MBA1840 Q&A Wednesday: How do I niche down a business I bought?

Let me tell you about Intuit QuickBooks. When I was starting out my business, I remember sitting at my desk late at night not working on my business but cleaning up numbers, tracking and reconciling.

Payments and wondering how this became my life.

But once I automated the admin side of things of my finances, those nights had disappeared and I felt a whole lot better. Outdo it with intuit QuickBooks QuickBooks is the trusted end to end solution that businesses rely on for getting paid, managing finances, paying employees, finding new customers, and more. QuickBooks provides a team of AI agents and trusted experts, so doing it yourself no longer means doing it alone. Their payment agent gets you paid faster, their customer agent finds leads, follows up and secures more sales, and the accounting agent automates and categorizes transactions. Get your critical business jobs done with QuickBooks on the Intuit platform. Ready to save on new Tech? It's time for Dell Tech Day's annual sales event celebrating our customers with fantastic deals and benefits. Perks include Dell Rewards, free shipping, premium Support and more.

PCs like the Dell 14 with Intel Core Ultra processors will help you do.

More faster and with a premium suite of monitors and accessories, you can upgrade your whole setup with amazing savings.

Visit Dell.com deals. Hey oh welcome to the $100 MBA Show. Because we know building a business can be a challenge. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my partner back in 2014 and today's episode is a Q and A Wednesday episode. On Q and A Wednesdays we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you got a question you want to ask, just go ahead and ask it. Email me over at omar100,mba.net Today's question is from Fred. Hey Omar, Love the podcast. I just bought a business that has a lot of potential but was struggling because they really didn't have a target market they needed to niche down. I'd love any advice on how to niche down a business I bought and how to handle the fact that my existing customers may not like this change. Thanks in advance Fred. Awesome question Fred. I love this question because obviously you saw potential in this business. That's why you bought it and you actually see a solution to improve the business which is niching the business down. The big, big mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make. They wonder why they can't get enough customers. It's because they're not talking to anybody directly. I'm going to share an example with you in today's lesson. A real life business that was in a similar situation as you and how they pivoted, how they niched and how they handled their current customers that love their business and service. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business.

When the flu is keeping you up at night, don't try to tough it out. Knock out your flu symptoms with nyquil Intense Flu. You got this. It provides powerful relief of your flu symptoms so you can sleep well through the night. Nyquil Intense Flu. The nighttime sniffling, aching, aching fever. Best sleep with a flu medicine. Use as directed. Keep out of reach of children.

So Fred asks how to niche down a business that he just bought, how to handle his current customers and that are happy with, with the way things are, with, you know, transitioning into this change, into this actual pivot, into a special niche instead of trying to serve everybody, which would also include maybe not serving their current customers, the ones that are actually giving them money. So I want to start with a real life example. This actually happened to a local business here in Australia. There was this 12 room lodge up in the snowy mountains that's been for sale for some time on realestate.com this is a business that's been running for over 30 years and the owners wanted to sell it because they wanted to retire. They found a buyer and they sold the business last year. Now this hotel, this lodge is next to a ski resort and they got really good ratings and it got a lot of happy customers. But the owner felt like the area was too competitive with family friendly lodging. There were so many different accommodation choices in the area that cater to, hey, we got an Xbox in every room. We have kids meals, we have bunk beds, we have all these things that accommodate families. The owner didn't want to compete in a red ocean in a very competitive space in that local area and actually did a 180. Now the hotel is one of the few hotels in that very populated area because it's like a ski resort area. It's one of the few hotels that does not cater to families. Actually they specifically have a no children allowed policy. That means if anybody's party has anybody younger than 18, they're not allowed. And the reason why is because the owner noticed that on TripAdvisor there was no market. There was nobody serving couples, whether they're young couples or empty nesters that are retired and they want to have a Quiet vacation. One of the biggest complaints in that area and all the accommodations were the noise, the noise and noise from the kids, from the screaming, from the banging. And most of that was just kids being kids running through the halls. And this owner took a gamble. They're like, hey, I'm going to be the only hotel in town or the only nice hotel in town that caters to couples, and I'm going to give them an experience that they can't get anywhere else. Fast forward 12 months later. Even through Covid, even through a really tough year for anybody in hospitality, this hotel ranks number one now in TripAdvisor for that area. It gets amazing reviews because people that go there are getting a special experience they can't get anywhere else. And they're talking directly to their people. They say, hey, we offer this, and those who want this get this. It's such a powerful, powerful thing. And during the season of skiing, they are absolutely fully booked. So how does this relate to Fred? Well, Fred bought a business that is all over the place or is in a red ocean, highly competitive. By niching down, which Fred is going to do, it's really a good idea because he's going to be able to cater to a target market that is dying for a solution for them, that speaks directly to them, that solves their pain point. So when niching down, you need to make sure there is a need in the market. Just like our hotel owner who saw in TripAdvisor there's so many complaints about. I would love a place with no kids. There's so much noise, it's hard to get any rest. I got to get up early because I want to get to the slopes early. If you see pain points that you can solve with your pivot, with your niching, that means you have an audience. You have a target market that is willing to pay for what you got, but you also got to deal with your current customers. So there were a lot of customers in this hotel that were repeat customers. Every season they would come back with their families and they were disappointed when they learned, hey, they can't bring their kids because this is a children free hotel now. Now, what you need to understand and what this hotel owner understood is that I'm going to lose customers. This is going to happen. I'm going to say no to people, but this means I'm going to be able to say yes to so many more. I'm going to say yes to enough custom to keep me happy, to keep my business running. And in this hotel's case, they're at full capacity, so they can't ask for much more. So by saying no in life in general, it allows you to say yes to something else. If somebody says to me, hey, do you wanna go bowling on Thursday night? And I say no, well, that evening now is free and I can say yes to something else. This is what's called opportunity costs, right? So it's not that just saying no to your customers. It's the end all, be all. You have the opportunity to say yes now that you've niched down. So make sure you have that market. Now. It's okay for you to communicate this to your customers and say, hey, we now cater specifically to these types of people with this type of needs. We appreciate you, you're a loyal customer. If you fit in that kind of description, you're going to love us. If you're not, we'd love for you to refer somebody to us. Or you can even give them a discount if they want to try you. So even in this hotel's case, they could have done this strategy and they could have maybe the kids, grandparents look after the kids so they can enjoy their new experience at this hotel. So putting them down gently in these current customer of yours is important. And also doing it in just a friendly way, you're not going to please everybody. Some people be like, hey, this new ownership stinks. That's okay. That's just part of the territory. As business owners, we got to have tough skin. But the point here is, is that offer them something, say, hey, we now do this instead, you might be interested. If not refer a friend, here's a coupon or try us out for a discount. And then your job is to market your business to cater to your new audience.

