Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship, Part 1, Find The Niche
September 28, 2008 by akemi
So how do you become an entrepreneur?
This is the first post of Inside Out Approach to Entrepreneurship series. It is going to be a very important and experimental series.
As I wrote in A Year Without Paychecks Part 2, I quit my corporate job last September. I now work for myself, and my business is profitable. So I guess my readers would be saying something like, “Oh, that’s great, Akemi, but how can I start my own business? I want to become an entrepreneur, too, but I have no clue where to start.”
I’m more than happy to help. In fact, that is the reason I started this Yes to Me blog – to help aspiring entrepreneurs to actually start a small business.
I’ve had just one hesitation, however, about tackling this topic head on. I’m a new entrepreneur myself. It’s been a fun ride for me, but does my advice have any weight for the aspiring entrepreneurs?
My solution: What if I offer myself as a target of criticism while I ramble on my advice?
I think I’m on the right path, but heck, I’m open to hear any criticism. So I will be talking about the following steps to entrepreneurship and sharing my experiences. And I’m sending out open invitation to the following business experts online so that they can say whatever they please in the comments or in their own blogs.
Inside Out Steps to Entrepreneurship
- Find the niche.
- Polish your niche.
- Check your readiness.
- Learn marketing.
- Build your system.
Everyone is welcome to participate. Here are some people who are pros on this topic that I’m hereby inviting:
Cath Lawson The bold business advisor
Tom Volkar Great life coach who specializes in career improvement
Tim Brownson Another great and controversial life coach
Tom Stine Yet another life coach, a spiritual one
Jen (MMND) Young millionaire retiree who is now offering coaching
I feel a bit of masochistic pleasure about including these successful life coaches because in this series I will have to discuss the failure of my own life coaching business.
Readers, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, you might want to write your pending questions in the comments – as you know, I respond to all comments, and some of these experts may be kind enough to respond, too.
Step 1, Find the Niche
So, the first step is to decide what you want to do. And this is the biggest question. Most aspiring entrepreneurs seem to be stuck here.
I think you are stuck because you are looking outside of yourself. No, you first need to go within and know what you love to do. Then you figure out how you can develop it to products and services that people would love to pay for, which will be Step 2, Polish your niche.
Now I’ve already figured out what I love to do, but in order to show you how you might want to do this step, I’ll pretend I’m clueless. If you already know who you are and what you love to do, go ahead and skip this one. Just be sure it’s something you love, not just something you can do.
If you go into business with what you can do but you hardly care about it, even if you can do it well, you are setting yourself up for misery. You could be buried in money and feeling lonely and unfulfilled. Why would you want to do that? Is it any better than your current job?
How to find what you love to do
If you have been doing what everyone else wants you to do, you may have forgotten what you love to do. Very sad. So to remember who you are and what you love, pull out a sheet of paper and do a bit of inventory work.
Questions you may consider:
- Which books do I love reading? And why? (Check your bookshelf.)
- Which movies do I love watching?
- Which music do I love?
- What activity do I love to do?
- Which aspects of my current job do I love?
- More things that come to your mind regarding what you love to do
My list looks like this.
Books:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X – great life story.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – I remember reading this when I was in high school (yes, in Japanese), long before the term “personal development” was in fashion.
Various books on personal and spiritual development including those by Alan Cohen, Deepak Copra, Tao Te Ching.
Greek mythology and various other mythologies
Movies:
Lost in Translation – sophisticated sense of humor and great story
Beautiful Mind – great life story
Amadeus – great life story with great music
Music:
Baroque, Mozart, some airs in opera (I’m not very specific)
Lois Armstrong and Billy Holiday – great voices. I like the human warmth and power.
Activities:
Reading and learning – I just never get tired of reading and learning new things.
Writing – I like sharing and communicating.
Quiet time, like walking in the park early morning
Aspects of my last job (assisting president of mid-size company, along with general admin responsibilities):
Variety – I like doing a lot of things rather than doing the same thing all day long.
People – I like dealing with many people and building long-term trusting relationships.
Creativity – I was allowed to do a lot of things my way because I was the only person who could do them.
Also, I used to be a teacher. I liked teaching (languages) to adults and young adults because it was a lot about communication and relationship building.
When I was in school, I liked history a lot. All those fascinating stories and movements! When I went to college, I thought of studying psychology, but was discouraged when I figured that it’s about treating “dysfunctions.”
Do you see a common thread?
“Great life story”came up a couple of times, and the factor of people. So are the aspects of communication and dealing with people. And the long time interest in personal development.
So . . . when I learned about a profession called “life coach”, I thought that must be something meant for me . . . (continued to Part 2)
Further resource: If you can shed out some cash, Naomi Dunford offers one-on-one phone brainstorming session on this. I have worked with her – not to find my niche but to market my niche – and can say she is a very smart and sweet pro.
