Whenever I started to explore business books, that is to say when I started to dive into reading books that were supposed to help businesses grow, one of the first that I read was “The Pumpkin Plan”. I am not going to dive into all that is the encouraged to pumpkin plan our business. That will come in a future post.

I want to use this post to take one of the ideas in the book and tilt it on its side just a little bit. In the book, they talk about figuring out what you do well and focusing on that before you grow into other areas. Focus on one core service offering.

I want to tilt that and encourage any small business to also focus on who you serve the best. Using Deitz Consulting as an example, we tend to do best with small businesses or smaller business entities. Some of our clients do own multiple small businesses, but at the heart the books are generally the same.

For some businesses, you might best serve smaller businesses and others product offering might be better for larger companies with a larger budget. If you know that your services will strain a small business budget, don’t waste your time there. If you know that working with a large corporation will strain your ability to serve your other small businesses that you enjoy, let the big business go.

To utilize a fishing analogy…

What will your bait catch…best?

And to take that analogy a little bit further, what will your bait catch that you actually want to keep?

This is an important and vital step in setting your business up for success. Do not try to make your business something that it isn’t. Also do not try to make your business something that will not bring you joy and peace of mind. You don’t have to serve everyone. Just know who you serve best.