Niche businesses are terrific until they are not. If you run a business with a narrow target market or far more-focused offering than your competitors, you are in a niche business. Just look around the Madison, Wisconsin area: Placon focuses on heat-treated plastic (thermoformed) packaging – not cardboard, glass, injection-molded plastic, or other types of packaging. All Placon investments advance excelling at thermoforming packaging; none are diverted. First Business Bank serves businesses and their owners, not businesses and consumers. “They know business” is a terrific brand promise. American Girl sells to pre-teen girls and their doting moms, not boys. You get the picture. Because they are more narrowly targeted than broader businesses, niche businesses can tailor their offerings, investments, and operating systems to deliver differentiated customer value—allowing them to build a very solid customer base. There is a reason Duluth Trading does not…
The Reality TV Show every CEO should envision
You have been imprisoned twice for a total of 8 years for non-violent offenses, both incarcerations related to drug use, drug sales, and property theft. You are off drugs now. You had no legal employment prior to your first imprisonment, but landed a job when you left prison in 2008; unfortunately you were laid off in 2009 as the economy worsened. Unemployed, you succumbed to drugs again and committed the same crimes. You got your GED the second time in prison. A few gang-related tattoos are visible above your shirt collar, and there’s a scar on your face, the result of a prison fight that you did not cause. With a young child at home and a woman you love, you are determined to follow a different path this time. Your body and voice are strong, but your grammar is weak. You have…