There are two ways to find easy sales.

One is a good long-term strategy, the other is a trap.

Now we know from Richard Koch's work on the 80/20 Principle and his book the Star Principle...

that the most likely way to build a sustainable, profitable business is to identify a niche with 10% yearly growth potential...

Then build the #1 business in that niche.

Just about every successful business can be boiled down to those two elements.

NOW, if we start from there, that reveals a couple very interesting things about what's really going on when sales come easy.

There are two ways initial sales come easy:

1. You sell something easy to understand in an established niche.

You might call this the Fast Follower Strategy.

I see this a lot in the real estate space, where even new, inexperienced agents can generate sales because consumers' expectations are low and competition is mostly part-timers who don't treat it like a business.

However, I also see this in real estate COACHING, where the same lack of seriousness makes it easy for a successful high-achievers to get 5 or 10 coaching clients if they speak at a few events or go on a few podcasts.

The market is established, agents know what a real estate coach is, they may have people even telling them to hire a coach. So initial sales can come easy if you have good content and you're likable and trustworthy.

Now let's look at the 2nd case where sales can come easy...

2. You sell something new and different to early adopters who are looking for something new and different. You might call this the Trailblazer Strategy.

That's what almost all big businesses do in the early days. The early adopters are looking for something new and different, so when we come along and give that to them, they're at least open to hearing it. If you're likable and trustworthy, you can pick up some easy sales in the beginning, even with something new and different as long as you're going to the early adopters.

The problem is there aren't enough early adopters in most niches to build a long-term business.

So when we look for easy sales, it can be misleading. Let's take the scenario where you sell something in an established space.

When you're a fast follower, most of the time the best case scenario is you become Pepsi to someone else's Coke. The Samsung Galaxy to the iPhone. Amazon Fire to the iPad.

That's why looking for easy sales can be a trap. They can lead you right into a position where you get stuck behind a leader you can never overtake. They are already #1 in that niche, so you're mostly hoping they make a mistake or give up their position.

Building a business that takes off and gets popular, whether it's online or not, comes down to creating something remarkable. Something that raises people's social status when they buy it and especially when they talk about it.

And that rarely happens when we're the Fast Follower.

So when we seek easy sales, remember that one path leads to dominating your niche, the other is a trap that leads to 2nd place.

The harder road of selling something new and different, creating a new niche, and going from early adopters to the mainstream, that's the path to a REAL sustainable, profitable business.

And that takes leadership. Stepping up and claiming a leadership position in a niche that doesn't exist yet. It takes courage and a lot of hard thinking and interacting with the market to give them something new and different they are willing to try.

Steve Jobs and the iPad is a great example. The category of tablet computers basically didn't exist until he created it. The tech was getting close, but he had the vision and Apple had the team that executed that idea. And they created a new niche that Apple continues to dominate.

So here's the big takeaway.

Easy sales can be an indicator that we've created something new and remarkable, so early adopters are jumping on it. Or it can indicate that we've actually just created something that is capitalizing on someone else's leadership, and we're following.

Being a follower, no matter how fast you follow, is a losing strategy in the long run. Better to do the work up front to create something remarkable, compelling and memorable.

That makes sales easy to early adopters while also setting to dominate a new niche that really matters.