, instead, by thinking small – very, very small.

I’ve tried various different approaches.
And without a doubt the best way to get started and succeed as a newbie is to find a niche market – or even a niche-within-a-niche. Perhaps one so small that no one else hasn’t noticed it
But, I can hear you saying, how can a niche market that nobody else wants be profitable?
Well it can be – if you have your products and pricing right. Because you don’t actually need hundreds of thousands or even tens of thousands of customers. All you need is a few thousand customers willing to part with $50 or $100 or so every now and then.

In fact, markets where there are already millions of customers will probably be totally fished-out by bigger competitors – making them very, very difficult for you to sell your product. Customers in niche markets, on the other hand, are often so starved of products that it is child’s play to sell to them!

The only catch here? The relatively small customer group you target must be qualified.
What you need to know about your customers Just ‘any old customers’ won’t do for a niche market business. Your customers need to be qualified. By qualified I mean they: MUST have access to and use the Internet to find the kinds of products you offer; MUST be interested in the type of products you are selling; MUST have money to spend and the means to buy. That is, they have credit/ debit cards; MUST have a track record of buying the kinds of products you sell. MUST have an ongoing need for similar products.

If you can find qualified customers like these in a niche in which there is little or no competition then you can make a lot of money no matter how small it is. What could be considered as quite strange here is that most ‘start-up entrepreneurs’ consider doing the exact opposite of what you are learning here. They look for big markets that are absolutely jam packed with competition. And they try to sell the same worn-out products to customers who have seen the same thing dozens of time before. That’s crazy in my humble opinion.

And that’s why they fail, even though there are potentially millions of customers for their product out there. Follow the advice in this blueprint and you can be pretty sure that won’t happen to you! How to find great niche markets So then, how do you find a niche market that all your competitors haven’t found, but which is packed with qualified customers?
Well, it’s not as hard as it sounds! To begin with, take a look at your own interests, hobbies or even jobs – or those of your friends, family and contacts.

To give you an example, I was recently chatting with a contact of mine who had just paid almost $30,000 to buy his own rally car. Not a ‘wannabe’ rally car like those Subaru Impreza’s you see cruising up and down the local High Street, But a proper, fully-fledged, fully kitted-out rally car. (I think he’s harboring secret ambitions to be a rally driver. If he’s not, it’s a fair bit of money to pay for a toy!)

This isn’t the first time this particular friend has invested serious money in his interest. Since he was 15, he’s been investing money in books, CDs, magazines, newsletters, equipment, gear, tickets, travel and clothing related to this particular niche interest. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he hasn’t spent $100,000 or so on this one niche (and sub-niches) bit-by-bit over the years.

And, the chances are he will spend the same again over the next decade or so. And he is not the only one. There are thousands of other enthusiasts in this niche market that regularly spend anything from $500 to $10,000 … perhaps even more … on items, information, training and related to rallying.

So what does that mean to you?

Well, this niche market and many sub-niches within it is packed with more than enough qualified customers for you to make $100,000 a year from supplying information style products to it.

Now, I’m not saying you should target this particular niche. What I am saying is that it’s a very good example of a niche that has plenty of high spending, enthusiastic, qualified customers that isn’t being supplied by big competitors. – I doubt you’ll ever see Walmart selling products for rally enthusiasts. . . and they seem to want to get into almost everything!

Let’s say you are interested in the rally driving market. How do you go about finding sub-niches within this market? Of course, it helps if you have a little interest in the niche you’re pursuing yourself – as I said that’s a great way to start. But you don’t have to.

You can start out finding lucrative product areas you can exploit just with a little common-sense research. What I would suggest you do first of all is look at all the existing magazines that target your chosen niche. Go and have a look in ‘Barnes & Noble’ or your local bookshop or news stand/newsagent and take a look at what is on the shelves.

Or if you can’t be bothered leaving the comfort of your armchair you can do it online. Here’s a couple of directories that lists magazines in every interest: https://media.info/ and https://magazinenewsstand.com/digital-magazines

In addition to the above, you can do a free search and find details of thousands of publications that reach particular markets. Then go to their individual websites.

When you do a search like this, you’ll see names and contents of magazines that will give you clues to what kinds of sub-niches already exist within a topic, and you can work up your ideas from there.

And here’s an exciting thing: If there is a large enough market to publish a printed magazine on something there’s almost certainly a large enough demand from people who want to buy digital information products such as downloadable books, manuals or perhaps online videos too!

So now to ideas for some products: What if you created or found an existing source like ‘a video on rally driving skills’ … or ‘car preparation and maintenance’ … or ‘navigating popular rally courses’ …or any other ‘rally related subject? … If you offered these videos individually, and sold just a few each day, you definitely should be able to reach your $100,000 a year income goal!

Or how about doing the same thing for other markets? Maybe something targeting those who dream of owning their own boat … or race horse … or super bike … or even a helicopter? They’re all essentially niche markets, unexploited by big competitors, but with enough enthusiasts to make a handful of product sales a day.

To help you find great ideas, here are a few more detailed pointers. In my experience, the best ways to find niche markets are: From your own hobbies and interests, from the hobbies and interests of people you know, from magazines – search at a newsagent or online, Study the content of magazines to see the different interests the subject breaks down into, Visit hobby events, shows, exhibitions and trade fairs, Have a look on eBay! As you do this remember what you are ultimately looking for: Qualified customers with $100 or so to spend on their interest, Customers who will want to spend that each year for a few years, A market where you can sell a range of related products.

Good Tip: Some niches are better than others. Particularly good niches are those which offer dream fulfillment (to become a rally driver or whatever) and appeal to those with above average income. Bear in mind that you don’t need a market of millions. Just a qualified market of a few thousands of people willing and able to spend money on their interest.

Avoid niches where: there are already lots of big competitors, high street retailers already sell a lot of the product, you can get free information on the subject, on the media or from the Internet, you only need the product once, or customers that don’t have a credit card or much money to spend!

In summary, finding an ideal niche market that suits your personal interests will probably take more than just a few days of research. You need to do some thinking, come up with some ideas and then carefully examine how your ideas relate to prospective customers and what they want to buy.

It could easily take you a few weeks to find the right niche. But that’s a good thing, not a bad one. Don’t rush things, and don’t be tempted to go for a big ‘non-niche’ market on the basis it’s so big that there must be enough room in it for you. If at any time you’re not sure about a niche, go back and look for something else.
Remember, as long as you find the right niche you really won’t need to sell all that many products at all to get your $100k a year.

Coming up: the final part of this $100k A Year Business Blueprint; a checklist & a few ideas for you to try out! Until then, did you remember to go and check out the Serious About Six Figures A Year opportunity I told you about in the previous part of this series? If not, make sure you do that today while there are a few free trial memberships available.

Here’s to your continued success.

Regards
Shelia Lirette
LiretteVentures.com