Jonathan Stark and Ed Gandia had this talk on Ditching Hourly about positioning, niching down and fishing —in the ocean v in a barrel.
And they talk trout and bass.
Would you rather have the thousand trout that you can see right there, that are jumping into your hands?
Or would you rather be out in the ocean in a dinghy with a single hook?
You don’t get a big net. That is for big companies.
You always only have this little hook.
And between those two options I’d much rather be next to the barrel.
But here comes the part that stood out for me:
45:55
But I think what you’ll find is that you stop wanting to do that because then you take on someone who’s outside of your defined target market and […] you can’t do as good of a job for them.
We go deeper into the analogy.
You set up a trout restaurant. If someone comes to you with a very expensive bass and asks you to cook it, you better know what you’re doing.
You’ll use the same tools, temps, fire, spices. BUT they’re all used different.
You don’t deep fry an expensive bass, nor make a stew out of it —that takes all the flavors, textures, consistencies off the fish. A trout, you can.
You can ruin a beautiful fish just for the sakes of saying “I once cooked a bass“.
Here’s the thing
Saying No to a bass (when you don’t know if you can make it a tasty, beautiful dish) is a service for both your customer and you.
They don’t get disappointed.
You keep your reputation and can delight them with your specialty.
They’ll love your cooking.