Value is subjective, and people are willing to pay only for the part of your value that they can see. The bad news is, they probably can’t see much. The good news is, you are their most reliable source of information about your own craft.
It’s entirely true that people need medicines, and that the more people need what you do, the better. Does that not mean the best product in that category is a cure-all (panacea in Latin)? Well, would you buy a wonderful bottle of smelly brown goo that the smiling guy in a lab coat says supposedly Read more…
Webpages are said to be the modern equivalent of shop windows. Strangers passing by will usually only use it to see a faint reflection of themselves, it’s only the people knowing what they came for will look twice at what you displayed there. But even when they do come deliberately, what Read more…
Think back – in the last year, how many good drivers have you noticed in the street? I bet that you can think of quite a few bad ones, but not many good ones. The reason is, good driving is good in part because the good driver’s presence feels natural and therefore blends in the overall Read more…
Paradoxically, expert specialists typically get more clients than expert generalists. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the logic behind it is quite simple: If you are having back pains, you will probably want a back specialist to take a look at it. There are generalist private practices that probably know a lot more Read more…
New York University psychologist Jonathan Haidt says “the conscious brain thinks it’s the Oval office but is actually the press office, hastily assembling plausible explanations for decisions taken elsewhere”. Rory Sutherland I came across that quote while reading Rory Sutherland’s landmark book Alchemy, but it reminded me of something else entirely. When Read more…
Everybody says their horse is the fastest. It’s the only logical thing to say, really. However, the public instinctively knows that they can’t all be telling the truth. If just one or two horse breeders stated their confidence, their statements could be judged on their own arguments or simply reputations. But when Read more…
Let’s compare these two expressions: “With my help, you can be exactly where you wanted to be in six months”. “I already made all those mistakes and now know how to avoid them, and therefore can help you to avoid them as well” They both illustrate the value, but do Read more…
In the immortal words of Tywin Lannister: Any man who must say, “I am the King”, is no true king.” Unique selling proposition (USP): the unique benefit that a particular product or service offers to its clients. As a term, it was coined by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960, but it got Read more…
Aren’t there any viable alternatives to niching down? Instead of classic specializing you can always become a “bridge” between two (usually distant) categories of knowledge. A therapist for pro gamers A tourist agency for dog owners An accountant for green tech startups This will provide you with a defensible niche without narrowing Read more…