If this year is going to be different in your business, it has to start with clarity, not guesswork. I’ve found that grounding your goals in the local context of your business is one of the most effective ways to build momentum at the start of the year.

In today’s episode, I walk through how to assess real opportunity in your local market. Too often, business owners focus first on competitors, pricing, and what everyone else is doing. In this conversation, I explain why that’s the least important place to start and what actually matters if you want sustainable growth.

If you’ve been setting big goals for this year but feel unsure where to focus, this episode will help you rethink how you evaluate opportunity, define your value, and identify the client types that create outsized returns in your specific community.

⏱️ Timestamps
0:00 – Why local market context matters going into a big year
0:34 – What people get wrong about competitor research
1:17 – Differentiation and why pricing should follow value
2:14 – Why being the price leader starts with clarity
2:52 – Defining your unique value proposition
3:20 – Why “who your business is for” should guide everything
4:09 – Using community data to identify opportunity
5:01 – A real example of narrowing focus without losing growth
6:02 – Looking inward at your current client base
7:01 – Final thoughts on starting the year grounded and focused

🧠 Key Takeaways
• Why competitor research matters less than most people think
• How clear differentiation creates pricing confidence
• Why narrowing your focus actually reduces risk, not opportunity
• How defining your ideal client improves every marketing decision
• Two practical ways to identify high-opportunity client types
• Why local data is more powerful than assumptions
• How looking inward can reveal overlooked growth paths

🚀 Want a Real-World Example of What’s Possible?
If you want to see what clarity, positioning, and strategic focus can actually create, I’ve put together a case study showing how one pet care business grew monthly revenue from $19,000 to over $73,000 in a single year.

It breaks down how opportunity was assessed, where decisions were made differently, and why focus mattered more than expansion.

👉 You can access the case study at dogcolaunch.com/case-study and see how DogCo supports pet care owners who are ready to grow with intention and confidence.

This episode is a reminder that growth doesn’t come from copying competitors or doing more for the sake of doing more. It comes from understanding your market, your people, and the opportunities already around you, and choosing to build from there.