There is a common misconception that you must have a new, innovative idea to start your own business and be a successful entrepreneur; however, I believe that it all revolves around finding a specific niche in the market. During the summer of 2019, I was working as a server and bartender at nights and found myself with a lot of free time during the day.
Right before I went off to college in August of 2018, I had just sold my first landscaping company. Through that business, I was able to employ a lot of my friends and I realized that many of those same friends were unsuccessful in finding a new summer job. They would constantly tell me that they wished I still had my landscape business because they had enjoyed working for me. I knew that starting another general landscaping business would be a daunting task as it takes time and effort to build clients, alongside having to compete against other landscaping services. This is when I started to think of ways to offer a service that wouldn’t have so many other competitors. One night the idea came to me. In the summer of 2018, I worked as a real estate intern for Coldwell Banker. One of my biggest takeaways from that experience was that presentation was key to selling a house. Additionally, summer tends to be a peak selling season for realtors and there are many houses on the market at the same time. My idea was to offer a landscaping service with the goal of boosting the curb appeal of houses on the market so that the home could be listed at a higher price while also increasing the home turnover rate. I realized that this service fit a niche in the market that wasn’t met because general landscaping companies are looking for long-term contracts as opposed to one-time jobs. While long-term contracts offer a steady flow of revenue, I was content working with the houses currently on the market - each realtor tends to have multiple houses on the market at the same time. This was the perfect setup for me because I knew I wouldn’t be able to service long-term contracts because I would have to go back to school at the end of August. I would, however, be able to work during the peak real estate selling season. This business allowed me to pick and choose the landscape jobs I wanted, which offered flexibility with my schedule. Since I essentially had no competition, I was able to dominate the market and work with multiple realty groups in the Milwaukee area.
Identifying a market niche automatically reduced my competition, which made my business more successful. By no means was this an easy process. It took a lot of hard work and determination to become successful and get to where I am today. While this was an arduous journey, it was also an extremely rewarding experience that taught me invaluable lessons and helped me gain firsthand experience in the business world. Being an entrepreneur isn’t always about coming up with a new, groundbreaking idea. Any entrepreneur can be successful through hard work and actively seeking a way to stand out from the crowd; however, in order to do so, you must identify your niche and do it better than anyone else can.
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