Starting Small to Go Big
I graduated from college with a liberal arts degree. I’ve always been interested in a lot of different things. And I think that is a good thing. I even believe that having a greater range will help us become more successful in the long run. And I know author Epstein of the book, “Range” will agree with me on this one.
However, when we’re a self-publishing indie authors, we have an extremely limited budget and amount of time to work with. Even we experienced authorpreneurs can’t make much of a splash if we’re in too many ponds at once. The secret to overcoming these two obstacles is to go small by starting within a niche. Now don’t get spooked and think that this is small thinking. Going small can actually help you go big down the road.
For most of us, our only chance is to start in a single small niche first and spend all of our time, energy, and money there. Once we make some waves, we can then bump into the tiny thing next door to us and cause a little splash there too. Then eventually, the next, and the next, and the next until we are going huge now. But this takes time. It’s a slow process. And if we don’t do the work, then we’ll never be able to make a splash in the big ponds out there where all the big fish hang out.
So, let me give you an example of how this works. Today, I am involved in a lot of things. I guess it’s that liberal arts education rearing its head again in my life. I have become pretty successful and pretty broad in what I do now. But, I didn’t start out that way.
I started as a school teacher and wrestling coach, who began with writing and talking about teen leadership. This makes sense since I was already working and leading our youth in my professional capacity as a teacher and coach. My profession gave me some credibility in this small niche, right?
Well, after I gained some ground in the teen leadership niche, I reached out to the next logical one. I took on students and, eventually, athletes. These seem like small logical leaps from the teen leadership niche I was already serving, right? And I still had credibility too because these two other niches of education and coaching were still my day job, my profession.
Eventually, I became a parent, so I expanded my reach to the parents to lead their own children. And as I became an older teacher and coach, I then began helping teachers teach and coaches coach our youth. These other niches are so closely located to my original niche of teen leadership that it doesn’t appear that I made any kind of leap at all. But, if you’re an experienced authorpreneur, and if you really understand this industry, you know that I did make a leap.
Well, the cycle continues. Since I was writing and speaking about teen leadership and education and sports, I was also a speaker and author. Speakers and authors are two more sensible niches that I can use my leadership, education, and coaching strategies to help. And I have a lot of credibility because I am a speaker and author.
Can you see how I started small to go big? I began with just teen leadership, which branched out to leadership in many other groups with students, athletes, teachers, coaches, parents, speakers, authors, and more. Yup. I said more. The next-door niche is always just next door. There is no limit to how big we can grow by starting small. I’m also now venturing into the business world and corporate world… Imagine landing there from starting with teen leadership…
This didn’t happen overnight. It’s longevity that slowly expands like a spider web. It’s a method that doesn’t force us to start over every time we want to try a new market. Our crawling slowly through the web allows us to build relationships and credibility so we can keep expanding what we do and have a steady flow of increasing business. But don’t rush this process, or you can lose the good you’ve already done elsewhere while pursuing the new. Keep it simple. Go slow. And go small to go big.
*Watch this FREE video lesson on this chapter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crwzq6HGu2s&list=PL_-39bUXJitwL8cHUpiZ5mO0-JJuaPOVl&index=30
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