Your Positioning - How to Talk About What You Do

Positioning is one of the most important — and most misunderstood — parts of starting a business. It's how you answer the question: "So what do you do?"

Most people answer that question with a job title: "I'm a consultant," or "I'm a coach," or "I do management advising." These answers communicate almost nothing useful. They don't tell someone whether you can help them. They don't explain what problem you solve. They don't give the person a reason to keep listening.

Good positioning is different. It's a strategic decision about how you want to be perceived in the minds of the people you want to serve. It's the difference between being a generic option in a crowded field and being the obvious choice for a specific group of people with a specific problem.

And here's the good news: your experience as a displaced worker actually makes positioning easier, not harder. Because you've lived the problems you're going to solve, you can describe them with a specificity and authenticity that generalists can't match.

Why Positioning Matters More Than You Think

Let me tell you a story. Two former IT managers both start consulting businesses in the same month. Both are equally skilled. Both have similar experience. But they position themselves very differently.

Consultant A says: "I help companies with their IT challenges."

Consultant B says: "I help mid-size healthcare organizations that are struggling with HIPAA compliance to become audit-ready in 90 days, without disrupting patient care."

Consultant A gets polite nods and business cards that go in a drawer. Consultant B gets responses like: "Oh wow, my friend Rachel runs IT at a medical group and she was just telling me about their compliance nightmare. Can I connect you?"

Same skills. Same experience. Completely different results. The difference is positioning.

Here's why Consultant B wins:

1. Specificity triggers memory. When you say "mid-size healthcare organizations struggling with HIPAA compliance," the listener immediately thinks of specific people they know who fit that description. When you say "companies with IT challenges," the listener thinks of... nothing specific.

2. Specificity signals expertise. When you can describe exactly who you help and what you help them with, people assume you're deeply expert in that area — even if Consultant A has the same knowledge. Specificity creates a perception of depth.

3. Specificity makes referrals easy. The listener knows exactly who to send your way. With generic positioning, they'd have to do mental work to figure out if anyone they know would benefit. People don't do mental work for strangers. Make it easy.

4. Specificity justifies premium pricing. A generic IT consultant might charge $125/hour. A HIPAA compliance specialist for healthcare organizations can charge $250/hour without any pushback. Same work. Different perceived value.

The Positioning Formula

Good positioning instantly communicates four things:

• Who you help (the specific type of customer)
• What problem you solve (the specific pain point)
• What result they get (the specific outcome)
• Why they should trust you (what they're afraid of, and how you eliminate that fear)

Here's the formula:

"I help [type of company or person] who are struggling with [specific problem] to [achieve specific outcome] without [what they're afraid of]."

This formula works because it does something unusual: it speaks directly about the customer's situation rather than your credentials or job description. Customers don't care about your title. They don't care about your methodology. They don't care about your "holistic approach to strategic transformation." They care about whether you can solve their problem.

Let's break down each component and get specific about how to fill it in.

Who You Help

This should be specific enough that someone hearing it could immediately picture a real person or company. "Small businesses" is too broad. "Series A tech startups with 20-50 employees" is specific. "Healthcare organizations" is too broad. "Outpatient clinics with 5-15 providers" is specific.

Think about:
- What industry are they in?
- How big are they (employees, revenue, locations)?
- What's the role or title of the person who would hire you?
- What stage are they at (startup, growing, established, in transition)?

The narrower you go, the more powerful your positioning becomes. It feels scary to narrow down — like you're leaving money on the table. But the opposite is true. You can always expand later. Starting narrow lets you build a reputation and a client base that becomes your foundation.

What Problem They're Struggling With

Be specific about the problem, and use the language your customers would use. Not the technical language you'd use internally, but the words they'd actually say when describing their frustration.

For example:
- Not "suboptimal operational workflows" but "spending 20 hours a week on manual reporting"
- Not "inadequate compliance infrastructure" but "living in fear of the next audit"
- Not "insufficient talent pipeline management" but "losing good candidates because your hiring process takes too long"

The best way to figure out the right language is to literally listen to how people in your target market describe their problems. Go back to conversations you've had. Think about what your former colleagues complained about. The words they used are the words your positioning should use.

What Outcome They Get

The outcome should be concrete and desirable. Ideally, it should be something the customer can picture and measure.

• Not "better results" but "cut report preparation time from 20 hours to 4 hours"
• Not "improved compliance" but "pass your next audit with zero findings"
• Not "enhanced team performance" but "fill open positions in 30 days instead of 90"

Notice how each of these outcomes is something the customer would be genuinely excited about. They can picture it. They can imagine telling their boss about it. That's the test of a good outcome statement.

What They're Afraid Of

This is the part most people leave out, and it's often the most powerful part. Every potential buyer has a fear that's preventing them from taking action. Maybe they're afraid that:

• Hiring a consultant will be expensive and they'll get burned again
• The solution will be disruptive to their operations
• They'll have to learn new software or change the way they work
• The consultant will give them a 100-page report that collects dust
• They'll be "that person" who wasted the budget on an outside hire

When your positioning addresses their fear directly, you remove the biggest barrier to them saying yes.

Let's Look at Examples

Example 1: Former Government Worker

"I help government contractors who are struggling with compliance requirements to stay audit-ready and avoid fines, without hiring a full-time compliance team."

• Who: government contractors
• Problem: compliance requirements
• Outcome: stay audit-ready and avoid fines
• Fear addressed: having to hire an expensive full-time team

Why this works: Government contractors know compliance is critical but often can't justify a full-time hire. This positioning says "I'll give you the benefit of a compliance team without the cost." That's irresistible to the right buyer.

