248: Stop Being Scared of Niching Down

Melissa:

It goes to mister Eugene. Let's see. Hey. How are you, friend?

Eugene:

I'm doing well.

Melissa:

Yay. Let's see. Let me close this app out. You have you wouldn't you're you have questions around niching down. I love this question. So you said how, this is how I position myself right now. I serve service based entrepreneurs who either already have a high ticket offer or would like to create a high ticket offer. So I think that's smart.

Melissa:

You know exactly who your ideal audience is. It's in the high ticket offer space, whether it's already created or they're thinking about it. So, you know, from a price plan point what their what their objectives, objections, challenges, opportunities are. Right?

Eugene:

Mhmm.

Melissa:

And then you say, my process, organic content marketing through LinkedIn and YouTube. It can be Instagram and YouTube, Facebook and YouTube. You who had, who has had success in your program? All of your clients are from underrepresented backgrounds. So black, Latino entrepreneurs, specialties in software engineer, business coach, consultant coach, brand strategist for emerging beauty brands. Okay. That's pretty broad. I feel like I'm not specific enough in my messaging. How can I either niche down or be more specific about who, how, and how fast I serve so I can attract the right people to me? Right? Mhmm.

Melissa:

Yeah. So as far as niching down and kind of choosing a swim lane, I think that if you've nailed and I think this is brilliant, you've nailed that your niche audience right now are the underrepresented entrepreneurs, in the black and Latino space. Right? Mhmm. Are you proactively marketing to this and talking about their pain points in the industry?

Eugene:

It's a wonderful question. I think with my messaging, I'm more so, Peter Rand Bush. You know, I use the language that they would use because this is the community that I, been since I relocated to the United States. So we use the same language. They recognize the language, you know, from black churches, from local communities, from, like, cookouts, and then stuff like that. But it's never like, hey. Like, I know that, sometimes, like, you you have to work twice as hard if you wanna grab, like, larger margin, business. Right? And, like

Melissa:

But you've never said that directly. Correct?

Eugene:

I never said that directly. So I don't know. Like, I I think this is the conversation that I have with my client actually last week. I said, like, how can I speak to you? What can I say that attract you and clients like you? And, like, he said, like, you do what you're doing, but, like, yes, you can, like, be more specific. You can be a a little bit more bold with your like, say the weird thing. Right? If you think that it's a weird thing, say the weird thing because it is not weird. And sharing your experiences and sharing your passion and sharing your mission, like, this is not weird. So and there were might be, like because you're not tokenizing people.

Eugene:

You are, like, this is this is your passion. This is your this is your business mission. This is why I'm here. So and I think I try to chase, like, glimpse of, like, other avatars that, like, I never knew.

Melissa:

But You're trying to you're trying to you okay. Can I give you an analogy, Eugene? Because we're all we we're all can fall victim of this. It's, it's I'm gonna it's called the well, it's like the little kid in the sandbox who wants all the toys in the sandbox. Like, us as entrepreneurs, like, we want them all. Right? We want all the toys in the sandbox. And what's gonna make you what is going like, mark my words. I will I can't wait to circle back with you 6 months from now, a year from now. Double downing double downing and owning the the population that you serve is going to make your business explode.

Melissa:

Right now you're you're trying to like skirt around it for I don't wanna use the word fear, but I'm gonna use it. Fear of loss of opportunity outside of that demographic. Right, versus just talking to them, to their soul, talking directly to them because no one else is gonna publicly call it out like you are. And then they jump out of their screen saying, hell, yes. Eugene knows exactly what I'm struggling with. 1 of our previous clients, her niche audience was women of color of high net worth. That's a very narrow demographic.

Eugene:

Mhmm.

Melissa:

And she's crushing it because she knows exactly what their pain points are, and she talks about it publicly. Right? Yes. And so those women of color, of high net worth are, like, jumping at working with her as an adviser with their finances, and she's crushing it because she's not trying to cater to everyone else. Another really great example of this, you guys know my photographer, Jody, and I think this will help you, Eugene, with the fear of missing out. Right? Jodi's main mission for the longest time in her business was to she she truly believed that there were not enough brand photographers for women of

Eugene:

color.

Melissa:

Right. And she also knew that there was a huge gap in stock photos, good ones for women of color. Right? And so she went down in this rabbit hole over the past decade and as, you know, initially really built a brand and a business around serving an underserved industry of women of color and entrepreneurship. It didn't stop someone like me from jumping in and being like, wow. You are wildly talented, and I want your services too. I know I'm not a woman of color, but I'm an entrepreneur. Right? And so I give you that example because I don't want you to think that by owning, serving, you know, this underserved area or this demographic, is going to block your opportunity with others. You're just going to, like, triple the magnetization, if that could be a word, of the right audience to you through your messaging.

Melissa:

Does that make sense?

