A few weeks ago, I attended a business networking meeting. There are many chapters of this specific business networking organization, and each chapter can have but one representative from a given field. One florist. One event planner. One car detailer. One CPA. One fitness coach. One doula.

And, of course, one “web person.”

That term makes me cringe and laugh and want to turn into the Incredible Hulk all at once. It ranks up there with people asking me to fix their computers and saying, “My best friend’s sister made a MySpace once, so I know all about web design.” (What are you supposed to say to that, anyway?)

This web gig? It’s a little-understood — or, in some cases, misunderstood — profession.

Unfortunately, for many people, technology is an amoebic blob that encompasses anything loosely connected to post-Industrial Revolution advancements. From the remote for the DVR to online banking, it’s all in there. And someone who can fix one thing can fix all the others. Right?

You also have the tech-savvy populace — the people who recognize the delineation between computer technicians and system administrators and “web people.” And God bless these people, because they won’t ever show up to a consultation and ask me to figure out why they’re getting virtual memory errors. But chances are that they still don’t have a firm grasp on the specializations that comprise each of those top-level groups.

Case in point: In said networking meeting, there were not one, not two, but four insurance agents. One does life insurance. Another does auto and home. A third does corporate insurance. At the end of the day, they’re all in the insurance field. But their specialties make their businesses distinct. They work in an industry where specialization is understood, accepted and appreciated.

Growing pains.

Insurance has been around for quite some time. Specialization became important as the needs of businesses and individuals expanded, gradually, over time. I’d guess that there was a time when customers expected every insurance agent to be a jack-of-all-trades — and when that agent tried to explain the difference between auto liability and homeowners insurance, their customer glazed over in a matter of seconds. Much like the glazing that happens when I talk about visual design, front-end markup, user experience, interaction design, application development… you get the idea.

In other words, growing pains are often resolved with time.

And with necessity. In the case of insurance, having some understanding of the types and terminology became essential to everyday life. Without car insurance, you could have your license and registration revoked. Without homeowners insurance, you could end up homeless because of a fire or flood.

I would argue that technology professions are becoming more important to daily life, and they will only become more so. But not knowing the difference between design and development isn’t likely to leave you destitute. At least not yet.

Responsibility.

As “web people,” we can’t sit back and wait for time and necessity to do the work for us. It might work out, but it’s likely to be painful (for our clients) and slow (for everyone).

Be brave.

Back to the networking meeting. Naturally, I sat down to chat with said sole web person, to find out what he actually does.

Like most “web people” out there, he started with a long list of things that he and his employees do. But after we talked for a few minutes, I found out that they really specialize in content management system development and hosting. In fact, they do those two things almost exclusively, despite feeling this obligation to offer a laundry list of services. Very narrow and specific, but extremely effective for the Right People.

We are fundamentally scared of saying “I don’t do that.” If it’s because we can’t do it, we’re afraid of looking incompetent. If it’s because we won’t do it, we’re scared of losing the client. In either case, it feels like admitting defeat.

But “web person” can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I may not want to be generalized, but when I force myself to do it all, I perpetuate the misconception.

I thought back to client consultations from months and years past and thought of the number of concessions I made because of fear — things I said I’d do because I can, not because I want to or because it’s my thing. This phenomenon goes way beyond web people. I’d be hard-pressed to find a solopreneur out there who never felt pressure to offer services beyond their target specialty.

We need to stop being scared and start being true to (or, for starters, finding) our thing. Specialization is scary, because specialization is a sign of growth and it requires us to say no. But when we’re true to our thing, we get to work with Right People and stop forcing the square peg into the round hole.

Now, that isn’t to say that jack-of-all-trades-ness is inherently bad. If you have a lot of different skills and services to offer, and all of them are true to you, you should absolutely pursue those. Your thing might even be a combination of seemingly dissimilar skills, and when you bring them together, ta-da! Brilliance! But in the same vein, just because two things are similar doesn’t mean you’re required to do both things. You just do your thing. Whatever that looks like. Period.

Each one of us teaches people how to treat us, our business and our industry. So “be brave” could also be translated as “teach by example.” Treat your business with respect and the others will follow.