Okay. Let's Have The Niche Talk.
Everyone has a niche.
Let me confuse you real good.
This is all real advice from different people who are huge online and who I deeply respect.
Specificity sells.
You don’t need a niche.
Write to yourself from 2 years ago.
Monetize with high-end offers (that the you from 2 years ago would never buy).
Be authentic.
Show up daily & write on social media, even if you hate it (how is that being authentic?)
Your head spinning yet?
Here’s what you must understand about solopreneurship.
(Yes, you are a solopreneur.)
There isn’t an educational theory about solopreneurship other than what solopreneurs build online, so everyone tells you what worked for them.
Which isn’t necessarily what will work for you.
That’s why learning the foundations and building a strategy that fits your business and goals is so important.
But I’m spinning.
What I wanted to talk about today is the niche.
I see too many solopreneurs (including writers) who drift aimlessly because they bought into the “just do it and it’ll come” advice.
From time to time, I see the other type—solopreneurs who feel trapped by their niche and start to resent the business they’re building.
So do we need a niche and how do we choose it?
Here’s the answer real quick.
Yes, you do need a niche. Everyone has a niche, even the people who claim they don’t have a niche.
No, you can’t choose your niche right from the start. You have to start working and let it form.
BUT! You do need to choose one thing right from the start: who you want to talk to.
In fact, that’s the official definition of a “niche” in marketing. Many people think a niche is about the what. No, it’s about the who.
“A niche is a focused segment of people with a specific problem, interest, or identity that you consistently serve through your content, products, or services.”
I’d add to this: a niche also includes your angle. It’s the “authenticity” part, only it’s not about all of you but about a part of you; about a set of beliefs you hold.
For example:
Seth Godin talks to business owners + maybe marketing managers. His angle is depth, permission, strategy.
Tim Denning talks to people who are sick of their jobs & lives and desperately need a change. His angle is take action.
In conclusion:
Choose the who right from the get go. It could be the you from 2 years ago, but it could also be a client you loved working with or an industry you’re passionate about.
Let the angle form in time based on what part of you people respond to best.
Till next time,
Maya
PS. The second lesson of the Wow Copywriting Program “How To Say The Right Things” is now out and it’ll help you learn more about your ideal audience & talk to them so they listen.
Choosing a niche is one approach, but not the only one when it comes to building a successful brand or business, at least in my experience.
As someone who worked with Seth Godin on three different projects over seven years, I have witnessed him succeed over and over by simply being the niche. Seth chose himself very early on and leveraged self-awareness and self efficacy to define and embrace who he really is, what he’s really good at, and where he really belongs and always shows up playing his game on his terms, all in and full out.
To some, Seth is indeed in the marketing niche, for others he is in a strategy niche, for others he is in a creative niche, and for others he may be in any of a number of other niches.
In many ways, I think it is possible to think about niches and the same way we think about brand. It’s less about who we choose and how we want to be seen and more about who chooses us and how they see us.
This is very similar to what I wrote in my article and mini-ebook about finding the niche.
I actually started from something different: the transformation. What transformation do you want to bring to your audience?
This surfaces your who, which often is implicit.
And the who will also surface a set of main topics.