​​🎧 Listen to the podcast version of this email here​.​​
Last week, I talked about how you (probably) don't need a massive audience size.
If even a small percentage of people buy what you offer, you can work out pretty quickly how many people you actually need. And in most cases, it’s not that many.
So if that’s the case, what do you then need?
You need to be sharp.
Btw, if you are new here, you can browse all past Solo Sauce newsletters right here.
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Most people start too broad.
They talk about topics like business, entrepreneurship, or AI.
And then wonder why nothing sticks.
Broad messages don’t land, but more often than not become part of the noise.
Now, you might say, yeah, but people like Alex Hormozi talk about business all the time.
That’s true.
But he didn’t start there.
He started with gyms. Very specific. Very targeted. Built something there, earned his stripes, and only then moved up to talk about bigger topics like business and entrepreneurship.
Most of them start narrow and expand gradually.
Not the other way around.
If you’re building this on your own, talking about “business” or “life” isn’t going to help you.
You’re competing with people who have been doing that for years. With bigger audiences, more content, and more authority.
You won’t out-volume them, but you can "out-specific" them.
So instead of talking about business, make it more specific: for instance, talk about running a business for people with a physical handicap.
Instead of talking about AI, perhaps talk about helping, say, senior citizens in Germany understand AI so they don’t feel overwhelmed.
Same topic. Completely different level of relevance.
One's broad. The other sharp.
If you’re a big company with a big team and big budgets, you can afford to be broad.
You can run multiple campaigns, target different audiences, and keep repeating your message until it lands.
If you are reading this, you probably don’t have that luxury.
If you’re doing this by yourself, you don’t have the time, the energy, or the budget to speak to everyone about everything.
So don’t.
Be sharp instead.
Stand for something specific.
Speak to a very specific group of people about a very specific problem.
I went through this myself.
I started with “solopreneurs.”
Way too broad.
Technically, that included everyone from architects to voice actors. Completely different worlds.
So I narrowed it down.
Solo professionals. Then experienced solo professionals. Then experienced solo professionals who are currently invisible and frustrated by it.
People with real experience, who feel like they’re being overlooked.
That’s a very different conversation.
By the way, as I am learning, this could get more specific still.
Sharp cuts through and blunt blends in.
And in a noisy world, blending in is the same as being ignored.
So what do you do with this then?
Pick a group.
One group of people you actually understand, or are willing to understand better.
Then learn everything you can about them. Pay attention to what they struggle with, how they talk about it, what keeps coming up. Step into their world as much as you can.
When you do this properly, you’ll start noticing things you didn’t see before. You might realise you’ve been focusing on the wrong problem, or even the wrong audience.
That’s all part of the process.
It’s not a straight line, and you’re not locked into one niche forever. You can adjust as you learn. Just don’t flip-flop every week either.
Find something, explore it, learn from it, and refine.
Next week, I’ll share a simple tool I picked up years ago that helps you get under the skin of your audience and uncover insights you’d otherwise miss.
Make it a great day.
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