Most of us business owners are driven by our needs – for autonomy, for self-expression, success, money or even revenge.   That doesn’t often build a business that lasts, except by chance.

The promise you make can’t be for everyone.   ‘Everyone’, or their close relation ‘anyone’, turns you into a commodity – interchangeable with every competitor in your field, putting all of you in a race to the bottom on price.

And before you work out what your promise really is, you need to work out who it’s for.

There is a community of people who need what you can offer.  They are underserved by what’s out there, looking for a change that you can help them to make.   They want to become something or someone different, and don’t know how to do it.

As long as there are enough of them, (and enough is less than you think), these people are your market, and by putting them in the driving seat, you’ll start to build a business that lasts.

It’s never about us, it’s about the people we serve.