If business is slow do you offer a service?

Elizabeth...When you are turning away new business in your desired niche and have a waiting list of new clients willing to pay your desired fees...HH

Elizabeth, I know how tempting it is to go off in a new diection when business is slow, but you'll generally find it takes you away from your core purpose. Most of the research shows it's important to focus, focus, focus.

One way to expand your business and keep your focus is to find someone who loves to do estate sales, but is not that keen on the organizing work you do (or several people). Give them your information and agree to refer each other. This is a form of marketing.

Elizabeth,

I just went through that myself. As a web developer, I get all kinds of requests to help build websites. But most are for brochure sites that just are not very interesting to do and do not utilize my experience in building web applications or online businesses. So in order to keep myself busy with the work that I like to do, I have stop accepting requests for work that I do not enjoy and spend more time meeting people in order to find projects in my niche.

But of course that is a luxury. If I was starving, I would take any project that came along.

So I would progress in this manner.

1. Make sure I can pay your bills. Hence, a bit of savings or steady income.

2. Set aside time to find work in my niche while filling my payable hours with niche and non-niche work.

3. Turn away more and more non-niche work as more niche work comes down the pipeline of step 2.

4. Be more successful and happy with what I do than I can possibly imagine! :)

Back to work or as Sting would say, "Ok, breaks ovah!"... do do do do do do do...

Hey Frank,

I do that which you find boring, so give me a shout and we can network on this.

Scott

Oh, I forgot a step in my business progress.

Step 3 1/2: Pawn off projects I don't want to others who value them for good Karma.

Scott, I checked out your site and you have an eye for design. Very nice! I would feel very comfortable referring you work.

Elizabeth,

Thanks for the hook-up. I like the energy you have shown in your posts and certainly would like to point people in your direction. It would be helpful to understand more about what you do especially what makes your service a must have for your niche clients in order to refer the right clients to you. Thanks.

One thing to keep in mind when talking to clients about work that isn't your niche. Do I do that work well or am I taking on something because I need a paycheck? If a client wants me to do something that I feel I can't give to them with the professionalism and competence that I normally deliver. I won't do that job. Even if I need the cash. You can't afford to harm your reputation with shoddy work just because you're desparate for cash. That will hurt your business faster that not having work for a short period. Art T.

Elizabeth,

I'll definitely keep you in mind when I find disorganized people. And I see a lot of them... ;)

And thanks Frank, I sent you a network request.

Elizabeth, I used to help with estate sales years ago and I think it would be really good to get a feel for the kind of estate sales you will be doing.

Some estates sales are really brutal, and it is good to know that the estate sales crowd varies a lot.

Emotionally it can be very draining to handle. Especially since the estates are often being sold due to intense life transitions and the peoples stuff and space that you might be organizing really can be emotionally charged because of this.

Many Estate Sales are due to death and that transition can be easy or hard for some folks, some of them leave after a period of Dementia or Severe Health Issues.

If you are sensitive to this kinda thing, you may want to gear up with something to keep yourself clean and help uplift the vibe of the space while you organize it.

Wearing nice quality Sodalight beads can help keep you calm and focussed while you work. Burning Sage in the Place is also helpful. Many people really notice a difference.

You also may want to be prepared to deal with the Estate sale attendees looking for that precious item. Some of these people are like Vultures! It can be really something. You seem very positive and strong though and helping people's families etc. transition can be very rewarding spiritually too.

For the emotional aspect I recommend wearing Rhodonite, which can really stabilize the emotions when you wear it, and that can help others around you to also feel more stable.

Good luck to you whatever you decide, David

My take would be that you're always making a sacrifice whenever you make a decision. Opportunity/cost, you know? If you take on that estate sales client, you're committing time to them and NOT having that time available for efforts that support the clients you really want to work with.

I've had people ask me for services that are considerably outside of my niche, and I always say no and do my best to get them a useful referral. Why plant seeds of something that I don't want to grow?

If it's something you want to try, talk to someone who does it as their niche, see if you can work together so you can learn from a pro. Your clients will appreciate your professionalism and the specialist you work with will appreciate your referral and training. Perhaps splitting the fees in a way that you both benefit so it's a win-win financially and as a networking and learning experience. I too try to only work in my niche, but sometimes the buck has to win out -- and I keep it in mind, being positive that something has come along to help me, even if it's a different job than I usually like to take.

Goodness, great question!

For you it should be simple. Organization is a cheap way of redoing a person's home. When people can't afford to do redecorating, or remodeling they can spend to have what they have organized. It makes people feel better.

You provide a service of multi level value. It's economical, emotional, and practical to have some one come in say once a month or two months or a quarter and organize. The same with a one time event that could be done over the course of some weeks.

