Danetha Doe
As a financial professional, one of the keys to growing your business and career is to find your niche and become recognized as a reputable resource within that area.
But, how do you do it? How do you become a thought leader within your niche?
- The first step is to find and define your niche. If you haven’t already, be sure to read our article, 10 steps to find and define your niche. Once you have, you are ready to stake your claim and own that area.
- Write out a 1-page, 1-year strategy. A one year plan will help you map out the seasonality of your niche and create a structure. Too often, I find financial professionals that jump from niche to niche because they aren’t seeing any traction (I was guilty of this too!), but you have time to grow and mature. Once you do, you will start to experience momentum.
- Break out your 1-year plan into four quarters. Within each quarter, set specific goals around how many speaking engagements you will do, how many pieces of written content you will complete and how many events you will attend.
- To begin, you’ll want to start with a manageable amount and slowly ramp it up. By the fourth quarter, you should have doubled the amount that you set in the first quarter. For instance, let’s say your goal is 1 speaking engagement, 3 pieces of content and 6 events in the first quarter. Then, in the fourth quarter, your goal should be 2 speaking engagements, 6 pieces of content and 12 events.
- Next is to do some research. Make a list of the industry publications and reach out to see how you can partner with them. Are they open to cross promoting your blog or for you to write a guest piece for them?
- For the speaking engagements, reach out to local meet-ups and groups to start scheduling gigs. Be sure to check out our 5 steps to writing a winning talk to help you structure your presentation.
- On your website, be sure to set up an email capture form to encourage your site visitors to join your newsletter list. And then commit to write to them on a consistent basis- this could be 1x per week or once per month or quarter. Just be consistent about it.
- The next step is to create a list of media contacts and remain in touch with them. Send them relevant articles and material that may help them.
- Let your industry know that you are the go-to resource within a niche. Reach out to your fellow bookkeepers, tax accountants, financial advisors, bankers and lawyers to let them know that you have dedicated your work to a specific industry and are more than happy to answer any questions that they may have.
- Have confidence in your abilities. The most important step in the process is to believe that you are the best person to help your clients. Once you believe in yourself, the doors of opportunity will open up for you.
Remember, no one becomes a sought-after professional overnight. It takes dedication, time and a willingness to put yourself out there. If you are consistent with the inputs and focus on laying one brick at a time, it will all work out and before you know it, you will be speaking on the Future of Accounting podcast about your expertise and will be booking speaking opportunities left and right.
About Danetha Doe: Danetha is the creator of Money & Mimosas and the host of the Future of Accounting podcast where she covers emerging technologies and their impact on the accounting profession. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter for more insights on the future of accounting.