So, you might be wondering why my logo is adorned with balloons, presents  and a birthday cake. Just so happens, June is a big month for Mann Made Time. We’re celebrating two years in business and it’s my birthday month - one more year in my twenties…reason to celebrate, right?

After two years in business, I have really been able to find out which services I love the most and the ones I prefer to outsource to my team members. My biggest love is writing, and I’ve been lucky enough to be doing more and more of it for my awesome clients. I’m toning up my marketing message to attract more copywriting projects and that excites me.

When you first start your business, nailing down a target market and niche can seem very overwhelming and a lot of people don’t believe they should focus their marketing on any one place. In a sense, that’s a good idea. Offer a bunch of services (ONLY ones you’re great at) and then decide where your biggest strengths lay and which things you enjoy doing the most. Then carve out your niche and decide on a target market. If you started your business with a target market that you don’t feel the love for after some time has passed, change things up. There’s no rule saying that you have to target the same bunch forever. There’s no rule saying you can’t upgrade your skills and find yourself a niche you really love.

Your business is your business. You’ll get out of it what you put into it. If you’re doing work you love for people you truly enjoy working with you’ll be more motivated and success will come easier. You’re the boss. Do you look forward to the work you have on your plate when you wake up each morning? For a time, I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing. Now, it’s like Dr. Phil says. If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. I feel privileged to provide the services people pay me well to do. It really doesn’t feel like work and what could be better than that?!

Oh. And happy birthday to me!!!

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I was watching the Food Network a couple of days ago (I watch the Food Network whenever the TV isn’t on Treehouse for the kidlets). The show was Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. In case you haven’t seen the show, which you probably haven’t if you’re not a Food Network freak like I am, I’ll give you a quick low down.

Host, Chef Gordon Ramsay, comes across as a mean British guy. He means well, and a lot of it’s probably for TV, but I wouldn’t want to do anything to make him angry with me - I’m non confrontational. Anyway…he has a couple of shows on the Food Network, but this series has him going in to a struggling restaurant and helping them to become successful. He overhauls the decor, the menu, shapes up the owners, servers and chefs. By the end of each episode, he has turned a restaurant from a failure to a success. It doesn’t sound overly entertaining, but he’s fun to watch - mostly because he says bad words and it sounds funny to me with a British accent.

Anyway, the episode I was watching had him in a family restaurant in England called Oscar’s. Oscar’s was run by an Irish woman and her son (who was fond of ‘the drink’ which ended up being much of the reason for the restaurant’s struggle) who were trying to rejuvenate their restaurant. When Chef Ramsay looked at their menu, he saw that they had a ‘bit of everything’ menu. He said (paraphrasing here) that instead of making a lot of different types of food, none of which are outstanding, they should focus on one style of cuisine and do it very well. Become known for it. Everyone knows where to go for the best steak, the best seafood, the best Italian food, and so on. Since they were an Irish family, it only made good sense for them to focus on traditional Irish cooking.

Business owners often struggle to select a target market, thinking that having a target market or a niche is going to eliminate a large number of potential clients. This is a mistake.

By selecting a target market, you can focus your marketing in one direction. By working within one specific industry, you can really hone your skills and become an expert.

In my virtual assistance business, I target the real estate industry because I enjoy the work, and I have a lot of experience working with real estate agents. I know how to manage a transaction, ensure a listing is being looked after and keep agents on top of their leads. Because I target the real estate industry, does that mean I can’t market to anyone else or take on clients that are not in real estate? Absolutely not! My client load right now seems to be half real estate and half other stuff. I really like the variety.

Anyway, where I’m going with this is that you should think about Gordon Ramsay’s advice. Specialize in something - become known for something - be remarkable at something. By narrowing down your target market, you will not be closing doors on the clients that you could have had…you will become known for the service you provide. You will gain referrals. You will save money by focusing your advertising spend. You will become more successful.

Targeted products always sell better than generic ones. Can you think of some examples?

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