Coming Up With Business Ideas
Finding Your Niche
Written by Brenda Stokes for Gaebler Ventures
Once you find your niche, you then follow it. That is how you find success. But what if you don't know what niche is the best for you? How do you find it?
Do you want to go into business for yourself, but you are not sure what to offer your customers?
If this is the case, there are ways you can find the niche that suits you and will suit your customers so that you can bring in a profit.
The first place for you to look is the Internet because it is literally the doorway to success when owning a business. It is through the Internet that you can find what people want. However, it is important to sell something that interests you, otherwise you are setting yourself up for boredom.
Your niche must interest you because trying to motivate yourself to sell something that you do not have an interest in can be exhausting and can give you a bad taste of entrepreneurship. So unless you love your niche, don't do it or you could literally feel like you're destroying your soul.
What is the right niche?
The right niche is one that you enjoy but everyone else does as well. Just because "cat paw mittens" is your thing doesn't mean that everyone else likes them. Such a niche is a small one and will not net a lot of money.
So although you want to do something you love, it has to be something that is profitable. Finding your niche means taking your interests and comparing them with the interests of everyone else.
Basically, your selected niche is going to be one that is in response to the wants and needs of the general public.
Time to decide
If you feel like you are simply strange and like things that everyone else doesn't like, you may be surprised at what ideas are in your mind. Here is how you bring your good ideas out into the open so you can find a niche:
1. Make a list of ten things that interest you
2. Take a look at your hobbies, passions, and your bookshelf. Your books can tell you a lot about what you like. Turning to the Internet and researching how well the book performed can give you an idea of the interest in that niche.
3. Listen carefully to those around you when they talk about their passions, hobbies, and interests.
4. Pick up magazines in each niche that you enjoy. Take a look at the classified ads in those magazines and find ads for those niches. Ask for free information and see how quickly the information arrives and make note if you feel you can improve upon the product or service being offered.
5. Search each niche on eBay and see which is the most active.
6. Use Google to find forums discussing each niche. Look for how active each forum is as an indication of how active the niche is.
When you do the above, what you are doing is paying attention to the interests of your future customers. You may also want to scan the news and keep yourself open to opportunities that present themselves out of nowhere. For instance, when you buy something and notice everyone else has it, that's your brain at work. Your brain subconsciously noted that the product was a good one.
So to find a niche and enter the world of entrepreneurship, but not without choosing a niche you will enjoy. When your selected niche is the right niche, results shouldn't be far behind.
Brenda is a graduate of California State University and a professional writer covering a variety of business topics. To learn more about Brenda, check out her website at The Digital Inkwell.
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