I had to stand in line at customs for two hours, but I’m finally here! Other people were flipping out, but I had a book to read so it really wasn’t so bad. Next stop, bad British food!
I’m off to London to teach a workshop this weekend. Can’t wait to see my Brit friends again. This is going to be the first time I’ve worked in almost two months, so I’ll be needing a vacation afterwards. Three days in Stockholm, following which I head to Detroit for a wedding.
The toughest part of all of this is finding room in my suitcase after I’ve packed a tent, sleeping bag, and Thermarest for the wedding. What kind of wedding needs a tent? Well… the bride called me a few weeks ago to ask if I had any large surgical tubing water balloon slingshots, as they didn’t have enough for the wedding.
This is going to be great…
Craig and I followed up on our list of niche markets from this weekend. We picked seven that we really liked and ran them through Wordtracker’s Free Keyword Suggestion Tool. Following that up with Google’s Search Sponsored Links gives us an idea of how many people are searching in our markets and whether anyone is already making a product for them. Ed Dale pointed out something that surprised us in his podcast – that competition is not a bad thing. Seeing other products in a niche we were considering is a good sign – it means that the niche is profitable. All we have to do is outmarket our competition and we’ll learn to do that this month…
The Thirty Day Challenge has begun with a focus on finding a market first. Find a niche market, be the only product in there, make money. Most budding entrepreneurs do it the other way around – come up with a product and then look for a market to sell it.
Craig and I spent yesterday brainstorming ideas, but the concept of a niche market didn’t really hit home until we read two articles by Mike Mindel:
So What is a Niche Market Anyway?
That Magic Feeling when you find a Niche Market
We read the articles, started over, and now have ten solid niche markets that we’re excited about. Next step: market testing?
August will be a month of change. I’m going to be on the road almost non-stop. My parents will be visiting me here in Seattle until I take off for London. I’ll be leading a workshop in London, followed by a vacation in Stockholm, followed by a wedding in Detroit followed by a couple days off in Seattle before I head to San Francisco for one more workshop. I have the option to spend the next weekend doing a workshop in Toronto, but I think I’m going to withdraw from that. Enough is enough. Though that would open up the possibility of going to Burning Man…
Besides, I’m also going to be moving forward on my plan for a The 4-hour workweek while at the same time participating in the Thirty Day Challenge, a free internet marketing course.
By September 1st, I will be an seasoned world traveler, savvy internet marketer, and successful entrepreneur. I can’t wait!