How does your list look like? Do you know your love and passion now?
Related posts:
- My eBook On Spiritual Entrepreneurship Free download: My eBook Lightworker's Guide to Self-Employment. If you...
Hi Akemi – Thank you for the link. I have a similar post to this in drafts because people keep writing to me and asking what kind of business I think they should start. But don’t worry – it’s not the same. You have some great ideas here for helping people work out what they’d like to do.
I’m happy to answer some questions on here but I just want to point out that I don’t offer life or business coaching services.
Akemi, I think it’s great that your doing this series. I love your simple questions for elucidating and articulating love and passion, and so, just for fun, I answered them: I’ve written five novellas of speculative fiction that explore the nature of eros in relationships to cultivate my own eros creatively and enjoyably. I love movies that make me think, that challenge my perceptions of the world, that give me intimate knowledge and visions of truth and beauty. I love music that lifts me up above and beyond the mundane details of everyday life. I love reading, writing, conversing, and exploring the unknown. In my current work, I love relating to others in ways that challenge and enlighten them. I love supporting those who share my love.
The question for me: how do I condense all of this into a statement of purpose that would drive me entrepreneurially? I look foward to reading the rest of your series.
Christopher
I would agree that finding your niche has to come from looking within. So often, many of us are looking for the next big money making idea. However, such a business may not be congruent to our values, passion and most importantly, Higher Purpose. Even then, I can’t say that I am an expert on entrepreneurship and am definitely, looking forward to your series of posts.
Evelyn Lim | Attraction Mind Maps last blog post..Building The Businesses Of Our Dreams
Great new series, Akemi! I think another good question to ask ourselves is – who do I admire? When I look at what they do for a living, do I say “wow, I wish I could do that?” So often the clients that come to me for intuitive readings wish they could give readings – and they can! Which I don’t have to tell you, since that’s exactly how you ended up giving readings ….
What we need and what we love to offer to others are often one and the same thing. We serve others even as we serve ourselves – it’s a win-win sweet spot that can really help us find our niche.
Blessings,
Andrea
Cath,
Hi, I know you are not a coach. That is fine. You can just point out what I’m doing wrong
Isn’t it surprising that people go to someone — total strangers — and ask them what they should be doing? That is just total lack of self awareness and ownership.
Christopher,
Thank you for doing this exercise. It is important to actually write them down, like you just did.
Step 1 and 2, determining the niche and putting it into business, are the hardest part. My suggestion is to hold your writing and meditate ^_^ Also, trying to put everything into “it” may be limiting your thoughts — sometimes, one part of the list grows and after awhile, you may find other parts are following naturally.
Evelyn,
We are on the same page! As I wrote in the post, I’m not an expert veteran entrepreneur myself, but I’m making it through.
Andrea,
Yes! Great addition, thank you!! Role models are important, and they can be anyone from celeb to someone we know in person. Which is why it is important to know other entrepreneurs if we want to become entrepreneurs.
Hi Akemi – When I get emails like that I usually send back a bunch of questions. They barely ever all get answered so that tells you a lot about some people’s motivation.
First I’m lost. Are you asking where you went wrong in the first business you started? Remember it was your first business – you’re allowed to make mistakes. I sank my 3rd one, which was really careless.
I kind of like the way you went about choosing a business. I won’t put the ways i use to get ideas, because they are in my blog post. But I would do the other bits kind of different to you. That doesn’t mean your way is wrong though.
1) Pick field, or topic that interests me.
Start marketing.
2) Research to see what folk in that field need, or problems they have.
3) Find solution to their problem.
4) Plan what business will look like when “finished” and how to get there.
5) Acquire additional knowledge needed including sales, marketing & accounts, if you don’t have any experience in those areas.
6) Do 3 year business plan & financials.
7) Do marketing plan.
9) Begin building system.
10) Launch business.
I’m betting folk do it different ways though – I just like to know what something is going to look like when it’s finished before I start.
Cath,
I’m just letting you or anyone criticize me if you want to. And you are so right — there will be failed attempts. Accepting and learning from failures is critical.
I’m sorry I lost you
I see you are a lot more technical and organized. Nice. I still don’t have 3 year plan . . . And I like your emphasis on marketing — that is something I had to learn — the hard way . . .
Akemi, I’ll chime in. Thanks for the link and please don’t be too hard on yourself for so far to having a thriving coaching practice. Most coaches take years to develop their specific coaching niche and to get their marketing in place; I know I did.
As to identifying and developing your ideal business that is the heart of my work and I wouldn’t attempt to cover it in one comment or even one blog post. I’ve learned that journaling in answer to some of the direct questions you posed is an excellent starting place yet that’s not usually enough for most folks to make their leap. The fact that it was for you is further testimony to your courage and determination.
