ChatGPT. Gemini. Claude. CoPilot.

Now DeepSeek. Next week, likely another.

Users are inundated with AI chatbot options and confused about which one to use…

And the chatbots themselves aren’t particularly helping with their messaging.

YouTube is flooded with company demos and influencer reviews…

Yet users are largely still left to their own research and trial and error to sort out how they interact with one, all, or none of these.

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One notable exception to this is Perplexity.

Rather than an open-ended, multi-use mega-tool like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, Perplexity is focused on one thing: search.

In the terms we’ve been using here, that’s Perplexity’s niche.

By choosing a niche, Perplexity has self-selected out of the “generalist” bot arms race by solving one problem only.

And you see the difference in the interfaces:

While it’s still early, this allows Perplexity to stake claims in users’ minds over time such that when they need to search, they go to Perplexity over any other chatbot.

But Perplexity can’t just stop there.

They need to articulate why their approach to search is different.

This is their core differentiator or, in our terms, their Signature POV.

And you’ll see exactly this type of messaging through their email welcome series.

Their key pillars are:

• Answers, not links
• Real-time knowledge
• Trusted sources

Here they are in the Day 1 welcome email:

These are repeated again in Day 3.

So notice how they’re not just talking about how they’re a better chatbot...

Their POV is focused on how they’re a better search tool. (Looking at you, Google…)

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So, why bring all this up to you?

As a solo consultant, finding your niche is the first thing you can do to start to differentiate yourself from the hundreds of thousands of other independent consultants out there.

But you can’t stop there. You still need to articulate your unique POV.

The framework or mantra that captures how your approach differs from your client’s alternatives for that specific problem.

By nailing both of these, you shrink your competitor set and accelerate your domain authority, making the decision to hire you much easier.

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So what’s your lane? (aka - your ‘search’)

And how do you see it differently than others just like you?

Hint: your unique experiences & insights —> your unique POV

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💡

-Wes

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P.S. The NicheFinder pilot has sold out and is underway!
​Missed your spot? Make sure you're subscribed to 💡 The Lightbulb for updates on additional February capacity.

In the meantime, feel free to email me for more details: wes@weswheless.com​

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[Photo credit: ZDNet]