Up front with the costs

One of the biggest barriers to initiating a new co-operative business relationship is the uncertainty as to how much it is going to cost. In the world of computer programming and graphic design, prices and costs are always tricky subjects. Design projects seldom go as planned. Bugs, learning curves and customer satisfaction are always major headaches and have to be discounted in the price. These cost uncertainties can inhibit many client's from making contact with an expert or specialist, even though they might have good reasons for wanting to try out their service.

A niche specialist would have an advantage in this situation because the familiarity that comes with narrow specialisation can take away most of the uncertainties. This would allow an expert in any niche speciality to provide not only examples, but, openly display reliably accurate pricing for doing jobs similar to the examples.

Using the game theory trick of making a decision based upon repeating the same thing one hundred times, a niche expert or specialist would be able to display prices that were very competitive. Even with very competitive pricing, the experts should be able to gain ample reward for their time because of their increased efficiency. The contractors and solution providers, who would be measuring the expert's pricing against the cost per hour of doing the work themselves, would likely see the prices as bargains, even when the prices might include adequate allowances for unknown contingencies.

Such speciality services would be very easy and convenient to use. Solution providers and contractors wouldn't have to negotiate the price and they'd know in advance the kind of product or service they would be getting. Word of such convenient and available expertise would soon spread. It wouldn't take long for a competent specialist to build up a critical mass of contacts, leading to a steady stream of work. And, all without the need for expensive or time consuming advertising.

In the bricks and mortar world, this degree of specialisation would be impractical. It is only in the environment of the Internet that such a niche speciality business could work.