Being an expert in your industry is vitally important. During the past several years the greater cultural mindset has shifted very strongly toward valuing specialization. Doctors and attorneys have been specializing for decades, and now folks in any industry are discovering that they have to specialize too, or risk going out of business.

Used to, there was a lot of value in being a generalist, and people looked for “turnkey” solutions from one source. They needed generalists to help them figure out what they needed, then found it easier to stick with that generalist for all their work. Now-a-days in the age of the internet, with any conceivable information at our fingertips 24 hours a day, things are different. People have become very proactive and self-service oriented. We research everything!

Who needs to hire a generalist to tell us what we need when we have Google?

Now folks do their research, get educated, figure out exactly what they need or want, then find the best (read: most expert) source they can. The generalist has been cut out of the picture, and people want to find the “very best” to fill their need.

People have also come to realize that a jack of all trades really is a master of none, so the generalist cannot, by definition, also be an expert at anything. At least in the minds of consumers. If you present yourself as a provider who can do anything, people will assume you do nothing extremely well. And everyone wants to hire “the best.” If that doesn’t describe you, then you get passed by.

This speaks to the marketing of your business, but back to my point from yesterday, being a specialist also helps you intrinsically. Not only will people have more confidence in hiring you, you’ll have more confidence (and enjoyment) doing the work!

It really is better to be the big fish in a small pond.

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