Natalie: Hey, welcome to this series about being in a small market but actually being a big authority. We often can hear in service based industries kind of how sucky the New Zealand market is or how small it is to be exact. And I’m here to tell you that actually I’ve been in business 11 years, only with a New Zealand market.

We often look to the US or the UK and wish we had those millions of potential customers. Now don’t get me wrong, for some people, they can, they can get into these markets, but what you don’t see is the thousands of dollars that they had to put in to actually make that happen.

And not realizing that a small market can actually be your superpower. You just need people to know that you’re that go to authority. And I think it’s easier than you think to be done. Right, Because I’m that living proof and I’ve seen clients do that living proof that there is still a lot of profit to be made in the New Zealand market.

And I never want to be a bubble burster, but I often just want to bring that reality to people. You can try and go online and go into these markets and have these online programs, but you’ve just got to go and be really realistic about what is that going to take and how do you do it. Not saying you can’t do it, right. So you don’t always need a new audience either.

So if you’ve already got a really great New Zealand market, I’ve got clients who are currently able to expand into that same audience, but by offering a complimentary service, they’re able to expand. Let me explain that. So much better than what I’m trying to do right now.

So some of my clients have been looking at other complimentary services that they can offer to their current audiences that they may not be, you know, currently offering at the moment. So for example, I’ve got a careers coach whose main offering was teens helping teens at year 12 and 13 transition and help them into CVs and kind of what subjects to take and all of that kind of stuff. And she’s done that for a long time and she has something to lose, that love of it. And wanted to get some more midlife, helping women at midlife. So instead of trying to go and find this whole new audience, we were like, oh, hang on, all these teens have parents. Hello, there’s the audience. So it’s really so same family is that different offer. And again, those teens had siblings. So expanding into that teen one again or lining up the sibling to Come up. So that client started this idea with the midlife, putting the offer to the current audience, but widening it and then deciding that actually through MVP minimal viable product, that this is something that people wanted and has now started to offer that. And actually instead of leading with that career team foot, she’s now leading with the midlife career foot, which is super exciting for her. So that’s one way that you can same audience, you’re increasing your authority, which I think is really. Which I think is really exciting.

So I’ve got an administration agency who they started to leverage. They were just doing it without knowing they were doing it until we kind of sat down and zoomed out. They’d often be giving away strategy and kind of intel during the onboarding sessions with their new clients. So they would do quarterly reviews and make suggestions for their businesses alongside some of the administration they were doing. So we started to look at, hey, actually that’s a real. That’s really valuable. Where could you maybe turn that into offerings so people could come and get their administration work done, Then they could upgrade or add on a quarterly review, which in turn you’re now getting paid for your strategic advice. So that’s what she started doing. So again, we got that MVP minimal viable product, people want it. And now she’s gone and launched alongside this business as a separate business, business coaching, which is really exciting. So same audience, different offer and being able to expand the audience, which I think is super cool. So just another example.

And wait, I’ve got more examples. A wedding venue, been there for a long time. They decided that they would and have been also offering wedding planning on a quite a small scale. It wasn’t something really they pushed, but we started to push it a little bit just to see what her audience would do. They loved it. So we then decided to create a whole new business that the venue would promote the wedding planning business so that she’s now got two successful businesses running alongside each other and then starting to look at some other avenues with that as well. The same audience giving an offer that’s very complimentary that they’re potentially going elsewhere for. Again, it’s just another example of staying in the same audience in New Zealand and being able to grow from it.

Okay, got an amazing stylist who takes you shopping, helps you work out what to wear. Has launched her own clothing label. So after listening to what clients really wanted, potentially there was a lack of in industry and the shops that she was seeing. So great intel from her being able to read what the market wants and she’s now in her second successful year of this new label. So that’s a separate business, separate website that she’s resold first to her current audience. So again using the same audience, different offer and then we get an expansion of it.

Another example, fitness instructor. She is looking now at offering coaching to new trainers coming in because she’s successfully run her own business for 10 years and can see the opportunity because it’s happening organically. People are coming to ask her for help for their businesses. So looking at that as an offer as of yet, it’s still at early stages. So it won’t have its own website or its own entity just yet. We will start to monetize that site first and then have a look.

So I just thought by sharing some of these insights into what’s happening in businesses already. If you’re worried about, okay, well New Zealand’s too small, my client, like it’s getting a little bit harder to sell something. Really try to flip your mindset around to be like, actually your current audience is a goldmine of opportunity. Where can you find those gaps? Is there something that your team or yourself you’d love to do and that you’re passionate about and it’s not just, well, I can do it, therefore I should do it. It’s going to make, obviously has to make some really good financial reason that you go and do it right? Not just a willy nilly idea. That’s what we’ve got to be careful of. You might be someone who has amazing ideas, opportunities, but if they’re talking cheese sometimes that’s where it’s not a next step to do.

So I just want you to remember that a small market, your reputation is your currency. So when you solve a problem for one person and then you can often go, okay, who else does that person know that I can also help? So it’s that authority that you step into, which is where we talk about having a narrow niche, being really clear on who you help. So what I’d love for you to think about, is there something else that you could be offering maybe you haven’t done yet, you’re a little bit worried about it. Hopefully some of these examples that I’ve shared with you today has kind of given you the confidence and the courage to go, actually, you know what, this makes sense that I do now offer that.

An example too for me coming up is I will often have clients who financially don’t understand profit and loss. P and L financial forecasting. I have some knowledge in that, but I actually don’t. I’m not an accountant. I don’t have that in depth intel. So looking at offering a financial advisor advice part of the coaching. So you get a financial coach and a business coach together which I’ve seen the people who have the great accountants or financial advisors we can do a lot more in your business because you understand those numbers right?

So what is a reoccurring problem? Perhaps that once a client comes to you you’re having to send them out to get it solved somewhere else. We’re actually in. Maybe you could be offering that. It could just be a natural extension of your offerings or it could be a completely separate business but they synergetically. Synergetically. I made that word up. They actually can work together. So I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Let me know if just hearing some of this intel is going to help you take some bold action. Strategic bold action. That you financially understand that it will work and that there is a need out there. See you in the next episode.