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Do you ever find yourself in the middle of a challenge with your business and wondering,\n\u201cHow did I get here\u2026again?!\u201d\nNothing feels worse than the suspicion that you\u2019ve been spinning your wheels for the past month. (Or quarter. Or year.) The last thing we want is to get caught in a downward spiral, where we never get to overcome our struggles and rise past a certain level.\nBut what if that spiral was actually going up, not down?\nI spoke with Nathalie Lussier, world-class digital strategist and email building expert, about this problem that confronts all of us: how to understand the recurring patterns in our business.\nNot only does she give some sage advice on how to deal with these patterns, but she shows how embracing them can actually help you build your business by narrowing your niche.\nWe usually think of business strategy as being a line between Point A and Point B\u2026and measure our success by how straight that line is.\nBut in real life, Nathalie says, the path is more like a spiral staircase.\xa0As we make our way up to the next level, we revisit the same issues, challenges and themes over and over again.\xa0\nWhen you come up against circumstances that make you think \u201cHow did I get here again?\u201d, flip the way you\u2019re looking at them. Even if it\u2019s the same issue, you\u2019re in a different place with it than you were six months (or even six weeks) ago.\nWhat\u2019s more, each time you revisit that same situation, you learn something a new and deeper lesson about it, which you can then pass on to your target audience. They\u2019re all climbing spiral staircases of their own, and they need your story to help them keep going.\nEPISODE FREEBIE Click Here to Get Nathalie's "Spiral Staircase Exercise"\n FREE DOWNLOAD\nNarrowing Your Niche Helps You Ask for What You Want\nThink about some of your mini-goals for this quarter. Maybe you want to get published in a prominent magazine or website. Maybe you want to speak at someone\u2019s live event, or host an event of your own. Maybe you want to join forces with another business.\nThese kinds of opportunities don\u2019t usually come knocking\u2014you have to ask for them. Chances are, you\u2019re one of several people asking.\nBut when you have a clearly defined, highly specific niche, you\u2019re bringing something to the table that will stand out.\xa0\nYour niche gives you leverage to show why what you have to say matters, who is going to listen, and how success in that opportunity can be measured. Those are win-wins for you and the person you\u2019re asking.\nEPISODE FREEBIE Click Here to Get Nathalie's "Spiral Staircase Exercise"\n FREE DOWNLOAD\nNarrowing Your Niche Reconnects You with the Deeper Meaning of Your Business\nTake a minute to really search your soul. What are you really passionate about changing in the world? Whom do you feel the most empathy for? Whose troubles do you burn to solve?\nYour compassion is a powerful indicator of where your niche really lies.\xa0Identify the people whose struggles motivate you the most, and let them become co-creators of your business by defining your work around their needs.\n\u201cA lot of times, we get caught up in the logistics and the analytics, what\u2019s the conversation rate, what\u2019s the opt-in rate\u2026 Just remember that there\u2019s a human being on the other side of that screen who has their own heartbeat, hopes, dreams and goals. When I\u2019m sending an email, I\u2019m not sending an email to my list\u2014I\u2019m sending an email to all these incredible human beings.\u201d\nNext time you find yourself in an all-too-familiar position in your business, don\u2019t lose heart. Look for the opportunities it offers\u2014opportunities that you\u2019d never have seen last time you were in this place. There\u2019s nothing wrong with a spiral if it\u2019s leading you upward.