So how do you become an expert in your field of choice? Here are four simple aspects to think about, I like to keep it simple.
1. Experts “fail forward”. They constantly operate outside of their comfort zone and stretch their boundaries. In other words, instead of practicing something familiar within a specific skill set (like playing the piano) they practice the most difficult portions of that particular piece.
2. Emulate someone more successful than you. This brought to mind something I’ve heard Tony Robbins say a number of times: “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results”.
3. Evaluate past successes AND failures. A quote by Ken Blanchard comes to mind here: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
4. Continually gather data. Keeping track of your progress is key. As Joshua Foer said in his presentation: “Geeking out is useful”).
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
How Do I Find a New Niche?
How do you find a new niche?
FIND A MARKET:
Before you get into the nitty gritty of creating your micro product, you need to figure out a market you want to do this in. Generally speaking you’d want to focus in on a market that’s used to spending money online (on digital products in particular).
One of the easiest ways I know to find these types of markets is to visit your local bookstore or newsstand and look at their magazine rack. If there’s enough demand to create a magazine on the topic (that’s actually sold in bookstores / news stand), there’s enough demand for you to sell a report. A digital option to this is to take a look at: Magazine.com, more specifically their “Browse Magazine” page located here: http://www.magazines.com/browse/
Another great option is to take a look at Amazon’s Magazine store: http://www.amazon.com/magazines/
As you can see, there are no shortage of markets.
But, just in case, let’s take a look at some markets that have been proven to be profitable and are extremely suitable for creating Micro Products around:
Make Money
There are some massive sub-markets here, like the “MLM / Network Marketing” market; “WAHM – Work At Home Mom” market; and of course if you’re reading this you are already familiar with the internet marketing niche (of course there are sub-niches to internet marketing as well, like article marketing, blogging, traffic generation etc.)
Finance and Investing
This is in some ways very similar to the “Make Money” market (and I suppose it could be considered a sub-market…) but it’s so huge I consider it a parallel market. In this market, you have sub-niches like day trading, forex, precious metals, numismatics, real estate etc. Of course there are sub-niches for this as well. This market is highly profitable (but can be difficult to enter).
Exercise & Fitness
Another huge market that’s used to purchasing digital products. There are many sub-markets here as well: women’s fitness, men’s fitness, supplements, equipment, workout programs etc. You could also go sports specific as well: basketball, tennis, golf, martial arts, soccer etc.
Diet & Weightloss
This is another market that could potentially be a part of another market (exercise & fitness). But it’s so large I break this one out separately. A ton of different types of sub-markets here as well: Atkins diet, Miami diet, Mediterranean diet, Cabbage Diet, Diet Tips, Weightloss Tips, Diet Supplements (pills), Vegetarianism, Low-Carb, Fruit Diets, HCG Diet
Pets
The most common niche here is the “dog training” market, and to niche it down, the breed specific dog training markets. But you also have tons of pet lovers in all kinds of sub-markets: tropical fish, aquariums, reptiles.
What’s The Question?
Now that you’ve picked your market, you would want to figure out what type of questions people are asking in your market.
One of the easiest ways to “join” the conversation in your market is by visiting forums in your market.
You can find market specific forums by going to sites like http://www.big-boards.com (you can also type in “[your niche] forum” into Google to find relevant sites). Once you’ve identified forums for your market, start paying particular attention to the more popular forums and topics.
Another option is to follow some of the larger blogs in the market you’re targeting and look for recurring themes. That should give you an indication of what the current trends are in the market. To find topical blogs, you can simply use Google Search (or Google Blog Search).
A third option is to visit “Q & A” sites, like Yahoo Answers or Answers.com to look up what people are asking within your market. Here, you simply search the forum by entering the name of your market (niche keyword or question), like this:
Pay particular attention to the questions that are repeated often.
As you’re going through the forums and the answer sites, start writing down all of the questions that appear. This will become the starting point for when you’re creating an outline for your book.
Make sure you pick up some of the latest hot Niches and get you 5 step Money Magnet.
FIND A MARKET:
Before you get into the nitty gritty of creating your micro product, you need to figure out a market you want to do this in. Generally speaking you’d want to focus in on a market that’s used to spending money online (on digital products in particular).
One of the easiest ways I know to find these types of markets is to visit your local bookstore or newsstand and look at their magazine rack. If there’s enough demand to create a magazine on the topic (that’s actually sold in bookstores / news stand), there’s enough demand for you to sell a report. A digital option to this is to take a look at: Magazine.com, more specifically their “Browse Magazine” page located here: http://www.magazines.com/browse/Another great option is to take a look at Amazon’s Magazine store: http://www.amazon.com/magazines/
As you can see, there are no shortage of markets.
But, just in case, let’s take a look at some markets that have been proven to be profitable and are extremely suitable for creating Micro Products around:
Make Money
There are some massive sub-markets here, like the “MLM / Network Marketing” market; “WAHM – Work At Home Mom” market; and of course if you’re reading this you are already familiar with the internet marketing niche (of course there are sub-niches to internet marketing as well, like article marketing, blogging, traffic generation etc.)
Finance and Investing
This is in some ways very similar to the “Make Money” market (and I suppose it could be considered a sub-market…) but it’s so huge I consider it a parallel market. In this market, you have sub-niches like day trading, forex, precious metals, numismatics, real estate etc. Of course there are sub-niches for this as well. This market is highly profitable (but can be difficult to enter).
Exercise & Fitness
Another huge market that’s used to purchasing digital products. There are many sub-markets here as well: women’s fitness, men’s fitness, supplements, equipment, workout programs etc. You could also go sports specific as well: basketball, tennis, golf, martial arts, soccer etc.
Diet & Weightloss
This is another market that could potentially be a part of another market (exercise & fitness). But it’s so large I break this one out separately. A ton of different types of sub-markets here as well: Atkins diet, Miami diet, Mediterranean diet, Cabbage Diet, Diet Tips, Weightloss Tips, Diet Supplements (pills), Vegetarianism, Low-Carb, Fruit Diets, HCG Diet
Pets
The most common niche here is the “dog training” market, and to niche it down, the breed specific dog training markets. But you also have tons of pet lovers in all kinds of sub-markets: tropical fish, aquariums, reptiles.
What’s The Question?
Now that you’ve picked your market, you would want to figure out what type of questions people are asking in your market.
One of the easiest ways to “join” the conversation in your market is by visiting forums in your market.
You can find market specific forums by going to sites like http://www.big-boards.com (you can also type in “[your niche] forum” into Google to find relevant sites). Once you’ve identified forums for your market, start paying particular attention to the more popular forums and topics.Another option is to follow some of the larger blogs in the market you’re targeting and look for recurring themes. That should give you an indication of what the current trends are in the market. To find topical blogs, you can simply use Google Search (or Google Blog Search).
A third option is to visit “Q & A” sites, like Yahoo Answers or Answers.com to look up what people are asking within your market. Here, you simply search the forum by entering the name of your market (niche keyword or question), like this:
Pay particular attention to the questions that are repeated often.
As you’re going through the forums and the answer sites, start writing down all of the questions that appear. This will become the starting point for when you’re creating an outline for your book.
Make sure you pick up some of the latest hot Niches and get you 5 step Money Magnet.
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