This 90-day GamePlan is designed for Small Business Owners (SBOs) to move from doing everything for everybody at marginal profitability to a single, high-potential niche that can support their 3-Year Destination (Goal).
It is structured into three, 30-day Sprints, each ending with a critical Fail-Fast Checkpoint. Blue Belt
Table of Contents
SPRINT 1 (Days 1-30): Discovery, Internal Audit, and Idea Generation
Primary Goal: Generate a comprehensive list of possibilities and filter them based on the SBO’s core strengths and passions. The idea is to ‘fail-fast’ on the vast majority of the candidates so you only put effort into the strongest contenders.
Task | Focus Area | Description | Deliverable / Success Criteria |
1.1 Self-Audit & 80/20 Alignment | Skillset & Passion | Map your core professional skills to the problems they solve. Identify the 20% of your current work that generates 80% of your results/profit or that you enjoy most. This forms the basis for Core Expertise. READING | Documented Core Expertise Profile (3-5 high-impact skills/services). |
1.2 Million Ideas Technique | Ideation & Breadth | Brainstorm aggressively, aiming for at least 50-100 initial niche ideas by pairing your core expertise (from 1.1) with a specific client segment, industry, or problem. Example: [Core Skill: SEO] + [Client Segment: Local Dentists] = Niche Idea: SEO for Local Dental Clinics. READING | A list of 50+ Raw Niche Ideas. |
1.3 Initial Constraints Filter | Viability Check | Filter the 50+ ideas against essential constraints, forcing an early “fail” on unrealistic candidates. Score each idea (1-5) on: 1. Personal Interest (Can I do this for 3 years?) 2. Skill Match (Does this use my 80/20 skills?) 3. Client Size (Can I profitably serve them?) READING | A Shortlist of 5-8 Candidate Niches that meet minimum interest/skill requirements. |
1.4 Define the Target Client (Ideal Customer Profile – ICP) | Client Size/Industry | For the 5-8 shortlisted niches, clearly define the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Specify the industry, company size (revenue /employees), and specific job role you would target. | ICPs for 5-8 Candidates (e.g., “HR Directors at US-based SaaS companies, $5M – $25M ARR”). |
🛑 SPRINT 1 FAIL-FAST CHECKPOINT (Day 30)
Decision: Do you have at least 3-5 niche candidates that align with your Core Expertise (your 80/20) and excite you enough to dedicate 3 years to?
- IF YES: Proceed to Sprint 2.
- IF NO: Go back to Task 1.1 and refine your Core Expertise Profile. You must choose a niche that leverages your strengths, or you are building on sand.
SPRINT 2 (Days 31-60): Market Validation and Competitive Analysis
Primary Goal: Quantify the size of the opportunity or Total Available Market (TAM) and identify the competitive landscape (Blue Ocean technique for find a niche).
Task | Focus Area | Description | Deliverable / Success Criteria |
2.1 Total Addressable Market (TAM) Analysis | 3-Year Goal Alignment | For the top 3-5 candidates, calculate the TAM (total potential revenue in the niche) and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market, the share you can reasonably capture). This must support your 3-Year Destination. If the TAM is only $500k, and your 3-year goal is $2M, the niche is too small. | TAM/SOM figures for 3-5 niches. Filter out any niche that cannot support the 3-year goal. |
2.2 Competitive Deep Dive (Red Ocean) | Competition | Identify 3-5 direct competitors within each remaining niche. Analyze their offerings, pricing, and messaging (their USP). What are their customers complaining about? (Look at online reviews, forum posts). | A Competitor Matrix detailing strengths, weaknesses, and pricing for the top 3-5 players in each candidate niche. |
2.3 Blue Ocean Mapping | Unique Positioning | Use the competitor matrix to map out the White Space—the unmet needs or overlooked client segments. This is your potential Blue Ocean. Question: What critical problem is currently being solved poorly, expensively, or not at all? | A clear Value Proposition draft for 2-3 niches that occupies a clear Blue Ocean space (e.g., lower price, faster delivery, specialized outcome, guaranteed results). |
2.4 Local Market vs. Global Check | Geographic Constraint | Evaluate if the Blue Ocean solution is best delivered locally (requires physical presence or local trust) or globally / nationally (digital service). If local, is the local population / economy large enough to meet the TAM? | A Geographic Viability Statement for each niche (e.g., “Must be national/digital” or “Viable in this 3-county area”). |
🛑 SPRINT 2 FAIL-FAST CHECKPOINT (Day 60)
Decision: Is there at least one niche that has a large enough TAM/SOM to support your 3-year goal and offers a clear Blue Ocean position?
