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The Zen Of Niche

I went back to college at age 47 as I was beginning to discover the world was leaving me behind. Not only was I a terrible student in my early 20's even if I had been a good one, nothing counted. Not much in the world of marketing and pr is very relavent. In fact, my recent college accepted not one credit of my 63 hours from a major state university. So be it.

Or is there?

I had to ask myself after this time in college, "Has the Internet really changed things that much?" The answer is yes and no. People still want and demand quality products and customer service. But they want some "mystique" the web offers not found in many shopping mall stores.

I'm an entrepreneur. My mind is complex. Chances are, if you are reading this, so is yours. Some days we are ready to conquer the world, some days we are in bed late licking our wounds from trying to conquer it yesterday.

Zen is at work here. There is a yin and a yang pulling us in either direction. The secret is to get centered, focused, and open to learn.

Take advantage of the opportunities on the net by spending a few extra hours a week researching. Most e-books I've found are replicas of others and offer nothing new or cutting-edge. All the information in them are free at websites and usually better-written with less typos. And I tend to run from Internet gurus anyway. I suggest you do the same.

We learned in college not to follow the big sellers necessarily. That is because generally someone with more resources and money has already grabbed them and can outsell us by a mile. Find a niche that you like, that you know is a needed product or service, it need not be fancy or sexy, but one that sells, and you can make much more than the Ebay powersellers competing with each other for Gucci, Dell, Armani, and Rolexes.

There are billions or products and services just laying domannt waiting for the right person to come along and market them correctly. It is all a matter of taste and style. It need not be the next hybrid car or Pentium 10. It could be a vacuum cleaner that does something very different. It could be a special pet food that improves the quality of life. It is all up to you.

Copyrighting your own designs simply deepens your brand and public awareness. If you don't want to sell someone else's sell your own!

I own several stores that sell a myriad of products, but none of them really specialize in a niche product. I want to try what the superstars tried when they got started. My "success" evolved over the years by having a following; but not necessarily because I was using the marketing technique of "finding a niche".

So after more research I opened a "funny apron shop"; yes that's right, funny aprons. Nothing too sexy about funny aprons of course. I don't expect Austin Powers to come forward and say "Funny aprons, Shagadellic!!!" But you never know. The minute I started listing the stores in directories and search engines, people started buying. Yes, a cyber-field-of-dreams. Build it and they will come.

Once you've found a basic product, or created one, and see that it is just a bit different enough to focus and advertise on that difference, you are on your way to a good living.

Sell to others something you would like to buy yourself at a price you would like to pay. Transcend your own soul and put yourself in his/her shoes. We are not all that much different.

Then promote heavily with all the Internet has to offer; blogs, article marketing, ppc engines, pinging, and every other method of which you can think. Suddenly you will wake up successful. The odds are on your side. The harder you work, the more research you do, the more action you take, the luckier you get. In fact, the big dogs did the same thing to become big dogs, and they have nothing on you, if you just allow yourself to take the action. Keep an open mind and be prepared for faux pas. You may make them and that's okay. It's how many times you get back up that counts.

It is not how many times you fall down that count, but how many times you get back up. And if you use your "Zen", you will get back up. It's all a matter of physics, getting pulled back into balance.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Cartoonist Rick London, founder of Londons Times is legendary on the Internet. He started in 1997 with nothing, in a metal warehouse, and now has one of the biggest cartoon gift and t-shirt mega-stores on the net. He recently launched Londons Times Superstore funny t-shirts, and more Click here to get your own unique version of this article.

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