Being in your superpower is about being absolutely aligned with who you are, your vision, who you are, what you believe in, and your WHY – Why you are doing what you are doing and the vision of your business.
Your superpower is as unique and distinctive as your thumbprint.
In business, your superpower translates as your ‘niche’, a quality of your brand only you have and makes you memorable.
A thoughtfully chosen niche will define your super success and fulfillment in the future as you stay true to the essence of individuality and build your unique brand.
It is that quality, which gives you value and what you become known for. It is what makes people think and recommend you to others by saying, “You know who would be great for this…?” or “ the first person I can think to recommend …” and “ the go-to expert for xx xx”
In this article we explore why one must identify that superpower and niche, and how this can transform your life, your business and success.
Our featured experts are distinct in their own business and brand and have spent decades helping clients discover their niche and have built super successful lives around their superpower.
Maiko Sakai
Maiko is the founder of Airtight Concepts, is a business strategy consultant a.k.a. secret weapon & confidant to visionary entrepreneurs & CEO’s with the desire to build a high-functioning, profit-generating machine of their dreams.
Her mission is simple: Help service business owners shift from operating a transactional business to a transformational business through her 2 business programs, “Define + Refine Your Profitable Niche” and “Business Optimizer 360.”
Originally from Japan, Maiko considers herself a New Yorker, loves ethnic foods of all kinds and is a sucker for ultra-contemporary design & exotic houseplants. She earned her MBA from Cornell University.
Connect with her here
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaikoSakaiBiz
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/maikosakai
Nima Abu Wardeh
Nima is founder of the Raise Your Profile Incubator for entrepreneurs, and S.H.E. Strategy – the 5-step guide to getting women Seen. Heard. Empowered.
Her mantra is: Raise your profile. Sustain success. Earn more.
Nima wants you to succeed, and to know how to sustain your success.
She creates power packed and action led programmes that transform the way people work, behave, think, and communicate. She has a special interest in enabling women to get to where their ambition and ability lie and that is another reason Nima created S.H.E. Strategy
She is on a mission to pass on the toolbox she shares with people at the top of industry with everyone – so you can get across what you need, want, and do, in a way that resonates, is relevant, and remembered (for the right reasons).
Nima is a thought leader, award winning broadcast journalist, speaker and coach.
Connect with her here
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimaabuwardeh/
Question ONE
Please share how you describe a niche, a superpower and/or the unique secret sauce – what you call it and why.
Maiko Sakai
As a niche specialist for creative service business owners, I always want to emphasize any given niche to be “profitable.” Niches, by definition, are considered to be hidden gems in a saturated market where those who dominate these niches have the advantage to stand out. But once again, if these niches are not profitable, they can just be hobbies.
For service business owners, finding a profitable niche often involves identifying a unique POV (point of views) that challenges conventional business wisdom, methodologies that they have battle-tested, and values that solve inherent problems in their industries.
Nima Abu Wardeh
Your ‘superpower’ is marrying what you know, what you do, and how you do it. It is unique to you – because no one else has your lived experience, and life trajectory.
Combine your superpower with your defined niche, and you’re ahead of the curve.
Ensure you are the go-to person for that one unique superpower and you will always have the right types of opportunities making their way to you. How amazing would that be?!
People often think of their degree or job title when they’re drilling down to defining their niche and superpower. That’s only part of the process and equation. Instead of thinking ‘degree/ job’, think this: there are millions of people with both your degree and title. What is it about you – the way you do things, your experience, the bringing together of what you know, do, and how you do it – that gets people to seek you out and recommend you.
Don’t be ‘just another xxx’ ( fill in the blank with your niche). Be THE person who does whatever it is you are brilliant at. And let the world know!
That, my friend, is your superpower!
Question TWO
Why you encourage entrepreneurs, and business owners to find one? Tell us five most compelling reasons or benefits of finding our niche.
Maiko Sakai
- It gives them “unfair advantage” to stand out in the market they are in.
- It allows them to focus only on what they feel to be rewarding work. As a result, it provides freedom and order in their businesses.
