Should You Choose a Niche?
All around the playground of the internet you see blog posts and videos telling you that in order to be successful you need to choose a niche. That the “riches are in the niches.”
The other day, I stumbled upon the fresh take of Nat Eliason’s blog: Be Yourself, Not a Niche and it got my brain turning.
If you want to start creating content online or start a business, then you should take a second thought as to whether you should choose your niche.
What does success mean to you?
If success means making money as soon as possible, then 99% of the time, a niche will be right for you. It will be a vehicle for faster monetization and easier marketing. Not to mention, the deeper the niche, the less competition you’re going to have.
Most businesses run on profit. If you’re thinking about building a business, then choosing a niche will get you to making money the quickest.
But if success means growing your own community, enjoying the process, making friends online, or anything of the like, then you are the niche. Here’s a snippet from Nat’s article:
“If you brand yourself as “The SEO Expert” or “The Crypto Guy” you’ll have an easier time gaining followers. If someone sees your profile, they’ll know exactly what they’re getting, and if they’re interested in that topic, they’ll follow along. But what you lose in speed you gain in durability. If people follow you for hot Crypto takes, they’ll replace you with the next clever Crypto tweeter who shows up in their feed. They never really cared about you. They cared about the topic you talked about.”
Boiling it all down, there are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself.
- What’s your motivation for creating a business/content online? Is it for money, or enjoying the process & meeting new people?
- Do you want people to care about the topic you’re talking about, or about you?
- What’s your timeline? Are you committed to building something specific, or are you just experimenting?
If you answer with the latter half of those questions, choosing a niche may not be right for you.
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