One of the biggest complaints I hear today is that entrepreneurs aren’t getting the recognition they deserve. Many business owners looking to land more lucrative clients and contracts struggle to distinguish themselves in an authentic and profitable way. Recently, I’ve honed in on what it takes to turn what I call “The Scorching Hot Sweet Spot™” in your business into cold, hard cash! Once you’ve mastered this process, you’ll attract better clients, gain more recognition in your industry, feel way more confident, set yourself apart from the herd, stop worrying about the competition, and earn more money.

It’s a simple model. Think back to your high school algebra or logic class to the phrase “Venn Diagram.” The Scorching Hot Sweet Spot is at the intersection of three elements:

1. Your expertise and passions
2. Your customers’ needs
3. Your offer, well-timed

Your expertise and passions
It’s critical you know what you’re really good at and it’s likely that you don’t. If you’re like most people, you undervalue what you know. When something comes naturally to you, it’s easy to assume that everyone else is good at it too. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Take a trip down memory lane and ask yourself what you loved to do as a child or teenager. Recall the kinds of things people have asked your advice on over the years. When you’re clear about your expertise and focus your business around the expression of that expertise, you’ll be effective and experience less struggle. Work will feel graceful and full of ease. If you aren’t aware of and don’t effectively market the value of your skills, you’ll sound like everyone else when competing for clients or projects. You’ll seem like a commodity and be easily replaced by someone with a lower bid.

When you focus on what you’re passionate about, you’ll also experience a feeling of fulfillment and joy. Time will fly by because you’re doing what you love.

Your customers’ needs
People will pay good money to someone who is perceived as being the person who can help them solve their most urgent issues. You have to know what keeps customers awake at night and how your “magic” will let them rest more peacefully. If you aren’t aware of their problems, your marketing messages will sound to them like Charlie Brown’s teacher going, “Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.” They don’t care how cool your process is. They only care about their own pain and getting rid of it.

Your offer, well-timed
You must have a specific methodology you use to help solve those problems. That’s your “offer.” Having a trademark system in place gives you more credibility and positions you as an expert. When you can describe and name your process, it’s value goes up. This is one of the steps I take my clients through in my VIP “Monetize Your Niche” private consulting days.

The second component of this is the “well-timed” part. You could have the most compelling solution but if it fixes a problem the customer doesn’t have right now, you likely won’t get the sale. You must learn to recognize the buying signals that foretell a prospect is ready to take action.

When you clarify these three elements and implement new activities that support them in your business, you’ll be on the way to putting more cash in the bank!