- It makes their financial forecasting much simpler. Instead of creating a dozen of offers to please their potential customers, offering a few core services that are aligned with the niche of their choice helps entrepreneurs to streamline their businesses.
- Being clear on your profitable niche will help stay on top of customer’s mind. For example, your core messaging can be, “We are specialized in sales copywriting with a touch of humor,” while the majority of copywriting houses may say, “We are a one-stop shop for business owners with all their copywriting needs.”
- “Weeding out potential leads” no longer becomes your job. When leads are clear on what your niche is, they can self-select or self-deselect themselves. In other words, you get to control who approaches you.
Nima Abu Wardeh
This is the key to standing out from the crowd. To being remembered for the right reasons. To having the right clients approach you. Yes, do this right, and you will be approached – how would that feel? It would feel amazing!
- It means that they stand out from the competition and build influence.
- They are remembered for what sets them apart – important for the next 2 points:
- They attract the right customers, and repel the wrong ones.
- They are front of mind for the right sort of opportunity
- Defining their superpower and niche means they know what work to take on, create, pursue, and what projects to turn down, walk away from or not start in the first place. This is a game changer, because it ‘collapses time’ – meaning time, energy, money is not wasted in doing the ‘wrong’ thing.
Question THREE
Does creating a niche helps one to build a more authentic and successful brand? Does this also lead to a more fulfilled life?
Maiko Sakai
Naturally, yes. You will be amazed how “easy” it is for you to communicate with your ideal customers by committing to a profitable niche of your choice. You no longer have to worry about pleasing everyone. This helps you stay authentic in your business. Eventually, this will lead to you feeling more fulfilled and content with the work you provide to your favorite customers.
Nima Abu Wardeh
It depends on whether the purpose is to do what you love without putting your focus on financial gains or if the aim is to create a solid financial foundation with what you are brilliant at, and perhaps pursuing what you love later. Let me explain:
A few days ago I helped a woman realise that pursuing her passion is not the right thing for her – for now. She wants to start an independent business. She has to earn to live – a divorce and bringing up 4 children on her own have taken their financial toll.
She is sought after in her field of expertise, and works for a global organisation. Instead of starting again from scratch, in a field she has no track record in, where she is still learning and establishing herself (her passion), she can achieve her purpose of independence and financial reward by drilling down to her niche – her expertise, and combining it with her unique ‘how to’, her insights, what problem she fixes, and what her go-to superpower is.
This will enable her to build a unique, successful brand, and yes, to lead a more fulfilled life and work with people and organisations that have shared values and focus.
But. To ‘succeed’ she must stand out, with impact, and influence. That’s where the magic happens.
Question FOUR
How does one get started to discover your best niche or superpowers?
Maiko Sakai
Glad you asked! I encourage you to take my free quiz, “What’s Your *Impact Creation* Archetype as an Entrepreneur?” quiz. www.maikosakai.com/quiz You’ll get your full assessment. This is a start. Then you can dig deeper from there. Remember, this is not a “linear” process. It requires a few iterations by testing & experimenting.
Nima Abu Wardeh
Sit with yourself. Make space in your mind. Perhaps even make a physical space.
Then spend time figuring this out: Why do people seek you. What problem(s) do you fix. Why do they ask you and not someone else with the same knowledge?
Ask people for the 3 things they associate with you. Not your job or title. But what they seek you out for. This will get you to start noticing and realizing what sets you apart.
I will caution you though: sometimes you can become the go-to person for things you are brilliant at, but don’t want to do! If this is you, then watch this for help:
Question FIVE
Please share three of your best /proven DYI tips on building a successful niche or superpower and how to harness it to the fullest potential.
Maiko Sakai
- First things first, get your brain primed with the right mindset. There are a lot of worries associated with the concept of “niching down” in your business. This blog post will help you overcome some of your (potential) made-up stories so that you will be ready to discover your profitable niche. https://bit.ly/3goNB5X-9myths
- Avoid confirmation bias when you are exploring your profitable niche. We all want to believe what we want to believe. But this is the process where non-biased data comes into play. Don’t get emotional if feedback you’ve received isn’t something you are looking for. Take a deep breath and remind yourself of why you decided to build a sustainable business by choosing your profitable niche and keep experimenting.
