Well, the short answer to the question in today’s blog title is “those things that move your business forward.” The long answer is what I’m about to present to you in this blog post. So, stick with me as I unfold the not-so-secret, best-kept secret that seems to elude our creative minds time and time again.
Now, I unrolled a little bit of this discussion to my online family who subscribe to my monthly DOMinators News newsletter. (By the way, the articles are starting to heat up in the areas of educational and professional growth tips and resources that may be instrumental in moving one’s academic and/or career efforts in the right direction. So, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for you to join the DOMinators crew so you, too, can get access to that information.)
Just click on the link directly below the oddly-placed arrow, fill in the information requested . . .
https://chipper-designer-6567.ck.page/bb55b586c9
and you’re in! That easy. You’ll receive monthly updates, scheduled to hit your email inbox every 4th Sunday of the month, until you say otherwise. So, there you go.
But, getting back to some of what I shared with my email-subscribing family . . .
I shared the fact that diversification of your business skills and offerings is a good thing. It’s a business strategy that can definitely propel your income-producing potential forward if you apply it appropriately to your processes. In fact, the more diversified you are, the more opportunities to reach a wider audience of those individuals just waiting to connect with your unique genius (delivered by the one and only YOU).
And to get the point across, I gave my email-subscribing family an example of what I’m doing with my reading and writing educational resources for adults and children.
I OPENED A NEW SHOP on the platform, Classful.
Classful caters to those individuals seeking educational resources for grades K-12. Perfect! Another place where my peeps tend to hang out. So, why not set up shop there to draw their attention to the wares Degrees of Maternity has to offer?
Oh, let me backtrack, because you might be looking at today’s blog post title and wondering where I’m going with this discussion. After all, doesn’t the topic have everything to do with what we should actually be honing in on, regarding our businesses? And in my case, don’t I already have two other stores set up with Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers?
Well, yes and yes.
And doesn’t it appear that opening a new store (or diversifying) could possibly add to the complexity of my business dynamic, drawing focused efforts away, instead of simply focusing on the two stores I’ve already established, working strategically to make them better?
Well, maybe. But, let me encourage you to consider the following term I’ve chosen to adopt as a business strategy. It’s free for you to use, too. And that’s why I’m sharing it with you now.
Focused Diversification
Yep. You read that correctly. And no, I’m not contradicting myself. Hear me out.
I firmly believe the old adage that “you shouldn’t place all your eggs in one basket.” You just shouldn’t. You’ve got to spread those eggs out into different baskets or those increasing number of eggs are going to eventually outgrow that one basket and break when they fall out.
It’s so important, for growth purposes, to find ways to utilize those abilities and capabilities you’ve been given and adjust them to “work smarter, not harder.” Right? The time has come to streamline processes or cross-functions so that you’re not spinning your wheels too fast and furiously, trying to do ALL THE THINGS and things that are diametrically different one from the other — requiring pulls from you in opposite directions. Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?
So, here’s what I propose.
Instead, figure out a few things you do extremely well or things that are going well — applying them to other things that complement them, work in conjunction with them, and/or are similar in nature to them. Then, capitalize off of these cooperative strategies to diversify products and/or services you offer in ways that have the potential to impact a wider group of your peeps in the places where they’re looking for solutions to their wants and needs.
And that’s exactly what I’m doing with my new Degrees of Maternity store on the Classful platform. I’m currently working on adding products to this new store weekly until I get all of my digital product offerings (listed on Teachers Pay Teachers) onto Classful.
Guess what?
By creating this store, I’m engaging in “focused diversification” by offering my products on a different educational platform that will attract those individuals looking for educational resources on this particular platform — individuals who may not want to go to Etsy or Teachers Pay Teachers to find digital products.
I’m also engaging in “focused diversification,” because I’m able to use all of those elements I initially created for my Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers shops (product PDFs, covers, thumbnails, previews, product titles, product descriptions, product pricing, tags, etc.) in my new Classful shop setup.
So, I’m not having to recreate the wheel to get my new shop underway. I’m simply recycling the same old wheel over and over again. I save a lot of time and energy “focusing” on processes that seem to be working well for me and using them on various platforms.
In fact, it’s taking a fraction of the time to get products up on my Classful shop compared to what it took to upload products on my Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers shops, because I already have a process set up to create online stores on established marketplaces that promote educational resources.
Yes, indeed. A streamlined process that I’m working to my advantage.
Next time, I’ll share with you another “focused diversification” example that organically appeared to me through my Teachers Pay Teachers store during this month of October.
Until then . . .
degreesofmaternity.com 