HOW TO USE A "HOT MARKET" TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
Copyright 2001 By Bob Leduc

Do you remember all the anxiety about Y2K in 1999? It 
created a "hot market". A lot of businesses jumped into that 
hot market. Many of them failed when the Y2K problem 
evaporated. But a few used the unique opportunity it 
provided to build permanent, profitable businesses.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A NEW HOT MARKET

A hot market usually involves something new or previously 
unknown. It offers a big benefit or solves a big problem for 
a lot of people.

Pay attention to what you hear from other business owners, 
what you read in trade publications or what you find on the 
Internet. When you uncover a new product or service ask 
yourself, "What are the characteristics of the customers who 
use this? Are there lots of them and are they easy to find?" 
If your answer is "yes", you may have discovered a new hot 
market.

When you think you've found a hot market, look for ways you 
can profit from it. For example, you may be able to become a 
distributor for the product or service you found ...or you 
can develop your own products or services to serve the same 
market.

GET IN AT THE BEGINNING

A hot market can produce a surge of business for a short 
period of time, especially if you get in at the beginning. 
That's when sales are easy to get because the market is 
growing and there isn't much competition. Later, it becomes 
more difficult and expensive to get sales as more 
competitors flood into the market. Hot markets become highly 
competitive.

Most hot markets won't vanish like the Y2K market. A hot 
market may be a permanent market but the extraordinary 
profit potential it offers is temporary. It's difficult to 
build a permanent business based exclusively on a hot 
market. But you can use it as a temporary opportunity to 
launch a new business or to increase the profits of your 
existing business.

OPPORTUNITY TO LAUNCH A NEW BUSINESS

You can launch a new business based on a hot market and use 
the profits from it to finance your entry into other 
markets. When the profit potential of the hot market starts 
to fade it will only be a portion of your total income.

For example, I recently read about a new company launched in 
1998. The business started by selling a software product the 
owners developed to find and correct Y2K problems. Sales 
were brisk and they used the profits to develop other new 
software products NOT related to Y2K. By the time the Y2K 
market vanished they were getting most of their sales from 
other products. 

A NEW PROFIT CENTER FOR AN EXISTING BUSINESS

You can also diversify an existing business into a hot 
market to take advantage of its profit potential. When the 
profit potential declines you can decide whether to abandon 
the market or continue to operate it as a "normal" profit 
center.

I know several marketers on the Internet who regularly do 
this with new affiliate programs. They get in early and 
vigorously promote the program to quickly sign up a lot of 
new affiliates. They stop the special promotions when 
competition gets heavy but continue to offer the program as 
one of the many services they provide.

Try to spot emerging hot markets. They offer a profitable 
business opportunity with minimum risk -- especially if you 
can get in early. When you find one, use it to launch a new 
business or add it as a new profit center to your existing 
business.

Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales 
personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a Sales 
Consultant. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business 
owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With 
Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help 
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information... 
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards". 
Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time) 
Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133