The Benefits Of Choosing One Business Niche

"Hi Mike, my name is Kenneth. Here's my business card. I'm into printing, sale of AGO & LPFO, office furniture sales and events management."

I often meet people like that. And I find it hard to remember what exactly they do and even harder to recommend their services. 

image: terryarzt.com

In today's post I'll be sharing why I chose to pick a very specific business niche -- business data analysis -- for my company and the benefits it affords.

1. Ever wondered why we study same thing throughout Nursery school and Primary School, then mandated to choose between Science class, Commercial class and Arts class at secondary, and finally pick a specific career course for University? It's because we don't think anyone can be professionally good at multiple fields. Notice the word "think". Because even if you are an exception, not many people will believe that. And too many people think they are an exception. Have you ever heard of a Professor of Science or Professor of Music? I don't think so. It will always be Professor of Mathematics or one of the sciences and Professor of Classical Music (not just Music). We are wired to think the more specialized your profession, the deeper your expertise. And the more specialized your business, the more professional and reliable it is.
2. When you hear Davido you think of music, when you hear Obasanjo you think of politics, when you hear Alibaba you think of comedy. We like to associate people with just one thing. Even the musicians that are making more money from their fashion biz than music are still referred to as musicians, not musician and business owner. Same with businesses. We find it much easier to remember a business when it does one specific task and we think of it when we think of that task, making it easy for us to send them referrals. And in the corporate world we love businesses that do just one thing.
3. Improves your ability to weather tough times better. I know you might think that having more than one business activity would reduce your risk of failure when tough times come. History and logic has proved that the businesses that thrive most and longest are those focused on one thing. ExxonMobil, Walmart, IBM and Lloyd's. When you are focused on one thing, you'll soon become better than half of your competitors and then if you keep pumping in the dedication and professionalism required to run your business you will be able to weather any tough time better than if you have 5 different businesses.
4. Finally, it greatly increases your chances of becoming an innovator in your chosen business niche rather than just another business down the block. You become so knowledgeable that you can spot trends and prepare for them, see opportunities other less dedicated competitors aren't seeing and most importantly, be able to figure out a much better way, an innovative way, of doing your chosen business.

I hope someday, when you here of Business Data Analysis you will think of Michael Olafusi.

Enjoy your weekend!