Niche: It's Weird To Say, And Harder To Put A Finger On

Do you feel if you hear the word Niche one more time you're going to explode? Me too.😉

Don't you even think about it - I see you over there about to say it..."NEESH." My goodness. Niche is a fancy, not so fancy word which in layman's terms is described as: working at what you are best suited to do. That sounds simple, but for some of us it's difficult to know what we want to do, let alone what we're good at.

Knowing your specialty is something everyone struggles with at some point in their life. From finding the right career to picking what color shirt to wear, it's not easy to make any decision. That's why we need to talk about it - the dreaded niche.

As there are so many job options today to choose from it can be difficult to know what field to work in, let alone what specialty to pick within your chosen field. Me - I'm a writer. My niches are as broad as my interests. For writers, it may be easier to pick a niche because writing about something is different to actually doing it. Regardless, I'll let you know what advice I have on the dreaded act of choosing your niche later in the article. Whether you're beginning a journey as a highly-skilled worker, social media personality, business owner, laborer, or just about anything involving flavors (niches), you need to know how to choose. You don't need to choose just one, but you do need to make some decisions about what you want to do well so your clientele gets the most out of your work.

Starting out in a field, but have no idea what to specialize in? That's completely normal.

You can't pick a career specialty until you have experience. Simple as that. Depending on what you're interested in doing, whether that be a doctor or a business owner, your level of experience will differ. Don't expect everything to come together right away. I haven't.

My first job was doing bookkeeping and writing for my parents' small business, then I worked in restaurants and later in management roles. From there I began freelancing for any job I could get my hands on. Now I write. I didn't slow down to feel bad about my decisions, I kept going.

I've worked on beaches, in office buildings, at people's houses, in restaurants, and just about in every setting. One thing I've learned over the years is what I've come to love, and now I've found myself writing.

This hasn't been an easy journey, I am sure many of you can relate. Taking all that I have learned and developing my work has been a real gift, but also a challenge. As you can see at the beginning of my career path, I had no idea what to do let alone what my niche would be. When it comes to feeling like you don't have a specialty, understand that you are going through a necessary part of your journey. In order to find what you're good at, taking a journey is your first step. Try out anything and everything you can, know that nothing is permanent, and always, I mean always, keep your head up and know that your search will pay off.

Once you make that first leap you will have the experience to make decisions towards choosing your niche. Honestly, you can't know what you want until you know what you're capable of. Don't go out there and stick to something you don't love just because you told everyone else you're trying it out. Find your groove slowly, and be kind to yourself. Here's a tip: When trying something new with your career, keep it to yourself. Sometimes telling others about your plans can affect your plans themself! 🙄 Do what you love and you will always find peace in your life.

Maybe you have all the experience, but none of the specialty. Don't fret, you're right around the corner.

So you're on the right path but having trouble finding your niche in your chosen field?

Now is the time to explore what skills you have developed over the years. Don't forget to keep a growth mindset and never give up. Finding a niche in your industry is easiest when you have years of experience dealing with a multitude of different elements within the field. Now is time to take a look at what you can offer and how you can develop your niche:

• Do you have a passion or hobby that you could blend into your career?

• Is your passion or hobby something you could turn into a career?

• Have you worked in a certain industry for years, but are ready to move on and are interested in something new?

• Over the years have you gathered experience with or gravitated toward a certain type of project or client?

• Do you feel like there are aspects of your work now that you wish you could do all day every day?

If you can say yes to any of these then you are on the right path to selecting your specialty. People always say you should turn your passion, experience, or interests into your work, but is it that easy? If you have the experience, then yes. There are a multitude of highly-paid creative skill sets out there.

If you can somehow incorporate your hobby or passion into your work, congratulations.

For those of us with a passion or hobby we cannot blend into our current work, it's time to start researching how you can turn it into your new job.

Start now. Start on the side, but start. Don't wait any longer - you'll find some pretty amazing communities out there of people making money doing what you love! Connect with them. If you're trying to specify your work begin by practicing how you'll work with your niche. For me, if I want to write about a new subject I'll go out and learn everything I can about it. Then I practice writing my new niche until I feel that I have a good enough grasp of that subject to add it to my wheelhouse.

As time passes you'll get better. Practice makes perfect, but remembering to practice is even more perfect.

This is for my copywriting peeps in particular. Don't go crazy with choosing your specialty.

I'm not here to tell copywriters how to pick a niche. In the beginning your niche chooses you.

As a copywriter the last thing you should be worried about is what your niche is. In my opinion, copywriting niches happen naturally. You go from building your portfolio to BAM! - you have your first client.

Sometimes you have to take what you can get in the beginning. If you're too picky, you may have an awesome career, but you won't get to learn about all the amazing people, businesses, and projects out there not related to your niche.

It's kind of why I hate the word. It only means what we allow it to mean within the writing community.

Personally, I have worked with clients on concepts I had to learn about on the fly and write 500 words on in a couple of hours flat. Did I enjoy that? No. Did it help me grow? You bet your sweet time it did. 😎

I would say that you can limit yourself to working with clients that only need writing with a subject you're familiar with, but if you are great at research and have had a few clients under your belt you should be able to write about a variety of subjects.

Clients need to provide you information on their business. They need to know that everything they don't provide you'll probably research on Google. This will suffice but it won't speak to the essence of the business, and personally I would never solely rely on this method.

If they provide you with what you need to write their copy by answering all of your interview questions (it's always a two-way interview), then you should be able to write them a full website that speaks for their brand. If this isn't a skill you possess, then go out there and start working on it with clients that need simple work done that you know you can do 110%. Get paid to learn. When I say that your niche comes naturally, what I mean is that you will probably wind up working with clients that fit into the specialization of what you've done for your first few jobs. That is if you're successful. Even if you're not passionate about the niche of your current client's project, always deliver more than they could expect.

They might want you to write for their super cool hipster fashion line that's launching because they loved the way you write about their plumbing business. It happens.

In the early days, you should reasonably take what jobs are offered to you. Don't be picky if it doesn't fall into your niche, and be grateful for the experience. Working with new concepts will get your research and writing chops up to par and make you a competitive writer. If you do prefer to have a niche, finding one isn't rocket science. I hope I made that clear and have given you some practical knowledge and confidence. Please don't forget:

• Don't think too hard or too long, act now

• Flow with what is presented to you in life, you might love it

• Sometimes not having a niche is better than having one

• Be kind to yourself on your journey

• Keep your career moves to yourself and work with a passion

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Check out my article How to Handle Job Loss Like a Boss and Rise like a Phoenix from Your Ashes about COVID era job loss and how to overcome it with grace.

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