There's No Such Thing as a Saturated Market
How many times have you heard that there are way too many coaches and course creators out there and that there's no way to actually build an online business?
This notion of saturation and competition is an often used excuse to make building your side hustle feel harder than it needs to. Because the truth is, there's room for all of us to make an impact and income online. If you want to “overcome a saturated market,” you only need to define three things:
✨ Who you help
✨ How you help
✨ Why you help
These three branding elements are the key to differentiation and helping your side hustle stand out.
Join me for this podcast episode and I’ll break it all down for you.
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Full Show Notes (Transcript)…
Hey risers, today's episode I think is gonna be fun. I'm gonna be really sharing with you two big metaphors that I use a lot with my students, but I think we're gonna be leaning into a topic that resonates whether you're brand new to building your side hustle, or even if you're thinking about your fifth offer or maybe your 500th offer, especially if you've been in the game for a little bit longer.
One thing I hear over and over again, Is that, oh, somebody is already doing this. The market is saturated. That's what I hear from people who've been in the game for a while. Oh, the market's too saturated for that. From new therapists, the way that I hear them talk about this or not new therapists who are new to side hustles, what the way I hear them talk about this is, oh, there's already somebody doing that.
So I, I don't wanna try to do it or I can't do it. Or if there's somebody else already out there, I shouldn't. I shouldn't make my own version and all of that is I'm gonna disprove that today. People think that saturation or if there's somebody else already doing what they wanna do, it means there's no room for them.
There's no room for me to even try, and that's what I'm gonna dispute today cuz the truth is there's no such thing as a saturated market. It's a myth. Because what I really want you guys to think about is the idea that. There aren't really any new ideas, right? Unless you're like going back in time to ancient Greek or Babylonian or whatever. Just times when people were literally writing stories for the first time. There's really not any new ideas. In fact, I have a couple of books on novel writing because this is a dream of mine to write a novel one day, and I have a book about plots and it literally is, like, the five plots that exist, there's five plots that exist, one's the quest one's, whatever.
And every story that's ever told now is just a version of those five plots. Yeah, the characters are different. Yeah. The details are different. The, the setting might be different, but the story arc, the plot, the action in the story. There's five of them, and it makes me think that if we can remake Spider-Man or Batman or Avenger Man for the 500th time, there is room for you to launch your program. If they can remake all these movies and all of this stuff, and people are paying pre-pandemic, millions or billions of dollars to go watch the latest. Same movie, then there is room for you to launch your program. So the first metaphor that I'm gonna share with you is, It's a lot harder to be a groundbreaker in an industry.
I shared, I've talked about this before on episodes where I've talked about how Val competition is validation, and this is the same type of concept, but we're gonna talk about it in the sense of the saturated market. So I want you guys to think back to the early or the late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds I'm not exactly a historian, so my dates might be not quite right. So let's think post-Civil War. Pre World War I, somewhere in that timeframe when electricity in houses is becoming a thing. We've known about this concept of electricity for a while, but people are just now starting to get lights in their houses.
They're just starting to have light switches on walls. We had Thomas Edison and we had Nicola Tesla. Both working on things like electric currents. We had AC in dc alternating current and direct current. I know these things because my husband is a nerd. We're watching History Channel all the time, but. We had two people who were really groundbreaking this industry, right?
These are massive inventions that changed the world forever, and they're important, but there were still tons of people who didn't understand why they needed electricity in their house, right? Why can't we just use candles, like we've been doing this for hundreds of years? Why can't we just keep doing what we're doing?
It already works. We have. Things that work for us. Why do we need something new? And then if they're like, like, all right, I can see why maybe we need electricity, but you're telling me I have to rip my entire house apart to add these like. Switches and wires that are carrying electricity. What do you mean?
So everybody is having to be convinced that they need this. It is a much harder fight and a much more uphill battle. To be the groundbreaker of the industry, you have to prove a need for your product. You have to prove a need for your service. You have to tell people they need it. They don't already know they need it.
They're not already seeking it out. They have to be convinced. You also have to educate them. Yes, electricity is safe. I promise it's safer than candles, in fact, and less fires. So you have to educate these consumers and they have to be persuaded to buy from you. Now, fast forward a hundred years, and we're all sitting here literally like.
Light years, haha. Pun intended, from where Thomas Edison was. And we know that electricity and the technology ad advances that have come from it are they're very much a thing. But let's take a look at the market now that it's established. Now that electricity is a thing, GE or whoever makes light bulbs, they can introduce any light bulb.
They want Thomas and Edison invents. It creates a market for it proves that we need it, fights this uphill battle. And now GE has high efficiency, l e d, daylight, green, purple, orange, dimming, three-way. All these light bulbs that we at consumers can then go look at the difference between these light bulbs and pick the one that is best for us.
Right? We need groundbreakers. We absolutely need them. We don't have to be them. We need people who are gonna fight that uphill battle, who are going to prove that these things are needed, and are going to convince entire groups and categories of people to get on board. However, it's much easier to be General Electric and to say, here, which one do you want and need?
