In this week’s podcast, Manny and Adam bring on special guests John De Lorenzo and Kristopher Savage of Desert Pearl Mushrooms, a Tucson-based business that grows and sells culinary and medicinal mushrooms throughout the city. In a time of great push for plant-based proteins and meat alternatives, John and Kris strive to create a business that meets the needs of consumers who want low fat, high protein foods bringing similar flavors to meat. Plus, they grow much of their mushrooms to add variety to the flavors of Tucson’s culinary scenes. They’re selling at farmer’s markets one moment, and supplying restaurants the next. And in the future? They’ll be aiming to expand their wholesale market and medicinal line of products.

There’s no doubt these guys are creative and rightly keep their eyes for market trends.

But, like many small businesses, they might be making a mistake by chasing multiple markets beyond their current value proposition.

Even with a value delivery system and value proposition set for your business, sometimes going against the current might seem like the best way to bring growth and attract new customers. But by trying to meet customer needs in one market, while also those of another, you might risk the strong results and lasting success that comes with dedicating time and energy into one market.

New opportunities for business are everywhere, but you can’t just go in every direction. Focus on following the strongest current of market trends on the path to business success.

Thinking Points:

• How many markets is your business chasing? What benefits do you see in attracting customers in each of them?
• Are you meeting different customer needs, or do all your customers ultimately have the same need?
• Is chasing multiple markets preventing your business from reaching your goals? How would your business improve if you only focused on one market?