To Niche or Not to Niche, that is the Question...

What is a 'niche'? Well, the dictionary defines niche as "a comfortable or suitable position in life or employment. An alternate definition of a niche is "a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service." As an adjective, a niche "denotes products, services or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population."

I think it is safe to say that a niche is our suitable small business segment in which we provide specific products or services.

We can consider niche practices in two ways, and I will use the medical profession as an illustration.

For years, there were 'doctors' who performed a wide range of tasks, from treating injuries and delivering babies to diagnosing illnesses and performing surgeries. These kinds of physicians were among the first 'medical shows' to appear on TV. For those of you old enough to remember, I am talking about shows like Dr. Kildare (portrayed by the young Richard Chamberlain), whose mentor was Dr. Gillespie (portrayed by Raymond Massey), or Marcus Welby, MD (starring Robert Young). Or physicians portrayed in television or movies of the old west, like Doc Adams, portrayed by Milburn Stone, or even Jimmy Stewart's portrayal of Dr. Hostetler in "The Shootist".

Then along came 'specialists' like obstetrics (to deliver babies), E.R. physicians (treating injuries), Internists (Internal medicine specialists), or surgeons of all types (general, heart, vascular, neurological, etc.). Of these, I think Hugh Laurie's portrayal of Gregory House, MD, was a marvelous bit of real-life acting. Still, even the young Zac Efron's portrayal of Jim Carrico, MD, the attending Parkland resident in the E.R. who was the first physician to begin resuscitative efforts on the mortally wounded President Kennedy, exemplified the kind of specializations I'm talking about.

Of course, I'm sure that every person reading this article has real-life primary care and specialist physicians involved in their health care, and so you understand the differences between a 'general practitioner' and a 'specialist.'

But to step back in medical history a few years, I would mention that shortly after the development of X-rays, almost every physician's clinic had an X-ray machine. Even Marcus Welby, MD, had an X-ray machine in his home, which served as the residence of his medical practice. Back then, physicians were taught how to use a basic X-ray machine and interpret the 'films' it produced. But as equipment became more sophisticated, methods changed, and interpretations required more than diagnosing a crack in a broken bone. With those changes, a new physician specialty was born, 'Radiologists.' However, radiologists did not treat patients; they provided a service to treating physicians by performing X-ray services and interpreting the results. The same thing could be said of Pathologists, who examine blood, tissue, and other specimens and render an educated analysis regarding those specimens.

While Obstetricians, Cardiologists, Vascular Surgeons, Neurologists, and many other specialists represent one form of 'niche' practice that defines the level of care a patient receives, physicians like radiologists and pathologists represent the medical community's interest in patient well-being by providing ancillary opinions that caregivers need.

Today's accounting and bookkeeping environment is undergoing a similar dimensionality shift when it comes to 'niche' specialization. Accountants can be "general practitioners" and take on all types of clients. Other Accountants specialize in different kinds of patients (oops, I mean clients). They have a 'niche' practice for construction firms, educational institutions, manufacturing, eCommerce, restaurants, retailers, non-profits, or even lawyers.

But as with physicians, there are also accounting niches being created around 'rendering support services' to other accountants, or performing only a specific type of accounting-related task. "Forensic accounting" is such a niche because it rarely is the first accounting being performed; instead, it's the accounting practice called when all the other accounting (the general practitioner, or even the accounting specialist in a niche practice) can't figure out "where the mess is." If you've seen the movie "The Accountant" starring Ben Affleck (as Christian Wolff), then you are undoubtedly aware of a prime example of 'finding the needle in the bookkeeping haystack.'

Whether you developed your accounting niche because of some background influence like having had "family in that business", or perhaps you even "had your first job in that type of business", you could probably use some 'batting practice' to bolster your client service opportunities. A few tips on how to add 'ancillary services' to secure greater revenue in either billable services, or inflated value-based package pricing could probably serve you well.

That's why my good friend Gregg Bossen's Future Forward show on Monday, August 4, 2025, at 1:00 PM Eastern would serve you well. Greg will be speaking on Key Strategies for Exponential Growth of your Niche (practice) Firm. He will discuss opportunities to more effectively service your clients and ways to earn more revenue by offering companion or à la carte services. And even how you might be able to partner with other accounting or consulting firms to bring new service offerings to your clients.

Gregg is not only an expert in this area, but also a downright entertaining speaker, so don't miss his Future Forward show this coming Monday afternoon.    

But just as 'Dr. House' was the physician that everyone turned to when they couldn't understand the lab reports, the X-rays, the myriad of tests, and the symptoms the patient presented. Another type of accountant might choose to be the 'diagnostician' of business finances. I'm referring to the accountant who adopts the role of "analyst or metric-matician" (a term coined by Murph), embracing metrics, including their theory, and the practical application of business analytics and key performance indicators across various business sectors.

Such individuals wishing to take on this niche might go hunting on Amazon or eBay for a copy of "Business Analysis with QuickBooks," the book I served as Technical Editor for, with Conrad Carlberg (as Author), way back in 2010, in hopes of "doing the analytics the old-fashioned way." On the other hand, there is a more straightforward and practical method of accomplishing this role.

The solution is Qvinci! Qvinci can take a QuickBooks (or Xero) data file, extract all the transactional data, and report essentially every applicable metric in seconds. Taking the work of using the SDK or API to fetch information, or exporting reports and turning around and importing them into Excel, to apply formula after formula to achieve numeric indicators that most businesses need to be aware of, even if they don't know they need to be aware of them.

Future Forward can also educate you on adopting Qvinci to make such a 'niche practice' an overwhelming success with far less effort than the steps Conrad and I outlined fifteen years ago. Please join me as I welcome Charles Nagel and Brad Adams of Qvinci to share insights with our Future Forward participants on building a highly profitable advisory practice focused on analytics and metrics for small, medium, and large businesses.

The Qvinci QTAP program can get you up and running quickly, help you build your practice, and provide analytics like only Qvinci can do. Who knows, you might even be able to 'partner' with other accountants, bookkeepers, or ProAdvisors to provide the analytical reports, like Green-for-good, Red-for-bad, KPI scorecards that are a Qvinci staple to help clients quickly identify areas of weakness needing improvement.

The Qvinci Future Forward show will be held on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Charles will be demonstrating the functionalities of Qvinci, designed to maximize 'simple to understand' key performance measures every business needs. You can register for this informative Qvinci Future Forward session Here.

Register Here for all the Future Forward episodes August 4 – 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM Eastern.

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