Eugene:

Yeah. It it it does make sense because it, like, kinda going back to your analogy with a, of a kit at the sandbox, then I start throwing out the toys that, like, well, like, that toy sucks. That toy sucks. That totally unaligned client. Like like, I don't wanna even talk to that client. You know, like, no. Like, why am I, like, why am I why am I doing what basically everybody else is doing because, like, this is this is not how I win the game. Because Right.

Eugene:

I know the experience, and it's not just like, oh, let me just be, like, cool and diverse because they're like this is this is something that I truly, truly deeply care about. And even, like, talking about, like, hey, as a black entrepreneur, as Latino entrepreneur, you deserve to charge high prices, because if not you, who else? Yes. Like, how do you create your legacy? How do you create that example for other black girls, black boys who look like you? That they can experience it. They they can be build businesses and lives by design.

Melissa:

Yes. Yes.

Eugene:

Fired up.

Melissa:

Yes. And when you get fired up, your content gets fired up. And when your content gets fired up, the people that you're attracting get fired up. Right? And I think that you need to be telling your story more. Right? Because someone could initially be like, well, who's this white boy talking about this? Well, you happen to be an immigrant from Russia who's a minority. I think you're you're Jewish too. Right? No. Or did I make that up?

Eugene:

You made that well, I thought I was Jewish, but then I did my, like, the test and this is like, nah. You're not that diverse. Okay.

Melissa:

Well, but but where I'm going with this is I'm sure you have your own stories, many stories about being your own minority and being on your own journey. And the work that you've had to put forth is going to resonate with those that you're trying to attract just as much as sharing you knowing their pain. Right?

Eugene:

Yes.

Melissa:

Yeah. Right? You just need to double down and, like, own it.

Eugene:

Right? I think this is what I'm missing. Like, I think I don't need like, I'm like, I don't consider myself, like, too politically correct person, but I think that is, like, societal. Like, oh, you have to be politically correct, you have to stay in your lane, like like, you have to make yourself small. That keeps me from, like, really extrapolating because, like, everything else, like, the messaging hits really well, like, like, raise your prices, like, people, slide into my DM, so, like, how do I raise my prices? Like Right. What my message isn't isn't correct. But if I direct to the right person Yes. And, like, it'll really say that, hey. Like and, you know, I'm already doing that, but, like, saying that, like, hey.

Eugene:

per hour. At least: 25100

Melissa:

Yes. Absolutely. And a couple of things I want you to think about, and this is for all of you. I think that sometimes also we don't wanna niche down because we're afraid we'll lose the the larger market. Okay? I want you to think about it the reverse way. By niching down, you gain mass momentum, and then you expand your market. So some of you may not have been around long enough to know that when I first launched my LinkedIn coaching with my first flagship program, it was because I had grown a direct sales company using the power of LinkedIn, and it exploded. Who was my initial target market with my LinkedIn coaching? Does anybody know? It was super niche.

Melissa:

It was 100% exclusively for people in direct sales. Okay, that was 5 years ago. And now we're a multimillion dollar a year company with high level business coaching, mid level business coaching and a lead gen master cap class teaching service based entrepreneurs across an entire umbrella of entrepreneurship on how to generate leads. I never would have built the empire I have today. If I'd started my marketing in the beginning by trying to sell my coaching to everyone. Makes sense?

Eugene:

Yes. Thank you so much. And, actually, like, on my website, I just before our coaching, session, I put, like, I'm on a mission, and I articulate it, like, what is the mission of my business. So

Melissa:

I love that. So glad. I love that. And the last thing I'll say on this too is and, again, don't feel like you're gonna cut off, you know, clients. You know? Another thing I'm really well known for, you guys could probably agree, is I'm pretty I'm pretty spicy, like, feminist. You know? Like, I'm very much, like, grew up in corporate where the men around me made a lot more money than me even though I was doing just as much work. And, you know, I talk about it, and I'm a voice for that, especially, on certain holidays or national days. And, like, that doesn't mean I don't love working with men.

Melissa:

It just means that it's part of my journey and that there's women that are in corporate America who are really going to resonate with how pissed off I was and ready to exit and do my own thing. It doesn't mean the men don't relate. It just means I'm double downing and attracting even more the people who sat in my shoes. Same thing with kids. Many of you don't have kids who are on the line, but a lot of you do. Some of you are here because you're like, she really talks about the journey of doing this while having children. Right? But doesn't mean I'm, you know, blocking off the opportunity to coach and mentor people who who don't have those children, but I speak to it publicly a lot. Right? It's just part of who you are, Eugene.

Melissa:

Right? And part of your mission.

Eugene:

Yeah. And

Melissa:

all of you is welcome. All of you is welcome. Here's my passion. Right?

Eugene:

Yes. And it's a it's a part of my journey here in the United States because it's the only community that treated me fairly like an equal human being. So and that's powerful.

Melissa:

Yeah. Awesome. I love this. So good.