The majority of small businesses out there are in industries where the market is flooded. Remember the days when people knew you as the town physician, the baker, the handyman, the insurance guy?
Where did those days go? Now I have to choose between hundreds of doctors, bakers, dentists, repair shops, gas stations and coffeehouses. Now I go to the coffeeshop for young, hip, professionals. I go to the dentist with the portrait of Elvis Costello hanging on the wall. I go to the baker that has the closest outlook on life as I do, and a passion for the basics and latest trends.
Why? Because I can.
If I’m going to build a relationship with anyone, it might as well be with someone with the same outlook on life, worldview, and taste in music. After all, relationships are built by conversation, and I don’t really want to gab with someone about Lionel Ritchie.
But what does this have to do with business? Everything.
Once you realize that people have organized themselves into tribes, you’ll start to see more and more why a combination of a general business and a flooded market will leave you in revenue limbo.
Do you have a tribe behind your business? Are you a member of a certain passionate type of people?
Religious individuals are good at this, but even they have sub-niches. Tiny communities are good at this, but even the barber runs the risk of a young buck taking over “kids these days”.
Now, for the first time in history, you get to drop the professional speak. You finally get to forget about acting like someone that gets along with everyone. For the first time in business history, the death of mass marketing means you get to be exactly who you are and find the tribe of people just like you to serve.
This is both exciting and scary, but you’ll have to do it. Soon, you’ll have no choice.
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