Example 2: Former Product Manager

"I help early-stage startup founders who are building products to understand what customers actually want, without wasting 6 months building the wrong thing."

• Who: early-stage startup founders
• Problem: building products without knowing if they're right
• Outcome: build things customers actually want
• Fear addressed: wasting months of development time

Why this works: Every startup founder's worst nightmare is building something nobody wants. This positioning directly names that fear and promises to eliminate it.

Example 3: Former Healthcare Administrator

"I help healthcare organizations who are struggling with patient retention to improve outcomes and satisfaction scores, without adding headcount."

• Who: healthcare organizations
• Problem: patient retention
• Outcome: improved outcomes and satisfaction scores
• Fear addressed: having to hire more people

Example 4: Former Finance Manager

"I help finance teams who are drowning in manual reporting processes to save 10+ hours per week, without having to implement complex new software."

• Who: finance teams
• Problem: manual reporting processes
• Outcome: save 10+ hours per week
• Fear addressed: complex software implementations

Example 5: Former HR Director

"I help growing companies that keep losing new hires in the first 90 days to build onboarding programs that actually retain talent, without adding full-time HR staff."

• Who: growing companies with retention problems
• Problem: losing new hires quickly
• Outcome: onboarding programs that retain talent
• Fear addressed: hiring full-time HR staff they can't afford

Look at what each of these has in common: specific customer, specific problem, specific outcome, specific fear addressed. Nobody hearing these would be confused about what you do.

Building Your Positioning Statement: A Step-by-Step Exercise

Take 30 minutes — not 5 minutes, not "I'll think about it later," but 30 actual minutes — and work through this exercise.

Step 1: Write Down Your Top 3 Problems

From the Problem Inventory exercise in Chapter 1, pick the three problems that scored highest across all five dimensions. Write them down.

Step 2: For Each Problem, Identify the Ideal Buyer

Who has this problem most acutely? What's their title? What kind of company are they at? What's keeping them up at night about this problem? Be specific.

Step 3: For Each Problem, Define the Outcome

What would success look like for this buyer? How would they describe it to their boss? What would be different in their work life if this problem were solved? Make it concrete and measurable.

Step 4: For Each Problem, Name the Fear

What's holding this buyer back from investing in a solution? What have they been burned by before? What would make them hesitate even if they knew you could help?

Step 5: Assemble Your Positioning Statements

Now fill in the template for each of your three problems:

"I help [specific type of person or organization] who are struggling with [specific problem] to [achieve a specific outcome] without [the thing they're trying to avoid], because [your unique advantage or experience]."

Write all three. Don't edit as you write — just get them down.

Step 6: The Out-Loud Test

Read each one out loud. Not in your head — actually out loud. The one that sounds the most natural and true is usually the best one. If something sounds awkward when you say it, it will sound awkward when a potential client hears it. Revise until it flows.

Step 7: The Friend Test

Tell your positioning statement to two or three people you trust — ideally people who are in or adjacent to your target market. Watch their reaction:

• If they immediately say "Oh, I know someone who needs that!" — you've nailed it.
• If they nod thoughtfully and say "that makes sense" — you're close but might need more specificity.
• If they look confused or ask clarifying questions — go back and refine.
• If they immediately start telling you about their own version of the problem — that's the best possible response. You've struck a nerve.

Common Positioning Mistakes

Mistake 1: Being too broad. "I help businesses succeed" is not positioning. It's a motivational poster. The more people who could theoretically be your customer, the fewer who will actually become your customer. Narrow down.

Mistake 2: Leading with your methodology. "I use a proprietary six-step framework for operational excellence." Nobody cares about your framework. They care about the result. Your methodology is how you deliver — it's not your positioning.

Mistake 3: Focusing on features instead of outcomes. "I provide compliance audits, training programs, and documentation templates." Those are features. The outcome is "pass your next audit without a single finding." Lead with the outcome.

Mistake 4: Using jargon your customers don't use. If your customer is a small business owner, don't use enterprise consulting language. If your customer is a healthcare administrator, don't use Silicon Valley startup language. Match their vocabulary.

Mistake 5: Trying to appeal to everyone. If your positioning statement could be said by anyone in your general field, it's not specific enough. Your positioning should reflect your unique combination of experience, knowledge, and perspective.

Mistake 6: Changing your positioning every week. Positioning takes time to work. You need to use it consistently for at least 30-60 days before you can fairly evaluate whether it's resonating. Don't abandon ship after three conversations.

Your Positioning Is Not Permanent

Here's something that should relieve some pressure: your positioning statement is a working hypothesis, not a blood oath. You're going to test it (we'll cover how in Chapter 6), and based on what you learn, you'll refine it.

The best positioning evolves over time. You might start by helping "government contractors with compliance" and discover that your real sweet spot is "government contractors who are applying for their first major federal contract." That's great — you've gotten more specific based on real market feedback.

The goal right now is to have a positioning statement that's specific enough to start conversations and test. It doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to be clear, specific, and true.

What Comes Next

Your positioning statement is the lens through which everything else in your business will be viewed. It determines who you market to, what content you create, what your website says, how you price your services, and who you say "no" to.

In the next chapter, we'll go deeper into the specific advantages that make your positioning defensible — your unfair advantages. These are the things that make it possible for you to deliver on the promise in your positioning statement better than anyone else could.

Key Takeaways:

• Positioning answers "what do you do?" in a way that makes someone want to keep listening
• The formula: "I help [who] struggling with [problem] to [outcome] without [fear]"
• Positioning should focus on the customer's situation, not your credentials
• Write three versions, read them aloud, and test the best one on real people