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What are "nichemates" and why they matter... vs "competitors"

11:23 Video (81 MB) HD Video (280 MB) Audio (10 MB)
1 of the terms that I frequently talk about in net caring is niche mate. What is a niche mate? ChatGPT term, by the way, I have to credit over, what, 10 years ago, 14 years ago, I heard it from Susan Faulker Barnes and Jeffrey Van Dyke. They were doing something together called spiritual marketing quest, which I got involved with. I did some guests speaking for them, and they always use that term.
So I I've used it ever since. Yeah. So niche mate is to be compared or contrasted with the term competitor. When you go into business, you learn business, you will immediately hear the term. Competitors.
What are competitors? Well, it's like, it's imagining some kind of race where it's like only 1 person can get first prize second meal, and 1 person can get second place, third place, whatever. Those are competitors. It's a win lose type of game. It's a If you get more, I means it means I get less.
That's what competition suggests. Kao? Who is the winner? I don't know about you, but I've always found that idea to be intimidating. Number 1, it's demotivating for me.
It makes me not want to go into business because I don't want to, like, compete with other people. And also, it doesn't To me, it's not a healthy way of relating to another human being. Oh, you I mean, Again, in sports or in games, we we we play the game of competition, but we know it's a game. In business, It feels much especially solar burners. It feels much more serious because it's about our livelihood.
It's about whether whether we can pay the rent or not. And therefore it's very demoted. Like, in in the corporate, like, so much of business has been taught from corporate marketers who become, you know, business school teachers and teach from, you know, corporate war games. They literally have war rooms in corporations that they know they're playing a game and it's market share win lose. But for us, entrepreneurs, if we try to play that game, it is extremely negative and anyway.
So niche mate is what I prefer to to see to see other people who do the same thing that I do. For the same kinds of people that I do it for. A niche mate is a mate, a friend, you know. A potential soul buddy in the same niche. You know, oh, you too are a dog trainer.
I'm a dog trainer. You're a dog trainer. Wonderful. Well, maybe there are some dogs that you don't love to train or certain certain people you don't prefer to interact with or certain area that you don't, you know, you don't go to. And I can I can serve those people?
I can help those people. Right? Or you do a particular dog training technique and I do this part other dog train. You you teach, you know, you teach dogs the basics of sitting and, you know, laying down and I do, you know, I I prepare them for, you know, little competitions of, like, you know, have them spin around and go through a juke, you know, whatever it is. When you see niche mates, it's easier actually for you to define the uniqueness of your work.
And you see, oh, it's an ecosystem of potential partnerships and Kao learning. Instead of, Kao, this is my terf, not your terf. Right? Your terf, not my terf. No.
No. No. It's an eco system. That is very much There's a lot of Venn diagrams going on and there's a lot of interweaving in an ecosystem. Right?
Even within the niche, there can be many many creatures of the same type. Right? And it's okay. Yeah. That's not the perfect analogy because in in in biology, there's like, Kao, there's food for certain Creech anyway.
So but niche mates, let's talk about this. I think of my niche mate, either as my teachers or my partners. What do I mean? If somebody is doing the same thing that I'm doing, for the same people. Now by the way, that's the perfect niched mate.
The perfect niched mate literally does the same job you do for the same clients you do it for. Kao? The perfect the the the most mirror image nicher mate. There are more adjacent niches which are like, Kao, I'm a dog trainer and you're a cat trainer. Kao.
Well, you might serve a household that also has a dog and I might serve a household that has a cat. So, hey, we could partner. We're adjacent niches. Kao? Or, you know, I'm a life coach and you're a relationship coach.
You know, I serve some people with life with relationship issues, but you're a specialist. Or I'm a human design expert and you're an astrology expert. Kao. We send a serve similar clientele. I believe in human design.
You believe in this type of astrology. It's not that 1 is right or wrong. But just some people resonate with 1 more and by the way, the same client might enjoy both. So there are perfect niche mates and there are adjacent niche mates. But basically, the more perfect the niches, the the more true they become as a teacher, and even as a partner.
But see the problem is that not everybody has this abundant mindset. And that's why I I wish you will spread the word out there. Yeah. I hope you'll spread the word out there about this course. If you will buy my Midjourney.
No. Spread the word out there about neck care. And I don't care if people buy my course and that tell people as much about this as possible. Everything you learned in this course about the pit I'm about to stop myself, but I'm gonna say it anyway. All of my courses are uncopyrighted.
I don't know if you knew that. Every single thing I sell, every single thing I don't sell, all all my free content, all my paid content is uncopy write it. You can take this stuff and teach it yourself and never mention my name and I don't care. I don't wanna know. If you're cheating on me, I don't wanna know.
Kao? Alright. I'd rather be an ignorant bliss. Now, so that's what I that's what I mean when I say, don't worry about talking about this because the fact that you're taking a net carrying course means that you're gonna be talking to a lot of people. And I don't want you to go, I can't tell you about this concept because you gotta buy George's course.
