How to Niche Down and Grow Your Business w/ Matt Lakajev | Ep 438

**Chris Do** (0:00)
Just a quick note, before we continue on today's episode, a warning if you have young kids in the room, this may not be an episode for you. Matt drops a couple F and S bombs in here and there, but he's just who he is. I just wanted to let you know. And then please enjoy the rest of the episode. He's back, ladies and gentlemen. Matt is back.
His previous recording with us, his appearance on The Futur was a big hit, and that's why we invited him back, because he gets real, he gets tactical. He knows a lot about how to grow your business, especially on LinkedIn.

**Matt Lakajev** (0:27)
My name is Matt Lakajev, and you're listening to The Futur.

**Chris Do** (0:32)
Matt, what are we going to talk about today?

**Matt Lakajev** (0:35)
Cool. Chris, pumped to chat again. I always look forward to this as well. So today, I wanted to run through for people, something really, really tactical. So you can actually, even if you somehow download the transcript of this, you'll be able to create it into a do-it-yourself document. But how to actually niche down your business in a way so that when you market and produce content, your idle clients will look at your stuff and think, holy s**t, that's me, and they will want to talk to you.

**Chris Do** (1:01)
This idea of niching down scares creative people all the time because they think, I'm going to limit the options, the number of people I can speak to. Isn't that a bad idea? This is what they all say. How do you respond to that?

**Matt Lakajev** (1:13)
Yeah, definitely. I think it's a really common fear that human nature is ingrained in us to actually think. So I think it's not weird to have that fear because you don't want to limit your options because if you limit your options, you would think you would get less.
The difficult part about when you're marketing yourself online versus referrals is most businesses build up in soft referrals, but with a referral, when the referral comes to you, all the person's really doing on the call with you is they're doing a weirdo test. They're just saying if you're a weirdo because the trust is already built through the referral. And so they're saying, is this person weird? Do I get along with them? And do I think that this person can help me solve the problem?
And if so, you get the deal. But what happens over time and years is like, you build referrals and then you say yes to clients who are from completely different niches and different areas. And then you don't become a specialist, you kind of become a generals at all these things, which is really difficult. Now, when you market yourself online, you don't have half an hour to chat to someone in a conversation, to build trust so they think that they can understand to buy your stuff. So online, you've got like half a second of like someone's eyeballs to see your stuff. And so that's why I'll run you through like the exact formula of how to niche today. Why if you run through a niching formula itself, you'll actually attract people to you as well. But it is basic human nature that you'll be like, oh my God, whenever I get a lead, this is from a small business scarcity mindset. When I get a lead, I have to take it because I don't have enough leads. But when you generate so much demand that you can say no to clients, that's the position that you actually want to get in. None of us can be like the people online, like Justin Welsh, really great dude, but he's a unicorn.
He's literally a unicorn. Unicorns don't exist. And so he's like, I sell to solo pronounced to do this. It's such a broad, vague thing of what he actually does. But because he was like the number one, first the market person, he can do it. But for all of us people, we have to pick a very specific niche. And the only way to attract people is to signal to them and for them to look at your stuff and think, holy, that's me.

**Chris Do** (3:21)
I'm going to confess I watched this show to study human dynamics. I want to put it out there called Updating. I don't know if you've seen this, but it's a blindfold dating show. And it's an interesting format. It's mostly a little sexual and a little raunchy here and there. And what amazes me is they have a segment where two blindfolded people decided they want to date each other. And they thumbs up and thumbs down. And then they take off the blindfold. Or do we still have a physical connection? And they say, yes, here's the twist. Some person in the audience, mostly a woman, and Evelyn makes a play for the guy. And then they ask the guy, are you more interested in that person or the person next to you? And then he shows a little bit of hesitation. And then he decides, well, I'm really attracted to her, even though I'm really attracted to this person's personality. I don't really know you. And in that moment, he fumbles the bag. He loses the hot girl he has. And he loses the hot girl over there because she's like, make up your mind.