Specialise Don't Generalise
SHOULD YOU STICK TO JUST ONE FIELD?
Carving out a specialist niche for yourself and becoming an expert, or should you keep your options open, taking a more generalised approach to your work? Specialise or generalise? Specialise every god damn day and here’s why…
When you specialise, you’re tuned in, you’re switched on, you’re moving. You’re going in one direction with a clear end goal. When you generalise, you will fall for everything. We see it all the time, too many people trying to focus on too many different things, digging in too many directions, and then are surprised when the cave that they have tried to dig out of crumbles around them.
By spending your time money and energy in specialising in your area of business you do a couple of things;
FIRST THINGS FIRST
First, you will build up a level of niche expertise and skills that will stand out against your competition. You will build up a loyal network, think about it the more time and energy you spend doubling down on your craft will start to make you recognised in that particular field or area. You will penetrate the market that you know and love and will start to build up a reputation.Networks breed recommendations and reputations and this is massively important for you and your business. Take our client and friend Sammi, Owner of Village Boutique, Bolton at The Last Drop Village- since she has doubled down on 'fashion for your day off' and has been focusing on just this one message, she has been busier than ever.
Remember, we always say it, people buy from people. Your customers will feel like part of a community that YOU have built. DON’T underestimate the power of this. From a clients perspective, if you are hiring a specialist you are guaranteed to get the job done and of a high standard, after all, you have hired a specialist! Someone that does this day in day out. Far more accountable than someone who does a little bit of everything.
THE PRO'S TO SPECIALISING
It’s assumed that specialising comes with a high degree of knowledge in that area of business / service or product. Specialising promises a healthy level of integrity which could lead to longer business relationships, and more repeat custom. The key is that once you start to build up a name for yourself in your chosen industry you’re more likely to be taken seriously, and this opens you up to higher paid projects that require that level of skill and expertise. Specialising allows you to play on your unique strengths.
Perhaps you’re a personal trainer that is known in the industry for helping to empower females, aged 20 - 55 and you have a loyal following of clients, helping each and every one of them feel body positive and confident, or maybe you’re a jack of all trades that is just in it for the £40 an hour. If you don’t know what you’re doing, how can you expect anybody else to understand? And thats the missing piece to the puzzle.
Understanding who you are and what you bring to the table is only half of the puzzle, the other half is commitment, execution and not giving up when things don’t seem to be going your way. Specialise, don’t generalise, be a master of something, otherwise you will fall for everything. Being mediocre across the board, never got anybody anywhere.
