Advice Network Founders Blog

Specializing has never hurt anybody. Doctors specialize to make the big bucks, lawyers specialize to get the big cases, and you specialize so that you get the edge on your competition - right? If you do, great - you’re on track. However, if you find yourself taking on too broad of a business plan then you should continue reading.

A recent article on IttyBiz has a great section of finding your niche:

A lot of first time entrepreneurs think that they want everybody to be their client. If you’re marketing to everybody, you’re also competing with everybody. The thing is, there are a bunch of existing firms with strong referral networks and bigger marketing budgets than you have. These are not the guys to be competing against. If you do photography, think about staying away from weddings. Everybody does weddings. What about babies? What about pregnancy shots? Consider glamour photography. Take pictures of people that they can put on their business cards. (Real estate comes to mind. Those guys are begging for head shots.) The smaller your niche, the greater your chance of being regarded as an expert in it.

So, if you’re a photographer - great. You’ve got skills, you’ve got the camera, and you’ve got a huge market. However, the ability to focus on a single aspect of photography will make you a specialized expert while also raising your demand (and prices). If you specialize in wedding photography, for example, you’ll be able to ask for more money based on your expertise in that one aspect of photography. If you don’t specialize, however, you’ll find yourself competing with people that have - and it will just make your job that much tougher.