With the explosion of the internet and massive growth of small businesses actively networking, your own profession or market can seem very crowded. Wouldn’t it be great if, whenever someone in your community was looking for services such as yours, they immediately thought of you!

Lots of business owners try to be all things to all people, all of the time because they think it’s easier to market to anyone and everyone and to specialise would limit them. So what are the benefits of having a clear niche and specialism?

• People like and are attracted to experts
• People remember experts (who do you remember for example as the expert in helping women feel GREAT about their bodies)
• People are more likely to refer/recommend experts or those with a specific niche, because they remember more clearly what you do and who you do it for!
• Marketing is easier (Oh yes!!!) – many people think it limits them, but actually it positions them!
• It keeps you focused – look what happens to certain retailers when they lose or don’t have a focus.
• Publicity is easier to get – journalists and the media love experts too!
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We are giving Women Unlimited newsletter recipients the chance to win a free signed copy of Better, Stronger, Faster: Build it, Scale it, Flog it - The Entrepreneur's Guide to Success in Business by Brad Rosser

Brad was shocked to discover that only twenty per cent of new businesses survive to see their fifth birthday. This statistic is all the more tragic because Brad believes passionately that if these entrepreneurs had focused on the key issues and received the right guidance, many of these failed businesses would still be here today. So Brad set out to write a book that would ensure that the odds of a young business surviving, and ultimately prospering, are stacked in the entrepreneur’s favour. Having learnt the rules of the game from the likes of Alan Bond, McKinsey and Co and Richard Branson not to mention his own many successful ventures; Brad has much to pass on.  

Better, Stronger, Faster is a book that acts as a mentor for the business builder addressing all of the hard issues and guiding the reader through the many pitfalls start-ups face. In the book, Brad draws on his immense experience to: 

Demystify· the ‘secrets of the successful entrepreneur’ smokescreen that self-serving business gurus like to hide behind;

Demonstrate· that building a successful business can be done by anyone with the right application;

Develop the skills, confidence and motivation that will enable them to get up and have a go for themselves – and make it a success;

Act now to tackle the· non-trivial, hard-hitting and (sometimes) controversial issues of entrepreneurial business building;

Clear guidelines about what to do – and what not to do at every stage of start-up development. 

Better, Stronger, Faster is designed to be an entrepreneur’s personal mentor. It is unique in that it not only reveals precisely what to do at every stage of a business’s development, but is also supported by fun, sometimes dramatic, yet always informative, examples from real-life cases that Brad was personally and directly involved in as part of the inner sanctum of Virgin, Bond Corporation, and his own ventures. No guessing or theorising – just the real deal.  

If you would like to WIN a signed copy of this book, please send an email to competition@women-unlimited.co.uk by Monday, November 2nd and we will enter your name into a draw

Video of the week

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Joanna Martin at her presentation secrets event in London a couple of weeks ago. 

She has a unique insight into how women can make the most of their stage presence and in this video offers some real and practical advice on how to use satir categories to greatest effect. Watch the video here