How To Create A Category As A Small “e” Entrepreneur: 7 Legendary Ways To Niche Down

Life is good when you have no competition.

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Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Category Pirate,

One of the most common questions we get asked is, “How do I create a category if I’m not a heavily funded startup or some massively successful company? How can someone like me create a category of my own?”

We love this question because it reveals maybe the single greatest benefit of category design:

Anyone can do it, at any stage of their life.

Category creation and category design is not a strategy reserved for multibillion-dollar companies or high-flying startups. And while money is often helpful, it is not a requirement (and in some cases can be the difference maker, as constraints are a forcing function for creativity). In fact, some of our favorite category designers are solopreneurs, small business owners, and consultants who have niched down, leveled up, and found a way to get themselves out of “the comparison game” and into a category of one. As a result, they have no (or little) competition. 

Which means they’re in demand and they set the price.

However, the secret to “not having competition” is not to pick a niche that simply has no competition.

This is an oversimplification of the problem.

For one, if you are choosing to *look* for blue ocean, simply for the sake of blue ocean, then you are a mercenary—not a missionary. You just want your little slice of the existing pie. (And if this is you, then we encourage you to read our mini-book, No Ocean Strategy, and start from a place of, “There is no ocean—now what?”) And second, if you are trying to fix your competition problem by searching for a niche with no competition, what you probably won’t find is opportunity. Instead, you’ll likely find a dead, deserted category. There’s a reason no competition is there anymore: everyone left (including the customers)!

But how you create a category for yourself as a small “e” entrepreneur is not just about niching down and getting more specific about your offering. 

It’s about having a Point Of View: