The Business of Authority

Why Specialists Rule

Episode Summary

Why should you specialize?

Episode Notes

Why should you specialize?

Talking Points

• Nobody wants a unisex haircut
• People are often looking for a unique style, not a one-size-fits-all approach
• It may be best not to put your portfolio on your website
• Generalizing locks you into lower prices and more competition
• Specializing minimizes your competition
• Specializing leads to higher prices
• Even if you only appeal to a small subset of the market, you can charge a lot if you offer something that subset can’t get anywhere else
• You may gravitate toward a specialty over time depending on what is most profitable or what you enjoy doing the most
• Specializing can allow you to close on a higher percentage of sales because your clients are specifically seeking out your unique service
• Having a specialty means sometimes saying no to work that doesn’t fit within that specialty

Quotable Quotes

“When you don’t market to someone in particular, you’re marketing to everyone, and when you’re marketing to everyone you’re not marketing to anyone.” –JS

“If I knew that I could get high-quality vision and feedback, I would spend a lot more.” –RM

“You don’t really want options. You just want exactly what you want.” –JS

“The fact that you have your own special sauce is fabulous. You’ve got to own that. You don’t want to look like anybody else, much less everybody else.” –RM

Related Links

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