No matter what niche you are in, your market is like an ocean.

Red water is where everyone fishes.

Fishermen a-plenty sit cheek-by-jowl, at the end of the pier, each one convinced that they are better than anyone else. While their rods and reels, line and hooks vary, you will find they’re all using the same bait. And that’s because those they admire the most told them to. 

They’re also fishing in the same spot because that’s where most of the fish are. And, as everyone knows, if you want to catch any, then you have to go where they are. It’s just common sense.

It is sad to see because they don’t seem to realize that when everyone puts their bait in the same place, then the fish have unlimited choice. And so instead of the fishing getting easier, it becomes harder.

It’s counterintuitive; but that’s the way it works.

Small businesses are like that, too, though it doesn’t stop them from throwing their bait into the same place, time and time again, alongside their competition. On those occasions when a lot of similar fish are feeding all in one place, the big boys – the sharks – move in, gobble up most of the fish, and leave a bloody trail in the process.

And then the water turns red…

Blue water is just the opposite.

There are fewer fish, and because the pickings are smaller in number, there tend to be less, if any sharks or fishermen. Something about the water might be putting the sharks off. It’s too warm, too cold, too shallow or too deep. Sometimes the fish are too big, too small or just too few in number; for the shark it is just not worth the effort.

Now, sharks are smart. They wait for everyone else to attract the fish before they make their move.

And yet some of the big fish are smarter.

Big fish get that way because they’re clever enough to stay away from sharks, and many of them do that by swimming where sharks do not. And they also feel fairly safe because most of the fishermen just happen to be fishing somewhere else - where most of the fish are.

Smart fishermen know this, too.

And so rather than sit with the others and exchange stories about who will catch the big one, they go where no one else is and use unique custom made bait that they worked out is the all-time favourite of the one type of fish they want to catch. The other fish won’t be interested in the bait because it’s just isn’t their thing.

The smart fisherman knows the habits of the big fish, casts his line and bait in just the right place knowing that at least one big fish will be coming along soon…

Smart fishermen don’t tell fish stories either. Instead, they just take their catch home. And later, while sharing a drink with friends, they listen quietly as the others talk about the one that got away.

Where are you casting your line?

In the clear, blue water? Or just before the mayhem of a feeding frenzy?

If you want to catch big fish, then you have to work out a bait that the fish will love and that no one else has. You have to cast your line and bait in the blue water, where those big fish want to swim, away from the sharks and all the other fisherman.

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