What gets measured gets improved, so why aren't you measuring client satisfaction? ---- 🚫 Don’t let an algorithm decide what you read! Join 10k+ readers who get my daily pricing tips ⬆️ Click "Visit my website" under my name to subscribe ♻️ Please repost if this was useful

A book isn't the business model. Book sales probably won't make you rich. But a book can attract the right future clients if you think strategically about who you want reading it.

SHOWING OFF Imagine a kid is drowning off the coast of Newport. People are standing on the beach. None of them can swim. Except for one guy who happens to be an Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 400-meter freestyle. Should the guy: 1) Jump in and save the kid Or 2) Not save the kid because that would be showing off Obviously, option 1: jump in and save the kid. And yet! I meet people all the time who are afraid to confidently announce their expertise to the marketplace because they don’t want to “show off”. If your prospective clients are drowning, letting them know you can save them is NOT showing off. It’s your duty. Yours, —J !!! This is a repost of my daily mailing list. For a prettier version with clickable links, go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive !!!

old devs will get the reference

BESPOKE VS GENERALIST The inimitable @davidcbaker wrote an [article] that made me laugh out loud because of an insight that was so brutally correct, concise, and honest. You should read the whole article, but the gist is: > Bespoke is just another word for generalist YES! LOL Unspecialized dev shops that pride themselves on delivering “bespoke solutions” because “every situation is different” are really just suffering from [The Fear]. Generalists get busy. Specialists get better. Yours, —J !!! This is a repost of my daily mailing list. For a prettier version with clickable links, go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive !!!

SUCCESS STORY FROM READER PAUL GIESE RE NICHING DOWN Fellow list member [Paul Giese] replied to my positioning thread to share his success with niching down (shared with permission): > Hi Jonathan, > > Really enjoy your work. Niching down is such a no-brainer. > > I work in the NetSuite data migration space, and I’m probably the only person who does that exclusively. Most implementation partners have a data migration team, but they don’t stand out the way I do. And once you specialize, you can do the other thing you preach: charge fixed-fee, value-based pricing. That changes your incentives toward efficiency rather than milking the clock, which in turn lets you become even more efficient and make more money. It feeds itself, and it makes everything easier: sales, marketing, operations. Complete no-brainer. > > When I talk to other solo consultants and small firm owners in the NetSuite space, I’m always struck by how few of them develop a real niche, whether that’s an industry, a process area, whatever. One who does (he has a non-profit NetSuite practice) is my go-to recommendation whenever that need comes up. > > Anyway, I enjoy your content and am a big believer in what you’re preaching. > > Paul I couldn’t have said it better myself :-) Thanks to Paul for sharing! Yours, —J !!! This is a repost of my daily mailing list. For a prettier version with clickable links, go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive !!!

WHAT IF MY TARGET MARKET IS PURPOSELY HIDING? Last week, I asked everyone who read my [positioning book] to send in follow-up questions so I can answer them in an expanded second edition. I tackled “What if I don’t know where my target market hangs out?” in my [last message]. In this message, I’m going to address a common variation, which is: > What if my target market is defined by something secret that they can’t tell anyone? For example, let’s say you want to find non-technical people who are seriously thinking about founding a startup but are still working a full-time day job and are afraid they’ll get fired if their boss finds out. In that case, I’d make a list of observable signals these people might exhibit 12-18 months before they’re ready to hire me. For example: - They might talk publicly about an app they vibe coded - They might ask about “how to find a technical co-founder” on Quora, Reddit, etc - They might be active in user forums for no-code, low-code, or vibe-code software (e.g., Zapier, Airtable, Notion, Lovable) - They might be followers of people who have already done what they hope to do ( e.g., Jason Cohen, Rob Walling, Justin Jackson) - They might be talking about a particular book somewhere online (e.g., The Mom Test, The Lean Startup, Crossing The Chasm) - They might be subscribed to a related podcast/substack (e.g., Lenny’s Podcast, Acquired, My First Million) I’d also ask myself what they might be worried about 12-18 months before they hire you and create content that would resonate. For example: - What to look for in your employment contract if you’re thinking about starting a SaaS on the side. - Top 3 surprises of starting a SaaS side-hustle while you’re still employed. - If you work at one of these three companies, DO NOT start a side hustle without reading this first - The 10 WORST companies to work for if you want to found your own startup I’d also consider coming at it from a completely different angle: Make a list of domain experts in high-paying, non-technical job roles - e.g., partner, VP, director, managing director, principal, head of sales, head of operations, strategy, investment banking, management consulting, law, medicine. Then, find these people on LinkedIn and search their feeds for “founder-curious” language - e.g., technical cofounder, MVP, side project, startup idea, building something, vibe coding, no-code, YC, Startup School, thinking about starting, entrepreneurship, founder journey, product idea (plus any of the books, podcasts, influencers, or apps listed above) If you find a corporate attorney who’s spent 15 years talking about securities law and suddenly starts posting about building an app over the weekend, you should probably say hello. None of this is guaranteed to work, AND it’d probably be smarter to just pick a target market you’re already intimately familiar with, but hopefully I’ve gotten your gears turning. Yours, —J !!! This is a repost of my daily mailing list. For a prettier version with clickable links, go to jonathanstark dot com slash archive !!!