I'm wanting to turn my expertise as a teacher and Programmer into a business, and have made a start by committing to blogging and creating some initial digital products. My website is here: Compucademy
However I am confused by what appears to be some conflicting advice around niches vs scalabilty. In The Millionaire Fastlane , MJ talks about the Commandment of Scalability. yet this seems to be in conflict with the idea of choosing a specialist niche. I originally thought I would focus on providing resources for students and teachers of UK based Computer Science exams (which have also have international uptake), but now I'm thinking this could put a serious upper limit on my number of customers. I'm wondering if I should "niche out" and focus on for example:
...all of which have the possibility of extending out of my pond, over the pond to America, where I may well find vastly more customers. I want to try to get this choice right from early on so I can focus my writing, creating and SEO efforts in on the right audience.
It has been surprisingly hard to find exact data, but so far I've found the figures below relating to UK based Computing Education. My question for this forum is:
Should I continue to focus on GCSE and A Level Computer Science exams, thus potentially putting a serious upper limit on my number of customers, or should I "niche out" and focus on one of the alternatives I mentioned above?
(It might be relevant to mention that many teachers are reluctant to pay for teaching resources, and the majority of students at this level get their education for free.)
It is frustrating not having enough business experience to know how to make this kind of decision. If anyone who understands these things better than me could shed some light, I would be very grateful.
***
This is some data for UK exam entries in my field from Ofqual.
UK Computing Exam Entries:
GCSE Computing
2017: 69,350
2018: 72,360
A/S Level Computing
2017: 6,175
2018: 2,780
A Level Computing
2017: 7,710
2018: 9,685
As far as I can tell, there are between 4,000 - 8,000 Computer Science teachers. This is supposed to grow to about 12,000 as more teachers are trained over the next few years.
I don't know if these figures represent a large enough audience for a viable business in this field. They don't seem astronomical to me...
However I am confused by what appears to be some conflicting advice around niches vs scalabilty. In The Millionaire Fastlane , MJ talks about the Commandment of Scalability. yet this seems to be in conflict with the idea of choosing a specialist niche. I originally thought I would focus on providing resources for students and teachers of UK based Computer Science exams (which have also have international uptake), but now I'm thinking this could put a serious upper limit on my number of customers. I'm wondering if I should "niche out" and focus on for example:
- Python in Schools
- Computer Science for Schools
- Python for Computer Science (maybe the biggest pond, as it includes adult learners?)
- Python for Computer Science in Schools
...all of which have the possibility of extending out of my pond, over the pond to America, where I may well find vastly more customers. I want to try to get this choice right from early on so I can focus my writing, creating and SEO efforts in on the right audience.
It has been surprisingly hard to find exact data, but so far I've found the figures below relating to UK based Computing Education. My question for this forum is:
Should I continue to focus on GCSE and A Level Computer Science exams, thus potentially putting a serious upper limit on my number of customers, or should I "niche out" and focus on one of the alternatives I mentioned above?
(It might be relevant to mention that many teachers are reluctant to pay for teaching resources, and the majority of students at this level get their education for free.)
It is frustrating not having enough business experience to know how to make this kind of decision. If anyone who understands these things better than me could shed some light, I would be very grateful.
***
This is some data for UK exam entries in my field from Ofqual.
UK Computing Exam Entries:
GCSE Computing
2017: 69,350
2018: 72,360
A/S Level Computing
2017: 6,175
2018: 2,780
A Level Computing
2017: 7,710
2018: 9,685
As far as I can tell, there are between 4,000 - 8,000 Computer Science teachers. This is supposed to grow to about 12,000 as more teachers are trained over the next few years.
I don't know if these figures represent a large enough audience for a viable business in this field. They don't seem astronomical to me...
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