If you are interested in learning highly effective, yet simple ways to use data-driven market research to find and maximize your niche, this episode is for you!
In this candid and informative conversation with XYPN member Marlon Wesh, MBA, founder of Wesh Financial, we learn how Marlon’s early experience in HR for the Marine Corps helped formulate his firm’s operational systems. We also hear how earning his undergraduate degree and MBA in business administration was tremendously helpful in structuring the business side of his firm—especially his marketing classes which informed his approach to finding his niche.
While completing his MBA, he did an internship with Merrill Lynch and decided that his path would be better served as an entrepreneur where he owned 100% of his business and where someone else wasn’t testing out their inclusivity on him.
He launched his firm in late 2019 with minimal planning experience, but a whole lot of grit and self-confidence. He tried a few niches and quickly established that just because there’s a gap in the market, it doesn’t mean there’s a market in the gap. So, he turned to methods informed by both his marketing classes and what came most naturally to him: data-driven market research.
His strategic approach proved to be both satisfying and profitable. A Google search that started with “What are professions that have complicated taxes?” ultimately led him to his niche: traveling nurses. He didn’t stop there though, he studied multiple online forums where traveling nurses shared what he determined were pain points. He then turned those pain points into his selling points—which directly fueled his success.
Marlon was super open about the challenges of starting a firm, especially with young kids, and how he and his wife ultimately navigated it. He also shared that the next phase of his business will focus on helping advisors with their marketing. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/365