Rewind: David C. Baker - Building a Business Based on Your Expertise
Feb 2, 2023
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Author and advisor David C. Baker explains how saying no to opportunities can make your business more successful. He discusses best practices for recognizing your expertise and charging a premium for your services. Topics include avoiding common mistakes, organizing thoughts, dangers of over-delivering, gaining unique expertise, and more.
Positioning is crucial for experts to stand out in the market and have a competitive advantage by choosing a focused area of expertise.
Confidence, opportunity, and capacity are three key factors that contribute to the success of experts, and balancing these factors and making smart business decisions are essential for sustained success.
Deep dives
Positioning is essential for experts
Positioning is crucial for experts to stand out in the market and have a competitive advantage. It involves choosing a focused area of expertise so that clients perceive the expert as irreplaceable. By narrowing their focus, experts can develop deep knowledge and differentiate themselves from competitors. Positioning allows experts to have distributed control in their client relationships, where clients find it difficult to find suitable substitutes. Making tough positioning decisions and saying no to opportunities that don't align with their expertise is essential for long-term success.
Confidence, opportunity, and capacity
Confidence, opportunity, and capacity are three key factors that contribute to the success of experts. Confidence is crucial for experts to believe in their value and capabilities. Positioning and deep expertise contribute to building confidence. Opportunities should exceed the expert's capacity, ensuring that there is always a gap and room to say no to avoid overextending resources. By balancing these three factors and making smart business decisions, experts can achieve sustained success.
The concept of expertise and the power of saying no
Experts should strive to position themselves as specialists in a specific domain rather than being generalists. This approach ensures that clients perceive their expertise as unique and are less likely to find suitable substitutes. While it can be challenging for experts to say no to opportunities outside their niche, it is essential to maintain focus and avoid diluting their expertise. Making courageous positioning decisions and being comfortable with saying no are key factors in building a successful expert business.
The value of focus in positioning
Positioning involves choosing a focused area of expertise and developing deep knowledge in that domain. Having a narrow focus allows experts to become highly skilled and stand out in a crowded market. It also enables them to provide specialized solutions to specific client needs. While it may be tempting to chase every opportunity, maintaining a narrow focus and saying no to opportunities outside the chosen domain is essential for long-term success.
One of the most painful things any expert or consultant can do is… say no to opportunity. But it must be done. Author and advisor David C. Baker, who’s been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and more, explains how doing so will actually make your business more successful (and ensure you enjoy your work even more, too).
Building a business based on your expertise requires a unique approach. And David highlights some of the best practices for making sure potential clients recognize what you bring to the table – and pay accordingly.
In this episode, you’ll learn…
The 4 common mistakes of entrepreneurs – and how to avoid them
One of the best ways to organize your thoughts and formulate new ideas
The dangers of over-delivering to a client
2 ways to gain expertise none of your competitors have
How to ensure you can charge a premium for your services
And more
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