I can meet that want or need. It's these differences between these light bulbs, the light bulb, the differences might be price, they might be longevity, they might be eco-friendliness, right? Whatever those differences are, and they are based on. Our values. So if you are into sustainability and eco-friendliness and things like that, you are going to search out those light bulbs versus the ones that are worse for the environment or bad for the environment.
If you're price conscious, you might be going to the dollar store to get your light bulbs, but we now have a plethora of decisions and it's on the consumer to decide what they want rather than on the. Groundbreaker to try to convince people of what they need. There's literally aisles and aisles of light bulbs at the store, hundreds, if not thousands to choose from.
It doesn't stop us from buying light bulbs. We don't walk in and be like, oh, there's too many light bulbs. And then we turn around and we leave. We walk in and we go and we buy the ones that we want or the ones that we like best. And it also doesn't stop a new company from introducing a different one. I don't know who GEs competitor is, but whoever their light bulb competitor is like, okay, I can now compete on these differences.
I can make even more. Eco-friendly light bulb. I can make an even brighter light bulb. I can make an even true today light, light bulb so they can now look at these differences. I can do it cheaper, I can do it faster, whatever. It doesn't stop any company. They look at that aisle of thousands of light bulbs and it doesn't stop them from saying, no, I can't make a light bulb, and it doesn't stop people from buying light bulbs.
We can see this in any industry. We can see this in the coaching industry. We can see this in courses, in memberships, whatever you are thinking about for your side hustle, there's going to be people who are doing it. That's actually the good thing because the Brooke Castillos, or the people who've been in this industry for 10, 15 years, some of them 20 years, like, literally dial-up internet and there were coaches, right?
Those are the people who broke the ground. Those are the Thomas Edisons. Those are the Nicola Teslas. Now here we get to say, here's my fancier light bulb. Here's my more effective coaching package. Here's my coaching package, and why it's different. So we get to then have the benefit of the people who broke the ground before us, and we could get to the market where it's easier.
It's much easier to be different in a market than it is to create a market from scratch. If you haven't guessed yet, the answer to saturation is differentiation, and that's just a fancy way of, you just gotta be a little bit different than everybody else.
Hey risers, I have something new and exciting for you. I know you're here listening because you're daydreaming about expanding past traditional one-on-one therapy, but the first thing that often comes up is all the fear around what that might mean. It is scary to think about starting over from square one.
And what about all those hours you spent in grad school getting licensed, seeking certifications and building your practice? Well, I am a firm believer in both and. Your desire to move beyond the therapy room does not need to mean that you're selling out or sacrificing your clinical career. It simply means that you're ready for the next step.
In fact, I'd love to show you how easy it is to use the education experience and expertise you've honed as a clinician to make this evolution happen, to maintain the practice you're proud of, to build the online side hustle you are dreaming of, and to craft the lifestyle you're craving. So this new cool thing is an on-demand training called Transcend the Therapy Room.
And when you watch, you'll find out how a side hustle can give you more flexibility and financial freedom. You'll get some ideas of the different side hustles you can ethically offer, and you'll also learn how to decide which side hustle is right for you. And when you stay to the end, you're gonna score a bonus tech tutorial where I walk you through the exact technology and software I use to create those brand visuals, those logos, those fonts, those colors.
And so you'll get to get a peek into how I do this. And how you can start doing it for yourself. So if you're ready to step beyond that therapist identity and move outside the therapy room, you can sign up for the training and start working towards this new, exciting chapter of your career. Head over to marissalawton.com/masterclass to register.
You just gotta be a little bit different. And different doesn't mean better cuz I know you guys and I can hear your wheels turning and saying, I'm not better than anybody else and no one's gonna pick me. And it's not about being better, it's about being different. So the best example, here's my second analogy or metaphor or whatever that I'm gonna share with you guys.
And my best example of this I wouldn't have shared last year. But it's of political primaries. Okay. And I may have shared this way back on the show before, but I know during the election I didn't really talk about anything political, but thinking of. Political primaries when it's best to conceptualize a year where we're putting two, both people from both parties up.
If somebody is in the political primary, sometimes there's eight candidates, sometimes there's 10 candidates in the primary, right? There are several people at the start, and our goal is to whittle it down to one person to represent the party, hopefully the best person, and then that person then goes to be to campaign against the.
Primary winner of the other party. So on that stage, whether it's the Republican primary, whether it's the Democratic primary, we can assume some things about those people based on which stage they're standing on. Oh, this is the Republican party, the Republican primary. So we can assume some very core things about those 10 people.
Same thing. This is the Democratic primary. So we can assume some core values, some core things about those 10 people. However, during the primary, each one of those candidates starts to talk about their platform. This guy becomes the climate change guy. This girl becomes the education girl, and all of that stuff.
In between this person com campaigns on taxes, this person, campaigns on healthcare and their platform. Starts to differentiate them, and that's how, even though they are on that democratic stage and we make some basic assumptions about them on that stage, that's how we start to be able to know the differences between them versus the climate change person.
The healthcare person, and then based on our values, we align with that person and we vote for that person. So we can take this exact example and bringing it into the business arena. And instead of political platform, you can fill in. Brand. Okay, so your platform becomes your brand. What are your brand values?
Right around here? My brand values are authenticity, really figuring out what works for you. We have a brand value around here about slow business, slow growth. Means sustainable growth. Once you've got things up and running and they're sustainable, then let's pour the gasoline on it, then let's crank it up, but let's build it sustainably first, right?
Those are the values that you're going to get from me. While there's many other people teaching online income and they have many different values, there's some people who teach passive income right away. There's some people that teach who get to a hundred K in three months, and those are great. They are not better or worse.
They are. Different, so, When you are lumped in an arena, like a political party stage, we make assumptions about those 10 Democrats or those 10 Republicans. The same thing happens with your industry. If you are coaching, uh, moms in the fourth trimester, right? You're a brand new mom, coach with a new baby, we can, uh, make some assumptions about all the.
Postpartum coaches or the fourth-trimester coaches, we can make some assumptions about all of them. They probably talk about sleep. They probably talk about feeding, they probably talk about self-care for the mom, they probably talk about maybe milestones for the baby or something like that. So we can make some assumptions.
But within that industry, you're gonna have the one who is. All natural. The crunchy mom, quote-unquote, all-natural, talking about breastfeeding and baby-led weaning and cloths, diapering. You're also gonna have the one who's, I'm the mom who says Fuck. And so you're gonna have a totally different brand feeling, brand personality over here.
And so within the category, We start to look at the way people have branded and how that makes them different. And then according to how we feel about that, how our values align with those differences, that's who we pick. There can be a hundred thousand people in your industry. Just have what is different about you have your brand values.
Okay, so how do we do this? There are three things. That you wanna think about when you are thinking about your differentiation and your brand values. The first one is gonna be who you help. Now, there's not gonna be a lot of differentiation here, but this is what puts you on that stage, that Democrat stage versus the Republican stage.
The mom with a brand new baby versus the mom with school-aged kids, right? When you pick who you help, you're really shrinking down your stage, or at least defining your stage, putting parameters around your stage. Okay? So you're really claiming. Your space, you're claiming your arena. So that's the first thing that we have to do because we have to narrow down who we're competing against.
If you're just like, I'm a coach. Then there's 20 other million coaches. So when you think about, oh, coaching is saturated. Yeah. If you look at every single person out there who's trying to be a coach, sure there's lots of people out there that it's it. You can't really compete with that. So first, defining who you help, like I said, defines what part of coaching do you belong in.
And. Here's a tip. The narrower your niche, the smaller your stage, the less people who are up on that stage with you. That's why nicheing is important, but at least starting with who you help, sets the boundaries, sets the parameters, what stage you're standing on. The next point of differentiation is where we're gonna start to tease out some things, and that's how you help.
Do you help as a one-on-one coach? Do you help with a membership site? Do you help with a group program? Do you help? With workshops, right? How you help is the first level of differentiation. It's the first point where you say, I'm for climate change, or I'm for education, right? It's the first place where you start to stand out, right?
Because anybody who is looking for a membership site, They're automatically going to push the one-on-one coaches to the side. They're gonna be like, okay, not looking at them. I'm only now looking at membership sites. Mm-hmm. So essentially you're taking this saturated market and you're starting to like, I.
Peel layers off of it, and you're starting to say, okay, I don't belong with these people. I stand out from these people, and now based on who you help or who you help, you stand out from these people. Then based on how you help you stand out from another layer of people. So that's what you're doing each time.
The next thing. The third level, the third point of differentiation after who you help and how you help is why you help. Now, this is the biggest differentiator because no one else is you. Your why, your story, your method, your journey is completely your own. No one else has the same story as you. No one else has been.
Where you've been, no one else has done what you've done. So why you help is the number one differentiator. And so once you've gone through these three levels, you'll cut off a few people with who you help. You'll cut off even more people with how you help. And once you stand on that smaller stage with the few people who help in a similar way that you do, that's when your why starts to come through, and that's when you really start to differentiate yourself. Okay? So the truth is, there's no such thing as a saturated market. With a few strategic decisions and a few strategic actions, we can shrink down those stages, which we're standing on. We can cut away tons of people. We can get to the point where, hey, it's really actually not that saturated.
Then we start standing out with our story, our journey, and our why. Right. As you've been thinking about your side hustle, if you felt that there are already too many people doing it, just know that this is a myth. A saturated market is a myth. It's definitely not about standing out as the best. It's about standing out as someone different.
Okay? So I hope this has resonated with you guys and inspired you guys a bit.
All right, guys. Keep on rising.