- If you let confirmation bias take over your journey of discovering your profitable niche, you will end up with offers that no one will take up on.
- Focus on the intersection of what you are great at and what your target market needs. All other how’s i.e. pricing, offer structures, what to include/what not to include will be solved easily once you work this out. Too many entrepreneurs are preoccupied with trying to “figure out” these how’s first. But that’s backwards.
- This fall (2021), I am making an on-demand mini-course available for those who are in need of training that is accessible. Once you take the free quiz, you will be notified with the latest about this course. There will be special offers to celebrate the launch, so stay tuned
Nima Abu Wardeh
I want to emphasize on the foundation of your discovering of your superpower. If I had a limited budget, I’d spend it on getting clear on what’s next. It’s such a crucial step. It’s the foundation of everything that comes next. Spend your time and money on the clarity side. Think of it as sharpening your axe, the roots of your tree, your solid foundation.
There are two types of people who struggle on this journey.
First are the people who resist defining their ‘dot’ or niche. They don’t want to go narrow, because they feel they might lose out on a potential client.
Second are the people who are not harnessing power of right vocabulary and instead use generic, bland, often meaningless words and ways of ‘explaining’ what they do.
To be clear, most of us struggle so let me say it is ok to not know all the answers right away. But be consistent and clear to explore, take time on discovering who you really are and explore being ‘human’ about what you are doing.
Go through these steps to find out:
- Drill down. Define who you serve. Not a market, or a sector, but a person. Give this person a name, and a backstory – that pivots on the problem they have. The problem that 80% of the people who seek your help have.
- Define that key, repeated problem or issue that you end up fixing or dealing with.
- Make sure it’s something you want to do more of (the video I pointed you to above explains more)
- Before doing anything – building out a website, creating products, marketing – get crystal clear on what you are the go-to person for, and who it is that seeks you out. I cannot emphasize this enough, because getting this wrong can ruin you. Get it right, and you warp speed your next steps. A client I worked with was upset after our first session because she realised she had wasted money and time on having her new website created, but it was communicating the wrong things! She called her web developer straight away and put everything on hold while she went through the Raise Your Profile Incubator with me. The most important step is the clarity step. Everything follows on from there.
- Figuring this out and leapfrogging into what’s next is at the core of what I do. Here is a free framework I created that I know will help clarify your thinking – it’s called the Stand Out & Influence Framework: https://bit.ly/STANDOUTFRAMEWORK
- The programmes I run will help you gain crystal clear clarity, know how to communicate with your ideal client, and drill down to literally how to think, structure, create, content and systems to attract the right sort of attention, opportunity, and client. You can find out more here: www.Finding-Nima.com
One piece of recommendation, specifically for women entrepreneurs, if any.
Maiko Sakai
Avoid getting into a “bootstrap trap” when it comes to investing in your personal growth as an entrepreneur as well as business growth. If you find yourself trying to save money by not paying for coaching, consulting, joining a paid mastermind, or a membership community, you aren’t saving anything. Instead, it is costing you more because you are prolonging the process of growing your business.
Actively seeking help and feedback from those who have done what you want to accomplish will allow you to dramatically reduce the time you spend on trying to solve your business challenges.
Nima Abu Wardeh
None of these tips and learnings is rocket science. But it’s really tough figuring it out on your own. It’s expensive too, because you lose time, opportunity, and the chance to earn from your brilliance sooner. And it can become overwhelming if you are all alone.
Instead of risking the above, think of ‘collapsing time’. What I mean is, learn from those who have done it, who teach it, who can help you get further faster.
Bringing an expert might look expensive but it will be worth every penny. The ultimate irony for me is when entrepreneurs resist paying for expertise and help, but want to base their business on people paying them for their expertise and help!
One word of caution though: My personal preference is working with people who not only teach, but do what they teach too. For example: if you want to be a better communicator, don’t only seek out a ‘communication coach’, but someone who teaches it, and is also known for being on stage, in the media, and teaching people at the top of their game.
You’re in the game of getting results, right? So make sure you’re working with people who are knowing for their results – for themselves, and their clients.
