Book Review of Riches In Niches

Riches in Niches

How to make it big in a small market

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Review of Riches In Niches, by Susan Friedmann (Hardcover, 2007)

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Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, author of over 6,000 articles.

Friedmann has several good articles posted in the Mindconnection online library, so I was interested in reading her book.

When I was quite young, I excitedly told a mentor about several new things I was doing. His advice to me was to pick one and do it well. Since then, I have seen the wisdom of that advice proven time and time again. It is better to do one thing well than to do many things poorly. That philosophy is the underpinning of this book.

But it's not a rah-rah book that spends a couple hundred pages making the same point over and over. You've probably read such books. Whenever I have finished such a book, I wonder if the author has ever really put the advice to use. There's no "how to get there from here." Riches In Niches lays out a 7-step plan anyone can follow, plus it provides a ton of useful references. Throughout the book, you'll find short case histories that each illustrate a point.

The first chapter introduces us to the author. We learn why Friedmann chose the path she did, and we get to learn from her mistakes. The next chapter provides a detailed explanation of why it's better to pick a specialty than to try to be all things.

Chapters Three and Four lay the foundation for understanding how niches work. The next seven chapters (Five through Eleven) provide Friedman's seven-step plan. Chapter Twelve ties it all together and provides some additional insights. In the back is an extensive "Recommended Resources" section that, in itself, justifies buying the book.

Friedmann writes in a style that reminds me of a transcript of a public speech. This should not be surprising, as she is an accomplished public speaker and is, in fact, a National Board Director of the National Speakers Association.

Grammarians will give her a few red marks here and there, but those little errors don't seem to slow the book down. I think they just serve to illustrate one of the points Friedmann made in her book. Don't let perfectionism stand in the way of excellence and accomplishment. For many entrepreneurs, this is a nearly insurmountable barrier. It's the number one reason small firms tend to stay small.

You'll find other pearls of wisdom, plus practical advice on how to implement them, in this book. If you're already a niche player, that's great. You may find you can improve your game after reading this book. The same goes for someone who's an employee in a corporation. Don't be a commodity. Command an image of high value, instead, and reap the rewards.