Start with Yourself

As you explore niche markets--groups of people who share the same problem--your best place to start is with yourself. That's because you are likely to:

• Be interested in your own problems
• Know a lot about them

You belong to thousands of niches so you're not limiting yourself or your web business by concentrating on the niches to which you belong. Rather, your main limitation is in not recognizing your niches and the opportunities they present. You don't have to limit yourself to your own niches, but 99.99% of the time you get a big head start by doing so. This 20 minute task (and several that follow) focus on helping you identify the market niches to which you belong so you can profit from them and get that big head start.

One important clue to finding niches is to realize that people who have similar problems often have other things in common. A good example is certain types of cancer. If you have uterine cancer you're also female and if you have prostate cancer you're also male. Therefore, an important way to discover a niche is to go about it backwards. That is, first find a group and then identify the problems that group shares rather than find a problem and then identify a group that has it. Some of the next 20 minute tasks will look at the groups you belong to for that reason.

Your 20 Minute Task

A good way to identify the groups you belong to is to state the obvious about yourself. Print out this page and answer the questions below quickly. Then add it to your folder of "Market Niche" information.

About You - Stating the Obvious

Your full name:

Your age:

Your gender:     Male     Female

Your ethnic background:

Your marital status:     Married     Never Married     Widowed     Divorced

Are you a parent?     Yes     No

Are you a grandparent?     Yes     No

Any illnesses or diseases you have:

Your Geographical Connections

The name of the subdivision or community you live in:

Your city:

Your state or province:

Your country:

Cities you've visited more than once (but not lived in):

Countries you've visited more than once (but not lived in):

Other cities or towns you've lived in:

Other countries you've lived in:

Your Education and Career

Schools you've attended:

Your highest educational degree:

Occupations, careers and jobs you've had:

Occupations, careers and jobs that you haven't had but that interest you:

Languages you speak:

Your Associations

The church you belong to:

Charities you support:

Organizations you volunteer in:

Your Pleasures

Your favorite kind of music:

Your favorite band, musicians and composers:

Musical instruments you play:

Sports you play or love to watch:

Your hobbies:

Things you collect:

Celebrities you know or know a lot about:

Really cool gadgets or other things you own or would like to own:

Things you do to relax: