Leading at Light Speed is an excellent leadership book by Eric Douglas showing you step-by-step how to implement 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization. Chapter 2, titled Sharpen the Focus, illustrates Eric Douglas's idea of Niche Marketing Strategies.

There’s a cartoon in my office that illustrates one of the reasons you have to continually sharpen the focus. The cartoon shows a large fishing net. A huge fish swims on one side of the net. On the other side of the net swims a school of small fish. There is a caption that say: " “Attention all fish: How to escape being trapped by a net: "Either get so big you can bust the net, or stay small so you can swim right through." The lesson? It’s dangerous to be a medium-sized fish.

Niche and Grow Rich is a book that illustrates how online ecommerce has created an explosion in small, niche businesses. The authors describe a man who made a successful business selling unicycles online. They talk about the huge number of online jewelry vendors – “digital gypsies.” Whether you have an interest in garden railroads or traveling by barge through France, there’s a niche company (or several of them) to serve you.

1. It can start small and stay small while maintaining an attractive profit margin.
2. A niche company, beacause it is small, can quickly adapt to change and offer the most modern services and products.
3. It can be an attractive “roll-up” opportunity for an investor (who wants to combine several niche players), thus providing a handsome financial return for the founder-owners.

Unfortunately, niche companies have a downside as well. Often times, conflicts in personality can occur and create problems among small companies. The lack of defined business processes can make it expensive to find the right people to sustain the business once the founder leaves. The lack of objective marketing data may leave them vulnerable to shifts in consumer taste. It is also unreasonable to believe that if a person is selling something, they must love it.

Take this free work survey to see if your organization practices the 10 Quantum Leaps of high-performing organizations.

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