#022: It’s “NTFDA” Time

Aka Niche the F Down Already 

Today, let’s talk about POSITIONING and how it affects your success as an “Expert.”

Why do I use the term “Expert”? Because as a consultant / coach / do-er of a thing, your ONLY path to success (outside of agency or full-time employment) is to BECOME AN EXPERT.

The opposite is a Commodity Service Provider… 

Which is another name for “replaced by AI”, “Unemployed,” and “Working too hard for too little money/respect/recognition.” 

 For agencies, the risk of not niching down is even more dire:

• Clients will churn, instead choosing a more specialized competitor over you
• You’ll have a harder time making sales, and the clients you do get? Well you won’t LOVE working with them.
• You’ll likely keep reinventing the wheel, creating custom proposals and solutions instead of systemizing and getting better and better at getting a great result for your preferred avatar/problem

The reason is evident in what I call the Price-Commoditization Scale™.

Imagine, for a moment, there is a scale with two sides. On one side, your pricing band. On the other, your perception as a commodity.

You know how a scale works. When weight is placed on one side, the scale on the other side goes up, and vice versa.

How this works is that when you price LOW, your perception as a commodity is HIGH. When you price high, your perception as a commodity (should) be low. (Obviously, other factors come into play which I’ll talk about.)

The scale goes the other way: when your perception as a commodity provider is LOW (e.g., you’re POSITIONED as an expert), you can charge higher prices. When your perception as a commodity provider is HIGH, getting high prices is nigh to impossible.

What happens to many people, though, is they end up in this weird “Negative Goldilocks Zone of Pricing” where they are charging just enough to not be a commodity, but not enough to be perceived as an expert. In this weird middle ground, you’ll lose work to BOTH those who charge more than you and those who charge less.

You HAVE to pick one side or the other. If you want to charge less, be a generalist. Make yourself a non-expert. You’ll get plenty of work at the low end of the pricing band.

(Or conversely, if you want to remain a generalist with commodity-level proof, positioning, etc, don’t expect to make the “big bucks”.)

BUT if you want to start making real money and get real respect working on real projects, then you HAVE to be perceived as an Expert.

Which means you have to do what Experts do:

• They name their offers, philosophy, and methodologies
• They price in accordance to the value they bring to the client
• They “plant their flag” and stand for something (directly related to how they work)
• They serve a specific client or solve a specific problems
• They are referable and reward referrals and connections
• They are not afraid to say who isn’t a good fit for them
• They put themselves in a position of “authority” where they are interviewed, reviewed, listened to, or otherwise showcased (e.g., publishing a book, getting on podcasts)
• They have PROOF to back up their claims commiserate with the value they bring and the claims they’re making

My positioning system, OfferTherapy™,  helps consultants, coaches, and agency owners do that. My systems are MY ways of showing YOU how to position and package as an expert.

But really, you don’t need my OfferTherapy™ system to position yourself. (I mean, it’d save you loads of time and money, but you do you.)

You can DO WHAT EXPERTS DO and you’ll figure it out over time:

• Launch an info-product to build momentum and create an audience for your high ticket program/service.
• Create some unique systems, as Todd Brown shows you how to do.
• GET GOOD, as you’ll learn from any expert in your industry teaching “how to” courses.

But for the love of coffee, you can’t be wishy-washy if you want to succeed as a “solopreneur”.

Either you NICHE DOWN and GET GOOD  or you accept your commodity positioning and the associated financial compensation. 

Or, you give up freelancing and join a team full-time. (But even THEN, it’s easier to get good jobs when you niche down and do personal branding.)

I’d love to hear where you’re struggling OR where you’ve seen this at work in your own business.

And when you want help, contact me and let’s start the conversation.