- IF YES: Select the top ONE niche candidate and proceed to Sprint 3.
- IF NO: Revisit Task 2.3. The market may be too saturated (Red Ocean) or too small. Focus on micro-niching (e.g., instead of “Digital Marketing for Lawyers,” try “LinkedIn Strategy for Personal Injury Lawyers”).
SPRINT 3 (Days 61-90): Selection and Minimum Viable Offer (MVO) Test
Primary Goal: Select the final niche, package a test offer, and validate initial demand with real-world effort. This is known as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or Offer (MVO).
Task | Focus Area | Description | Deliverable / Success Criteria |
3.1 Final Niche Decision | Clarity & Commitment | Document the final niche: Industry + Client Size + Specific Pain Point Solved + Unique Offer (ICP). This must be articulated in a single sentence. Example: “We provide executive coaching to first-time CTOs in bootstrapped FinTech startups to improve their 90-day retention rates.” | A finalized, locked-in Niche Statement. |
3.2 Develop the Minimum Viable Offer (MVO) | Execution Test | Package your core expertise (80/20) into a tiny, specific, time-bound MVO designed only for the final niche’s ICP. The offer must solve the pain point identified in 3.1. The goal is to test interest, not scalability. | A ready-to-sell Minimum Viable Offer (e.g., a $497 2-hour strategic audit, or a 5-day email course). |
3.3 Lead Magnet and Funnel Test | Validation | Create a simple landing page and a lead magnet (e.g., “The Checklist for First-Time CTOs”). Drive a small, targeted amount of traffic (e.g., using a small, highly targeted ad budget or personalized outreach to see the conversion rate. | MVO Landing Page created and 5-10 Qualified Leads generated by Day 90. |
3.4 Customer Validation Interviews | Feedback & Refinement | Talk to the qualified leads (or people who match the ICP) about their pain points. Present the MVO. The goal is to get qualitative feedback and determine if they would actually pay for the solution. | 5-10 Documented Insights on willingness-to-pay, perceived value, and necessary refinements to the MVO. |
✅ FINAL DECISION (Day 90)
Outcome: You have a validated Niche Statement and a proven MVO that has generated initial interest from real clients who fit your ICP.
- IF MVO TEST SUCCEEDS: (You booked initial calls/received positive feedback/made a sale). You now have a proven foundation. Shift the focus of the next 90-day gameplan on building and scaling the Niche Offer.
- IF MVO TEST FAILS: (Zero qualified leads, universal apathy). Fail Fast. The Niche Statement is incorrect. Revert to the second-best candidate from Sprint 2 and repeat Tasks 3.1-3.4, or return to Sprint 2 to redefine your Blue Ocean positioning.
Key Concepts for SBO
As the Small business Owner, here are some key concepts you have learnt and used to pick your niche
- Professional Skillset (Sprint 1): The 80/20 principle ensures the niche leverages the SBO’s most impactful skills, guaranteeing efficiency and initial success. You start by identifying where you already win.
- Fail Fast (Sprints 1, 2, 3 Checkpoints): This is built into the structure. You don’t perform expensive market research (Sprint 2) until you’ve confirmed internal viability (Sprint 1). You don’t build a complex product until you’ve confirmed market demand (Sprint 3).
- 3-Year Goal / Destination (Sprint 2): By requiring the SBO to calculate the TAM early, we ensure they don’t choose a niche that is fundamentally too small to sustain their growth targets, saving significant time.
- Blue Ocean Strategy (Sprint 2): This step forces the SBO to find uncontested space, preventing them from entering a “Red Ocean” where direct competition drives prices down. The key is finding a Unique Value Proposition against the competition.
This article was provided by Scott Williams AO FAIDC. It describes the way best practice in many management areas has been brought together in the 12Faces GamePlan System. The Goal is to provide an easy to use and repeatable “flywheel” to improve small business owners’ outcomes. Scott is the Founder of NFP small business support services 12Faces and MentorSME and has a Philanthropic Foundation supporting students in education. Scott’s business Petals Network was National Small Business of the Year and 4 times in the Top 100 Fastest Growing Australian Businesses LinkedIn