Your competition isn't the other businesses on Main Street...it's the insidious onslaught of gargantuan companies like Amazon. I admit it. I've been far too free with my online purchases this year. It's just too easy! The question is a simple one: How do you compete with the Amazon Blitzkrieg? How do you funnel local funds back into your local business? My newest read is good for those wanting to start over, but it has some eye openers for those of us just needing to kickstart a lagging business as well. Warning: Don't freak out when you read the title.

My new holiday read is an interesting one: How to Discover Your Red Hot Niche by Luke Fatooros. Before you experience a knee jerk reaction to his marketing hype, think about this strange time we find ourselves in, and how COVID is impacting your business. Fact: Unless you’re Amazon, you are being adversely affected by the vagaries of regulations and whims of the public.

This is a time of economic upheaval, and when an upheaval has occurred throughout history, we’ve seen major shifts in the economy. We have all felt the current issues…product shortages, the close of some businesses and the quantum growth in others. You may or may not be looking to start a new endeavor, but at the least we should all be tweaking our current businesses to make sure we are viable in 2021.

Look at some recent changes and you’ll see where I’m headed with this. Salesforce listed three recent paradigm shifts changing the landscape of how we do business: personalized shopping, real-time decision making and market research. As each evolved new business endeavors leapt out of obscurity and some fell by the wayside. That is the capricious nature of business. It has ever been true. The business landscape is fluid and we accommodate or we close our doors.

This book proved thought-provoking. Basic ideas were couched in grandiose rhetoric, like position your business in a lucrative red-hot niche. Yet the principles he offered were basic: find where the cash is changing hands and find available markets. Then he added a hands-on way of tailoring your business to the marketplace, which he called the shift and sift method of refining how and where to market your business for the greatest success.

After reading his book, I recommend it for two types of readers:

1. Those who find their business devastated by COVID and need to kick start a new enterprise. He offers a free planner and video to help cement the material.

2. Those who want to increase sales despite the pandemic.

My counsel is this: overlook the hyperbole and just look at the meat of his material. He’s a hustler, yes; but he also offers a perspective each of us may find useful in looking at our own endeavors. We don’t have to mirror his approach, just learn from him. His precepts are interesting, and in some areas, they are right on the mark. You don’t have to like his style of writing or subscribe to his methodology to find nuggets worth considering. He offers free downloadable tools and a video for added value.

This book about Your Red Hot Niche is not a late night read if you want to fall asleep fast, because it makes you think. It’s a great morning or early afternoon read with a pad of paper and pencil in hand. Jot down some ideas and dream up some new revenue!