Do you specialize, or do you try to do everything?
I recently stopped at an In and Out, a burger place that’s been going strong for quite a few years. Since they first started, their business model hasn’t changed: hamburgers, fries, shakes and soft drinks. While other burger places are coming out with a new sandwich of the week, places like In and Out, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and Dick’s in Seattle stay true to the original plan: the basics. They’re all successful, and growing, without making changes to the menu. They’re expanding, and they have legions of devoted fans.
What do you do in your business? Do you try to do anything and everything that comes your way, or do you stick with what you do best, and market that aspect of your business?
Look at burger places again. Does In and Out and Five Guys do print advertising, television, radio? They don’t need to. They have their reviews to speak for them, and since they don’t have a new product of the week to promote, they don’t have to. Instead, they make the best of what they have, and they stick to that formula.
Are you building a name for yourself with what you do, and working on bringing that brand to the market?
The more things you try to do, the less time you have to get known for any one thing, and the more you find yourself working in directions that won’t benefit you in the long term. It’s difficult to specialize in one thing and get really good at it while trying to do everything else at the same time. The things you’re not as good at will siphon your energy, and your marketing message will get cluttered.
Unless you’re an organization big enough to encompass many different areas, you’ll have a harder time convincing people of your mastery in any one area. But if you devote your time and marketing to one aspect only, not only will you improve at that one thing, but you’ll become known for specializing in that one thing.
I see this same mistake with many beginning business owners. I’m guilty of it myself. At the beginning we do whatever it is we need to do to get business, and if it’s in an area we’d rather not do we push those feelings aside and we take on the work anyway. We tell ourselves it’s just short term, just while we get started, and that we can change later. But then what happens? We get more people calling for the thing we don’t specialize in because our name is out there, and much of our work is referred from earlier clients. So we’re expected to keep doing that one thing, and we don’t know how to turn down work.
If you’re anything like me, you don’t turn away work. You keep taking it on because we love the ideas of 1) getting work, 2) people paying us for work, 3) paying the rent.
What do we do then? How do we return to specializing in the one or two areas we’re really good at, and move on from there so we can focus on that? How do we get known for the few things on our menu instead of being expected to have a little bit of everything?
I’m not entirely sure yet, since I’m still finding my own way, but one way is to do your professional education in that area, get any certifications you can, and let your clients know that you specialize in whatever it is, and ask them for referrals. Chase down the possibilities in your area of interest, and don’t chase every stray opportunity that flies by. Talk up your area of expertise. Blog about your area of expertise. Join LinkedIn groups in your narrowed focus of expertise. If there isn’t one, start one.
Most importantly, tell everyone, people you know and people you don’t, what you specialize in, and that you’re looking to add clients to that area of your practice.
Instead of being a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, try being an expert in the areas you choose, and build your brand in that area. Save your energy for what matters to you, and build the work life you want, not the one you fell into. It may take time, but what else have you got to do?