It's like starting over in a way.

It's kind of starting your customer base from afresh. Now, most businesses that do this pivot, that do niche down, they're not saying goodbye to all their customers. They're going to probably say goodbye to a segment of their customers that were just way too general. And you'll be surprised how many people are okay with this change. You're like, well, I can still use your service, I can still use your product, I still enjoy what you offer. Even though you niche down, guys, it's.

No use putting it off. The best time for an underwear refresh is now. Tommy Don Underwear is designed for a perfect fit that stays put all day. There's zero chafe, thanks to four times more stretch than competing brands and their innovative horizontal quick draw fly. Is a game changer. With over 30 million pairs sold, there are thousands of men out there more comfortable than you. Don't settle for less. Go to tommyjohn.com today for 25% off your first order with code comfort. That's tommyjohn.com comfort Tommy John comfort Perfected.

To wrap up today's Q and A Wednesdays question from Fred Niching down is very important so you can speak to somebody. If you're not speaking directly to somebody to a niche, to a target market, you're speaking to no one. You're vanilla. It's easy to be ignored because I like, well, this person's not really talking to me. They're talking about somebody else that I don't know or somebody that's made up. The best marketing talks directly to a certain demographic, a certain target market. It's going to be much easier for you to communicate and to market and to put your messages together and to build your website and to offer a great experience or product to your customers. Because you're not trying to cater everybody. You're just catering to a specific niche. We've done this with our business, Webinar Ninja, where we have really gotten specific with who we serve. We are happy to say yes to everybody, come on in and use our software, Webinar Ninja. But really, who we serve and who are perfect for are people that are educators, trainers, coaches, people that teach for a living. If that's your thing, then you're gonna love Webinar Ninja. We're made for you. So don't be afraid to do this because you're not only gonna resonate with customers, but with raving fans. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 NBA show. If you got a question you want to ask, go ahead and email me over@omar00mba.net. I'll make sure to answer it right here on Q and A Wednesday. I got a question for you. Do you experience anxiety when you're trying to get through your to do list every single day? Am I getting through it fast enough? Do you feel like you're procrastinating? Do you have weird doubt and thoughts in your head? You're not alone. And tomorrow's episode is dedicated to learning how to get your to do list done with less anxiety. Make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss that episode. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. With that hotel example, they had to deal with so many less headaches when they niche down. They don't have to maintain trying to serve so many different kinds of people, kids and families and teenagers and maintaining the video game systems and making sure that there are, you know kids menu items that are refreshed. It's just too much work now that they just cater to adults they know hey adults they want a nice comfy bed, good decor, nice shower. We don't need to try to do everything under the sun when it comes to hotel and accommodations. So it's actually a sense of relief for you as a business owner when you niche down. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

We've all been there. You hold on to a coupon but forget about it and suddenly it's expired.

Expired in 2012.

Dang it.

Fortunately by switching to Geico you could save about $900 on car insurance without ever touching a coupon.

It feels good to save big. It feels good to Geico.