For most folks the fear is so strong that they need to take many varied approaches over time to really nail their self-employment niche. I’ve found that at least some of those approaches need to be exercises that allow the participant to place themselves in a different kind of leaning laboratory to illicit internal wisdom that is hiding from their conscious minds. Here’s a link that illustrates what I mean,
http://www.delightfulwork.com/2007/10/24/what-will-i-be-when-i-grow-up-i-wonder%e2%80%a6/
@Tom: I believe that a visit to The Enchanted Island of Delightful Work is long overdue for me. The essential questions you pose are brilliant. I look forward to responding to them in my electronic journal, for days on end if needs be. Thank you for this.
@Akemi: your advice is well taken, considering that I like to keep my options open (but not too open). Your suggestion that I meditate on my responses is a good one, especially in conjunction with a visit to The Enchanted Island of Delightful Work.
Talk soon,
Christopher
Tom,
Yes, I admit this series may be a bit too ambitious trying to cover the huge attempt in several posts. Ideally, it’s good to work with a coach one-on-one — that is why I’m giving out quite a few links. I like the post you linked. Thank you.
Christopher,
You are so welcome!
@Christopher I’m pleased that you found it helpful. The very next post is a follow-up where I shared my own results and then asked readers to share what would be on there shingle. Take a look and post what would be on your shingle.
http://www.delightfulwork.com/2007/10/27/that-was-harder-than-i-expected/
Tom Volkar / Delightful Works last blog post..Why Don’t We Use What We Already Know?
[...] presents Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship, Part 1, Find The Niche posted at Yes to [...]
Akemi, apologies because I only just spotted this incoming link.
Bizarrely enough I have recently written a post that kind of explains my thoughts. Agreed with Tom et al that it is a tricky subject to cover off completely in one post. Thanks a lot for the link!
Cheers
Tim
http://www.adaringadventure.com/blog/wordpress/life-coaching/dont-just-follow-your-passion/
Hi Tim,
That’s okay. Hang around for this series, if you like, for fun discussion. And you are right — passion alone is not enough. We need to polish it to marketable services / products, which will be Step 2 in this series.
Hi Akemi. I found my way back to Yes-to-Me. This series sounds pretty great! May I be so bold to ask that the word “criticize” be replaced with “coach”. Criticize seems like a dead-end place, whereas coach leaves room for exploration and development.
One thing I can add to your list is to develop the profile of your ideal customer. Who are they? What are their hobbies? What inspires them? What is their income? Family life: ie. children, renting vs owing? Just to help you narrow down what your target market is and how to market to them.
Davinas last blog post..Free Spirit My Ass!
Davina,
Great points!
It’s important to think ahead about the target clients. I will cover that in Step 3 and 4. My e-workbook that examines the readiness asks the same kind of questions you do. So hang tight!
Hi Akemi – I hope you’re going to continue with this series as it will be useful to a lot of people. I am really enjoying it and plan to link to it when I post my ideas post. You have some really unique ways for coming up with ideas here that I hadn’t even thought about.
Cath,
Yes, it’s an ongoing series. The next post will be up on Monday. Thank you.
Very inspiring & real eye-opener
Akemi- As I was reading this post, I was completely reading my own story. This is exactly where I am at in this point of my life. I am so excited to know someone else was walking in the same shoes, now I’m even more eager to move on to part 2.
See you in part 2!
Kristy,
Welcome! I’m glad to hear that my experience and sharing mean something to you. Hang around, I have a lot to share ^_^
[...] is the final post for the Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship series. In this series, we learned how to find your passion, developed it to a marketable niche, checked our readiness to make the leap, and made sure we are [...]
[...] Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship: Find The Niche – If you have been doing what everyone else wants you to do, you may have forgotten what you love to do. Here’s how to find out. 27 Ways To Fuel Your Imagination & Come Up With Great Ideas – To succeed in business, you also need to do activities that will fuel your imagination and enable you to come up with great ideas. [...]
[...] paycheck job. Lots of energy stuck in his fear. Let’s say he reads my article on entrepreneurship and gets inspired enough to let go of his fear. Now the energy that was previously captured in the [...]
Besides all the above ways to find a niche, you can also use amazon.com, google trends and other internet sites to find online and offline niches.
Good advice. i found out that most people would only do thing if it would fetch them some returns. That is why many will check out search engines and do market research to find niche that would reward them for their effort. This explain why their are so many ebooks that talks on ways to find a good niche
[...] when I started the five post series called Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship. This year, I’ve been working on an eBook called Lightworkers Guide To Self-Employment. Feels [...]