Do you remember when you started college? As a freshman, the classes he took were all general education courses like math and English. By sophomore year, you started taking general classes within your major, such as Basic Accounting and Economics, if you had a Business major, and when you were ready to graduate, you were taking advanced subject-specific classes within your major, such as Marketing . .

This is very similar to your growth as a stage design professional. When he starts out, he’s working with everyone (the general public) or, in some cases, “anyone” because his business depends on it. He didn’t have the luxury of being chosen because he just needed to do business NOW.

As your business evolves, you can naturally start to create a niche because you only organically attract certain clients or types of projects. If this doesn’t come naturally, you’ll eventually want to figure out what your distinctive segment of the market is, or more affectionately, “define your niche.” This is not just the “who” but also the “what” in the market you serve. For example, as Stagers, you might work with homeowners, real estate agents, builders, developers, or investors. Choosing to work with one of these types of people is part of your niche. The “what” or your specialty, such as model home marketing or just owner-occupied property staging, is also part of your niche.

I was recently in a Mastermind meeting where one of the real estate agents mentioned that when she started her business, she met a mentor who called himself the “King of Condos,” so she decided to call herself the “Queen of Condos.” condominiums” and became known. as a condominium specialist. I know a local Stager who specializes in Staging Lofts. As you’ve heard me mention before, one of my niches was managing remodeling projects for resale. I was the go-to person when those projects came up because the local real estate community knew me as the expert in that area. That also led to several condo conversion renovation projects that I was hired to advise on.

So why would you want to find a niche?

o You are seen as the Expert.

o Experts can demand higher rates: Your clients want to know they are getting the best and are generally willing to pay more to have someone who is an expert. Cardiac surgeons are paid much more than a general practitioner

o Experts have more credibility: more people want to work with experts rather than generalists. There is a greater demand for specialists and, as a result, they command more respect. Just as an enrolled agent is paid much more for their technical expertise in the tax field, particularly IRS audits, than your local H&R Block tax preparer.

o Niching can help you stand out from your competition so they remember you. Particularly with the “green” movement. Incorporating those principles into your staging services will not only attract consumer attention, but can potentially dominate that market as this is an emerging concept.

o Niching helps you clarify your marketing message. Now that you know who your target market is and what your unique service offering is, you can now build awareness among your customers about your services and your brand with more focused campaigns.

So how do you find your niche?

Ask yourself some questions. What do people see you as an expert in? What are you known for or what do you want to be known for? Take a look at your previous projects or the profiles of your clients. Was there one group of people you worked with more often than another? Is there an area in which you are particularly better than anyone? Where can you be first in your market?

It could be that you just do a vignette staging that creates a look without the need for a lot of inventory, thus lowering your overhead. He may be known as a color specialist or “green” stage organizer. By positioning himself as the Expert in this sexy new niche, he will likely get a lot of media exposure as it is the “HOT” topic of the moment.

As you can see, niche helps you clarify who and what you want to work with. By communicating that to your clients, you can help make sure you’re not taking on projects that are outside of your expertise and weeding out those that bring you the least amount of joy. Over time, I found my niche simply by working on all sorts of projects and figuring out which ones I enjoyed and which ones I could easily say no to, regardless of money.

Find out what your niche is and you’ll find the journey to your staging success a lot more fun!