In The Bootstrappers Workshop we’ve had a lot of discussions on how to choose the bootstrappers audience and how they can gain from concentrating on their “Smallest Viable Audience” (SVA).

The most important reasons to have an SVA instead of a large audience were linked to the idea of gaining focus and that as the force of one a bootstrapper can’t serve everyone.

Being a force of one the bootstrapper benefits from becoming specific on how he wants to serve and what he want to make work as this enables him to actually reach his customers and serve them.

Focus on the other hand is a building block to becoming the meaningful specific Zig Ziglar has been talking about. The more focus a bootstrapper has, the easier it becomes to obsess about the fears, needs and desires his audience has which makes it even more possible to serve and delight his customers. Developing focus also means to have the humility to restrict oneself to a small group, but what it does is helping to stay away from being a wandering generality who states “What do you want? I’ll do it for you.”

But how does having an audience serve us in finding customers?

Having an audience, that wants to hear about the bootstrappers new idea and that is eager to pay him, means that it is possible for a bootstrapper to pick the customer he seeks to serve within his audience. It means having a bootstrappers mindset and seeking customers who have a problem that the bootstrapper can help them solve. In fact, starting with the person who has the problem gives the bootstrapper a chance to dig deep and find that person.

Pick your audience, pick your customers, pick your future:

By choosing an audience that has a bias for action, where people want to move forward and who are open to hear about what you have to say, you create yourself opportunities.

By knowing the problem you can help people to solve you pick your customers.

Select your customers within a SVA that talks to itself, that sticks to a proven solution and look for a SVA who isn’t doing you a favor by listening to you but for a SVA you are doing a favor to by telling them about your new idea and you select your future.