Finding Your Niche Discover your strengths to distinguish your business from the rest of the crowd.

Find a need and fill it. That's what Ida Krenzin did whenshe couldn't find a retail store in Northern California thatsold quality buttons to finish the tailored suits and blouses sheenjoyed sewing at home. Rather than settle for inexpensive plasticbuttons that easily chip and don't enhance a garment, Krenzinstarted her own small business selling unusual buttons. "I hada feeling other people were as annoyed as I was about spendingplenty of money and time making a garment and having to finish itwith a 25-cent button," says Krenzin.

Her instincts were right. Through her Button Shoppe inCarmichael, California, which she founded in 1993, Krenzin sellsthousands of buttons in hundreds of different shapes, sizes andtextures. Her customers design their own clothes, or want toimprove the appearance of store-bought merchandise. They don'tmind spending from a dollar to $20 apiece for a button, especiallywhen the buttons are made of sterling silver, pewter or pearl, andare shaped as gold leaves, coins, fishes, and Raggedy Ann andAndy.

Krenzin is succeeding at niche marketing--exploiting a narrowsegment of a large, diverse market generally served by only thebiggest companies. By targeting a niche, a small firm like theButton Shoppe can offer a specialized product or service to aspecific group of customers. For Krenzin and thousands of otherentrepreneurs, niche marketing is the key to business growth andprofitability. How can you find the right niche for your business?Consider the lessons learned by Krenzin and three other nichemarketers.