Just tell them about it. Just teach them as much as you want, give them the tools if you want, and say, oh, you should probably buy George's cupboard because I got the Zuora Game of Kao. But that's what I mean. Like, just spread the word because I want more people to have a more abundant mindset to say, because I I do I net care with people and I kinda feel their fear. Right?
Like, I feel they're like, whoa. It's a fellow business coach, then they might take come on. We're expanding the pie, not taking part of your pie. We're expanding the pie. Together, we need each other to expand the pie.
And actually, the reality is this. The more people within a niche create content and make offers, you know what's happening, the more the entire market is educated. About that field. Right? Because for example, can you imagine the first therapists I don't know when they started therapy, started charging for therapy, I don't know, 60s, 70s, I don't know when, maybe somebody knows.
They had a heck of a time. Like, what do you mean paying to talk to somebody? That's your friend? That's your pastor? That's your, you know, your family member.
Right? Back then, it wasn't so strange that some people are paying people. To or the first life coaches. Wow. Really, they're not licensed as a therapist, but they're just someone who has a lot of interesting wisdom to share and they they hold space.
What does that even mean hold space? Are you bringing someone to hold space for you? What are you talking about? First Life Coach had our time. But because they kept educating the world about life coaching now and what year was it?
Was it in 2000 and something, Mary Anne Webster introduced the word life coach in the dictionary. Oh, now it's a thing. And then now it's oh, you don't have a life coach? Oh, that's interesting. Everyone should have you know, it's becoming more and more normal that you have a life coach.
Great. Wonderful. That means you're you're, you know, working on yourself. Right? The more people are within a niche that create content and create offers.
The bigger the pie is for everyone. So the closer someone is to you, the more they're a teacher or a partner. Meaning, because why why are they a teacher? Because you can study their marketing. It's hard.
And and let me say the more they're a mirror for you. How do you know how good you look? You know how at the beginning of my Zoom sessions. Those of you who come to my Zoom sessions. At the beginning of this time, I'm always going like this.
I'm just checking my hair. Right? Like, I need a mirror. I need a I need to see myself. Right?
On the other side to be able to see how I look. Same thing with a with a niche mate. The niche mate who is so perfect for you, who does exactly the same thing YouTube, there's no 1 better to study their marketing. Because when you study their marketing, you can go Oh, that really resonates. How come I never thought of talking about it in that way?
How come I never thought of that strategy? Because they do exactly the same thing I do. I should I should do that strategy too. Or at the same time, you can go, I really think that was itchy how they did that. What how they try to get people to sign up for the the service I'm gonna make sure I don't do that.
It's hard to look at yourself and go, am I doing something that's achy? Am I doing something that's resonant? But when you look at someone else who just like you doing it, you're like, oh, I get it now. You're you're the closer the niche that they are, the more a mirror, they are for you to study their mark and to study their business strategies. Kao?
And then also, the closer they are to you as a niche mate, the more they're a partner. The more they can refer business, like I said, am I a dog trainer? Who can refer me the most dog training business? A fellow dog trainer? Yeah, it's true.
Kao trainers. Cat trainers can maybe refer me some business, but not every household where the cat has a dog who wants to be trained, who needs to be trained. The dog trainers can refer the most business to other dog trainers. So the closer they are to you, the more you should share with them this net caring idea and say, hey, let's let's be close to each other so that we can refer business we can learn from each other. Instead of just studying each other from afar, we can actually talk to each other as what's working for you?
And what's not working for you? And here's what's working for me and what's not working for me. Let's make the pie bigger. Right? So and of course, the more adjacent they are, the luck you could still study them, you could still partner with them, you know?
And I hope you do. So I hope this concept that Mitch may will be infused in your relationships now with your professional relationships and you can spread the word. Please expect the word about this idea of niche mates. Yeah. So we can all collaborate more.
So I look forward to seeing your comments below.

Your most ideal connections are your niche mates: same audience, similar service. If there’s friendship, they can refer overflow clients to you... and you to them. 

You can also learn the most from them because their business (and marketing) lessons are applicable to yours too. You can perhaps share resources as well.

There are no competitors. There are only niche mates who have the potential to become ideal connections.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so open-hearted or abundance-minded…  so please spread the word about this concept!

A second tier (still very good) type of niche mate is someone with: 

either (1) the same audience and different service 

or (2) same service, different audience. 

You are professionally “adjacent” to one another, therefore can also refer clients or opportunities to each other.

Comment below… describe a nichemate (without using their name) – what work do they do, and for what audience?

Netcaring Nichemate example Nadine Mazzola.mp4
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4:35 Video (18 MB) HD Video (50 MB) Audio (4 MB)
Last updated 19 May 2023.