The single biggest way to leverage yourself in business is this one: "Work your niche".

What the hell does that mean?

Well, 77 people were at a recent seminar I attended, all in non-competing niche markets, each with the potential of a hundred million pounds apiece. That's 7.7 billion pounds, or 'pre-Euros' as we should perhaps start calling them. It could have been seventy seven thousand people, and still you would not have had two in the same niche.

There is a vast array of possible niche markets - almost one for every person on the planet - each of which can be worked like a gold seam to a huge depth. I'll explain more in a moment, but first I want you to avoid making this mistake: Don't work a niche to some pathetic, shallow depth and then abandon that rich gold seam for another, unrelated niche. The trick is to find your niche; work the niche to its full depth and to concentrate your efforts only on that one rich seam.

Here is an example of such a niche. There was a guy at the seminar glorying in the name of Dr Batman. True. This man is amassing a huge personal fortune from his books, audio tapes, video tapes and seminars - all neatly packaged and well marketed. What is this outstanding new message requiring hours of tape and hundreds of thousands of words to explain? It is simply this: "Drink More Water". Yep. That's it. Nothing more complex.

Drink Water!

Dr Batman reckons we don't drink enough water and he would like us all to drink some more. He's probably right. But the clever part is that he looks to clear ten million out of this, rising to possibly 100 million if he gets his act together. And WOW, what a really original idea this is, right? I mean, you have to be a genius to figure out this one. You must need, oh, at least five university degrees to come up with an idea like this!

Dr Batman is working his niche. He is not writing a new book called 'Vitamins For Health' or recording a tape series on 'Aerobic Exercises' or even worse, writing a new book on 'Cost Reduction Techniques For The Small Business'. These would be other niche markets and Dr Batman would be diluting his efforts if he were to abandon his own gold mine and go wandering the hills in search of another. I hope you see this.

Thinks.... is there a market for....nah, surely not? Breathing air??? 'Your Body's Many Cries For Oxygen?' Well, it sounds stupid, but surely just as obvious as 'drink water' and we know our air is polluted and almost unbreathable.... Is there a Dr Robin in the house???

Now I personally wouldn't do that 'breathe air' idea. If you've been paying attention you will know why.

It's not in my niche. In fact it's way, way off to one side. I will explain my niche in a moment, but I want you to start thinking about what YOUR niche could possibly be. If you find it then you will have a golden doorway to riches which will open before you.

You are a unique person with a unique set of skills and experience. Really. This is not some 'make you feel good' stuff. No other human being has been where you have, experienced your life and gained your particular slice of wisdom. Let me tell you, if Dr Batman can make ten million out of the message 'drink water', then start getting your brain into gear to think what YOU could do. I mean, you've GOT to come up with something with more substance than that, right?

[Aside: Isn't that 'drink water' idea really neat? For example, the 'challenge' with the whole health industry is that people are queuing up to sue you because they claim your product harmed them or didn't help them. But who would sue because they drank an extra glass of water a day? Also, the product is FREE and that's a benefit for the customer. In other words, his message isn't "go out and spend a fortune on vitamin supplements". In fact Dr Batman advocates tap water, not bottled water! Also, we all kind of know we should drink more water, so it makes sense. We all want a 'miracle cure' and there's something simple and appealing to this one. A strong idea and I wish I'd thought of it first, damn his eyes!]

Each one of the 77 attendees had a niche just as interesting and just as deep.

Work That Niche, Baby!

Next example. One "go get 'em" lady of the sort who evangelise at MLM meetings had made a fortune selling a book. This was a simple paperback with the title "Everything Men Know About Women" or something similar. She had two very neat angles. She sold the book in lingerie and fashion shops - a pile of them would be on the check-out counter. This way her book was not lost amongst ten thousand other titles at a book shop. (I have always maintained that if you want to sell cameras, advertise in a golfing magazine and if you want to sell golf clubs advertise in a camera magazine, and she was applying this technique.) Women going to the check-out to pay for their clothes would see the book on the counter.

The second neat thing was the product. The title is very catchy and few women could resist picking it up to have a flick-through. On the back of the book there are the usual quotes from The Times, etc., saying things like: "This book really does expose for the first time ever the shocking truth about men's knowledge of women."

You pick up the book....open it....and... what's this? Blank pages??? Every page is blank!

"What the... Oh, I get it! Bwahahahah. 'Everything Men Know About Women!' Blank pages! Nothing! Men know nothing about women... Ahhahahahahahahahahh! What a laugh. I MUST get a copy of this for Margerie, Jane, Tracy, Sharon, Susie and...let me see.. oh yeah, Dawn's gonna LOVE this.... So... er..., that's one pair of size 18 knickers please (we guys have got to get our own back somehow! I'm going to do a book like her and call it 'The Complete Book of Non-Manipulative Women!' Sorry, did that sound bitter??? ) and, lemme see...yeah I'll take eleven copies of this great book for all my chums.."

Cost to produce such a book? Well, there's no printing on the pages, no collation....hmm... about 50c in bulk? Cost of the book? $4.95. I LOVE those mark-ups.

Of course, you couldn't possibly come up with such an original idea as this, could you? I mean this is real rocket science. She must have gone to marketing school for a decade to dream up this complex little gem! Sorry, but she was a secretary before she decided to stop playing around and make some money instead. Also, the idea is not even new. It's been around for years in the form of "The Complete Book of Italian War Heroes' and suchlike. The novelty was in the way she applied the idea and the way she marketed the book. Note the huge market - every woman on the planet. This title would have sunk without trace in the 'feminist issues and gender sociology' section of the average book shop. Another niche, worked to perfection.

This one title alone could easily make 20 million pounds. She could then expand her niche into novelty books if she wanted to, but NOT into books on drinking water, or into pre-packaged lingerie. There is almost infinite depth in her niche with this one title! Think of the world market. Think of the cost of translating a normal book into a hundred languages. Now consider the cost of translating this one...

A niche market does not necessarily mean a small market. What is the potential for Dr Batman's product? Every person on the planet is a potential customer. The niche aspect comes from the tiny sliver you decide to select from the vast array of products and services available. There are millions upon million upon millions of products and services and each one is a niche. Some people are making decorative plastic clothes pegs, others are writing machine code for telecommunications routers.

Your key to a fortune is to find a good niche market, and work it to death!