A Niche Is Essential For Growing A Successful Personal Brand

“If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time” - Zig Ziglar

Amazon, Apple, Walmart. 

These are all incredibly successful companies.

However, many founders get caught up in what these successful businesses are doing today and miss HOW they got there.

And in doing so...they are missing a valuable lesson around building a successful brand.

I'll explain...

You can get anything and everything you’d never need at Amazon.

But it didn’t start out that way.

You know what Amazon first sold? 

Books. And only books.

Apple is known for having perhaps one of the most cohesive (and desirable) suites of technology products available today.

But 20 years ago, there was only one thing you could buy from them…

Computers.

And Walmart is perhaps one of the most widespread grocery/department store chains, found in major cities across America. 

But when they first started?

They only opened in the most rural areas. 

Odds are you can see the point I’m trying to make.

The world’s most successful brands all started with a single niche.

A niche is ESSENTIAL if you want to grow a successful personal brand.

After all, you’re competing with every other brand out there for the world’s most valuable resource…

Attention.

If you want to build a passionate following and create real impact, you need to be able to stand out and draw in your ideal audience

How can you do that?

By finding (and winning) a niche of one.

In today’s newsletter I’m going to share with you how I found my niche, built out a $5 million-a-year portfolio of internet businesses, and how you can do the same.

Let's dive in 🪂

How I Discovered My Niche

Back in 2014 I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. 

I had recently sold my previous business for 8 figures.

And while I’m proud of what I managed to build, the personal “cost” of the business was way too high.

I knew I never wanted to build a business like that again.

But it was during this time that I learned A LOT about my strengths and passions.

Because of my own personal interest in cannabis, I ended up buying this small website, called The Stoner's Cookbook, which had a small following of weed lovers.

I wasn’t sure exactly where the business would end up, but I got to work doing what I do best.

Building communities.

After a little while, what started as just a following of thousands… 

Suddenly became a community of MILLIONS of cannabis lovers.

Along the way, I rebranded The Stoner's Cookbook to Herb and had a major realization.

Because of the large number of restrictions and laws, it’s extremely difficult for cannabis brands to advertise.

They can’t use Facebook, Google, or Instagram.

Meaning there was this huge gap in the market.

Since I already had the massive community of cannabis lovers…

I just needed a way to connect awesome brands with our audience.

That’s when I decided to offer Cannabis Marketing as a Service (CMaaS).

Now there are other cannabis marketing services out there.

But here’s the thing…

None of them have the thriving community that we do at Herb.

Herb has a community of over 14 million people, we push 1 billion views a year, have the largest social audience in the cannabis industry, and millions of emails of passionate cannabis consumers.

And because our community is a core part of our cannabis marketing services… 

I was able to create my own niche, and no one can even touch us.

Now Herb is known as the “go-to” for connecting brands with cannabis lovers, and we’re viewed as #1 in our niche.

I'll break down my experience and show you how you can apply it to your own brand 👇

Principle #1 - Start With Your Strengths + Passions

Too many founders try and just “follow the money.”

And while you do have to consider the monetization component, if you just try and build something because of the profit potential...

You’re on the fast track to burnout and hating your life.

However, if you start with your strengths and passions, not only will you be able to enjoy the building process... 

The internal alignment will naturally make everything you do more effective.

If you’re not sure where the intersection of your skills and interests lies, then I highly recommend you start by completing the Ikigai exercise.

Ikigai is a Japanese concept. It refers to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living.

Here’s a chart you can use for the exercise:

And for a point of reference, here’s my own completed Ikigai:

Principle #2 - Design A Category Of One

The easiest way to own your niche is to create your own.

No one can compete on something that’s unique to you.

And having your own unique niche is one of the easiest ways to stand out.

As Seth Godin would say, you become the “purple cow.” The thing that people can’t help but stop and look at.

Now, just because you’re going to create your own niche doesn’t mean you invent something completely random.

You want to create something that’s familiar enough that people will understand what you do, but distinct enough that you "own" that specialization in their heads.

Of course, not only is niching down great for standing out, it’s also incredibly lucrative.

Check out this chart to see what I mean:

You can charge 100x more for the exact same product simply by solving a specific problem.

Ultimately you’ll have to figure out what niche to create that best fits your Ikigai.

However, here are some ideas for inspiration:

6 Ways To Niche Down:

1. Problem (Burnout, Saving Money, Investing)

2. Industry (Tech, Sustainability, Media)

3. Demographic (28-25)

4. Location (NYC, LA, Mexico City)

5. Interests (Runners, Painters, Backpackers)

6. Business Model (SaaS Founders, Course Creators, Coaches)

Principle #3 - Start Building An Audience

It’s never too early to start building an audience.

This is going to be something you’ll hear me talk about over and over this year...

Because I believe that in the next decade or so, the most successful brands will be the ones that prioritize growing (and owning) their following.

The good news is, it’s never been easier to own a piece of digital real estate and create a thriving community.

However it won’t stay this way forever…

As more and more people start to recognize the importance of having an online audience, the competition will get stiffer and stiffer.

But if you start building your following now, you’ll have an asset that you can monetize or use as real-time feedback as you grow your brand.

Also, attention attracts more attention.

Just like when you see a line outside of a restaurant, you instantly become interested in checking it out.

Building an audience has a compounding snowball effect. 

The earlier you start, the more momentum you can get and the larger you can grow.

Principle #4 - Clarity Comes With Action

Sometimes it can take some time to find your niche.

And it’s perfectly normal to not “nail it” on your first try.

As you gain experience, skills, and feedback, it’ll get easier to dial in exactly what you want to do.

But if you let the fear of failure keep you from starting, you’ll never begin.

As you can see from my own journey with Herb, the clarity came over time.

Even everything I’m doing with Founder OS is a work in progress. But because it fits within my Ikigai, I love every second of it.

And while there’s no replacement for getting out there and doing it, there is one thing that can help shortcut your own discovery process. 

Tap into mentors and a community of fellow founders.

I personally invest hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to glean from others that have more experience than I do or expertise in areas I don’t.

If you’re looking for a place that can help you nail your niche and accelerate the growth of your personal brand, I highly recommend you check out my Founder OS Program.

There you have it, how I found my niche and how you can do the same.

Take some time over the next week to plan out how you'll be owning your niche this year, and then hit me up on Twitter to tell me what you've got planned.

Don't let decision paralysis keep you from getting started.

We're already one week into 2023. It's Jordan Year.  

It's time to own your niche.

Let's win together 🥇

Matt

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

#1: I just launched a new YouTube Channel. I'm putting a ton of energy into creating heaps of valuable content that I think you'll like. Come check out my latest stuff and subscribe.

#2: Want to grow your audience and online business fast? Discover how to build a proven system for audience growth in just 2 hours here.

#3: Promote your brand to over 35,353 subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter (booking into April 2023). 

#4: Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more operating systems, marketing tips, and community-building systems.

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