You provide an extremely important service to people today. People are busy, there is a lot more going on and people need help. I'm sure once some one makes the leap to using your service it is something they want again.

Are you really asking how to get more people to use your service?

We have a cleaning business. We could organize but that would take time and effort away from what we are set up to do. We have done it successfully for many years, but like I said it takes time away from something else and we could get bogged down.

What I'm thinking is to offer complete sets of services. Organizing helps people come to grips with house cleaning. Yard work is something many people are looking for and we all need to have our windows washed.

Light home services I think are the wave of the future, or at least the next five years. Money may be tight, but we need to live and live well within our budget.

A select group for neighborhood or community directories on say a newsletter distributed door to door I think would provide alternative choice, but confine the choice to a few.

That is how I got into logo design. A few people asked me to design logos even though I had only done websites professionally. I have had a good response to the logos and now offer it as an extra service.

It's interesting to try new things in life, so why not business too.

I agree with Arthur - is it something we could do well? And even more importantly, is it something we can do with joy (and not just "for the paycheck."

There is a fine line between being willing to spread your wings and stretch a little in a direction that may be freeing and helpful, and simply trying to be all things to all people. If the work does not feel "authentic" to who you are, or if you know someone who could do it better, refer out!

Would you be able to clarify your work to the people who asked for the help with the Estate Sale? They might just become your next sales associate or advocate for you. Exploring together as a team on how to help them may just redefine how much you like your existing position. Ultimately, you help them either find someone to do the estate sale or you do it with them knowing it may help you grow your business.

Elizabeth - stick to your guns if you don't need the paycheck and do not feel the need to explore an option for income. I enjoy what I do - organizing people, places, things, and processes. I prefer working with companies than residential homes. But in times of financial need, I have taken up bookkeeping for clients. I am quick and thorough but it is not my passion. At times I can't wait for the project to be over. Ultimately any deviation from your niche service could cost you in time and reputation if you are not able to meet your customers expectations. I wish you well. Perhaps we can network together as I prefer doing work in the Southend and occasionally get Northend referrals.

I alway struggle with turning down work outside my niche as well, so this was very helpful reading how different people handle it.

My first reaction is to evaluate if I have the skills to do a good job for the client or not. If that is a yes, next question is can I afford to pass this up right now and if so, try to recommend someone who would do a great job.

I disagree with the specialists. If all you do is specialize and you're not busy enough then you're failing to respond to market conditions. As a Seattle area architect I used to do all kinds of residential architecture; single family remodels, custom homes, spec homes and multi-family projects. From about 2006 I began specializing in higher profit larger projects and began "shedding" the single family work.

Except then the bottom dropped out of the market and I no longer had a vibrant single family client base. Unfortunately for my specialty, had I followed the specialists' advice, I'd have no work whatsoever.

Responding to the economic downturn required that I immediately DE-SPECIALIZE and to revive a business type that I'd abandoned. Last year I was designing large multi-family complexes. Now I have an appointment to discuss the design of an arbor addition to someone's home.

Now I'm not going to diversify into estate sales, or web design but I definately am taking any and all work that comes my way related to my field. I'd rather be busy than hungry. Today I'm still the Hungry Architect.

Well said (and experienced), Rick. Likewise, I would be the hungry equestrian if I didn't sometimes take less favorable clients/jobs. My horses are my colleagues, and they would be hungry as well, and that would be very bad. I can handle my hungry computer, phones, saddles and fencing, but living overhead is different...

If we model our behavior on providing for someone else (employees), we might be more flexible with our niches. This is not a bad thing, but rather something to learn from. If one has five employees and the choice is to lay off one or two vs. taking different work and keeping the staff, I think most entrepreneurs would take the different work and save the employees. As solopreneurs it is not shameful to turn down business when it is necessary, even when it means changing a bit. To each his own, but I'd rather keep on keepin' on than sit stagnant and not earning (and learning).

It's usually not a good idea to go in a new business direction, unless you are already versed in that type of business AND have interest and enthusiasm for it. That second point is really important, because people will know if you genuinely care or are just in it for the money.

Taylor Ellwood http://www.imagineyourreality.com

That's what GM said about Electric cars, that's what Bill Gates said about the internet. There must have been a bunch of folks dang good at making buggy whips once upon a time that were asking themselves the same question.

Entrepeneurs respond to changing times with changing business strategies. Unless of course you can afford to fail. When failure is an acceptable alternative then doing what you've always done is an acceptable course of action.

I've never had the luxury. I've had to change a number of times in response to financial realities.

I have a buddy who calls himself a web designer. He doesn't believe that there is any value in interactive websites so he'll only design static html sites and won't learn new technology. Now he only does websites part time and works in retail part time. Retail is his fallback position when his business model no longer makes him enough to survive. He blames the economy.