Riches in Niches: How to Make It Big in a Small Market (Hardcover)

~ Susan Friedmann (Author)
Key Phrases: tradeshow participation, tradeshow coach, expert identity, Susan's Secret Success Strategy, Susan's Speedy Summary, Meet the Nichepreneur (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"At last, a book that addresses the key to contemporary marketing. Nichepreneurs, the term Susan Friedmann brilliantly coined, defines a powerful mindset that has become the giant killer strategy for small business success....This is the must-read business book of the year." -- Rick Segel

Product Description

Why do some financial advisors wind up making millions on TV giving investment advice while others labor in obscurity? How do some attorneys land regular columns in prestigious trade publications? Where do those speakers who give the annual address at industry conventions come from? What is the secret reason that a select few service professionals enjoy high-profile, high-prestige, and high-paying status as "experts" in their fields?

More importantly, can the rest of us do it? Susan Friedmann answers a resounding "Yes!" In Riches in Niches: How to Make It BIG in a Small Market, Friedmann explores the multiple factors that separate the "experts" from the service professionals who may have identical--if not better--skills, but whom no one has ever heard of.

You will learn:
* Why positioning yourself as an Expert in a Niche--a sweet spot known as a nichepreneur--is the most surefire route to success any service professional could want.
* The GEL Formula: Friedmann's proven technique that shows service professionals how to find the professional niche that makes the best use of their skills while yielding maximum profit.
* The Seven Secrets nichepreneurs need to know to create, claim, and benefit from their Expert Identity.
* Creative ways to create secondary, even tertiary, income streams capitalizing on the benefits of "Being the Expert."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Career Press (May 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564149307
• ISBN-13: 978-1564149305
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #326,989 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Be a Commodity, August 20, 2007

By	M. L Lamendola (Merriam, KS USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Friedmann has several good articles posted in the Mindconnection online library, so I was interested in reading her book.

When I was quite young, I excitedly told a mentor about several new things I was doing. His advice to me was to pick one and do it well. Since then, I have seen the wisdom of that advice proven time and time again. It is better to do one thing well than to do many things poorly. That philosophy is the underpinning of this book.

But it's not a rah-rah book that spends a couple hundred pages making the same point over and over. You've probably read such books. Whenever I have finished such a book, I wonder if the author has ever really put the advice to use. There's no "how to get there from here." Riches In Niches lays out a 7-step plan anyone can follow, plus it provides a ton of useful references. Throughout the book, you'll find short case histories that each illustrate a point.

The first chapter introduces us to the author. We learn why Friedmann chose the path she did, and we get to learn from her mistakes. The next chapter provides a detailed explanation of why it's better to pick a specialty than to try to be all things.

Chapters Three and Four lay the foundation for understanding how niches work. The next seven chapters (Five through Eleven) provide Friedman's seven-step plan. Chapter Twelve ties it all together and provides some additional insights. In the back is an extensive "Recommended Resources" section that, in itself, justifies buying the book.

Friedmann writes in a style that reminds me of a transcript of a public speech. This should not be surprising, as she is an accomplished public speaker and is, in fact, a National Board Director of the National Speakers Association.

Grammarians will give her a few red marks here and there, but those little errors don't seem to slow the book down. I think they just serve to illustrate one of the points Friedmann made in her book. Don't let perfectionism stand in the way of excellence and accomplishment. For many entrepreneurs, this is a nearly insurmountable barrier. It's the number one reason small firms tend to stay small.

You'll find other pearls of wisdom, plus practical advice on how to implement them, in this book. If you're already a niche player, that's great. You may find you can improve your game after reading this book. The same goes for someone who's an employee in a corporation. Don't be a commodity. Command an image of high value, instead, and reap the rewards.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All about self-promotion for the consultant, self-employed trainer or coach. ThreeThumbsUp!, February 2, 2008

By	Jeff Lippincott "www.Jlippin.com" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is great book! At least that's what the author says about it. Funny thing is - I tend to agree with her. I liked this book a whole lot. I wish it had been written some 20 years ago when the author and I were both starting out in our careers. She says she was a public relations worker and I was a young CPA dabbling in the practice of law. What this book provides is a powerful marketing, PR, and self-promotion system for any wanta-be consultant, trainer, and/or coach to use to become the known expert in their field. Are you a CPA, attorney, CFP, PR consultant, life coach, executive coach, business coach, or whatever? If so, then this book is for you.

This book is not the first of its kind. Five others that I have read that predate this book are:

101 Ways to Promote Yourself (1997), ISBN: 0380785080
Million Dollar Consulting (2002), ISBN: 007138703X
Get Slightly Famous (2003), ISBN: 0972002111
How to Position Yourself as an Obvious Expert (2004), ISBN: 0972094164
From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur (2006), ISBN: 0470050866

All of these books are highly rated at Amazon, and the instant book is my favorite of them. I like the way Riches in Niches is outlined, written, and especially the numerous lists that are included. You will learn in this book that writing articles, Web pages, eBooklets, eBooks, booklets, and books is an important way to build your credibility and to get the word out about your specialty. You will learn that blogging and Web sites are important. And you will learn that public speaking, whether it be speeches, seminar presentations, workshops, or training sessions, is an important way to promote yourself. All of these things are ways to make money, too. Then there is also the organizations to join, and the networking to be done.

I recommend the reader get a copy of Aiming at Amazon (ISBN: 093849743X) to supplement the book's coverage on self publishing and Printondemand (POD). The advice on these subjects didn't seem to be the "latest and greatest" as I understand them to be. And it's not so hard to make your own audio CDs today if you get a USB microphone for your computer. Therefore the advice at page 178 in the book is not quite current today.

I would have liked the book more if the title had been different. I saw this book at the bookstore several months ago and didn't pull it from the shelf because it had the word "niche" in the title. In my humble opinion this book is not about "riches in niches." This book is not about focusing; it is about promoting. I think it would have been better titled if it had been named: (1) Get Slightly Famous, or (2) How to Position Yourself as an Obvious Expert. But then, those titles were already taken in 2007 when this book was published. Oh well. 5 stars!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely and packed with content, September 10, 2007

By	John Chancellor "Mentor coach, www.teachtheso... (New Orleans) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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In the academic world there is the saying, "Publish or perish". I would take the same concept and apply to the world of the entrepreneur - "Find your niche or find a job."

If you cannot find a niche and dominate that niche, you better dust off your resume and find a job. Business is too competitive for the generalist to really make a mark anymore. If you truly want to reap the rewards that all entreperneurs dream of, you need to find a niche and become an expert in that niche.

Fortunately you don't need to go it alone. Susan Friedmann has given us a very readable, content rich, step by step manual to help us identify our strenghts and select a niche that is right for us. She also gives us guidance in how to position ourselves, how to effectively market ourselves and use the media to build our business.

Actually she covers everything you need to know to separate yourself from the crowd and build a business that will command premium compensation. The expert always gets paid more - even for the same advice.

The book is well written and easy to read. At the end of each chapter is a "nugget of wisdom" and a "Susan's Speedy Summary" which allows the reader to refer back to the lessons contained in the chapter.

The book is primarily written for the service professional, but the principles apply to any business.

If you truly want to build a successful business, you would to well to read and apply the lessons contained in Riches in Niches.