“I want to do all these different things, but I have to choose. Right?”
“If I don’t find and stay in my niche, people will be confused about what I do.”
“I’ve tried forcing myself to do just one thing, but that killed all my enthusiasm for my business.”
Sound familiar?
In my 1:1 work with small business owners, freelancers and creatives the topic of niching often comes up. The idea that even though we might have multiple passions, multiple things we want to sell, multiple things we want to do in our business, we shouldn’t. We should focus on one thing, the thing that we want to be known for.
I don’t agree.
In this post I share a different approach to niching, and encourage you to follow your different passions in your business instead.
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Niching might sound like it provides the focus and clarity you need. The business gurus even suggest that you need to niche for your audience to recognise your ‘brand’ and to buy from you.
Rather than being known as a writer/gardener/ceramist/photographer, we need to be known only as “a writer”. Or even better, as a writer writing about small-town life in rural Canada. Perhaps even through a specific lens. There’s nothing wrong with being this writer—as long as it works for you.
But what if it doesn’t work to just be one thing?
There is a slower, gentler and more profitable way of running your business.
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Instead: marketing and launching that is slow, gentle and gets results. Clear boundaries and priorities that encourage you to live a life next to your business. Accountability and support to help you create the live and business you crave.
Forcing yourself to be and do just one thing is painful and will probably kill your motivation. You’ll find yourself unable to follow through with your plans for your business. You’ll feel yourself drawn again and again to those other projects, products or services. You’ll beat yourself up for not being able to play according to the business rules.
You don’t need to niche in order to have a successful business.
If you are a writer who is also a coach, go with it. If you’re a therapist who also performs as a singer, embrace it. If you’re a knitwear designer who also teaches dance, do it.
But, you might say, won’t my audience be confused if I offer ceramics classes as well as hikes? Won’t they be confused if they see that I teach dance classes and sell knitwear designs? Won’t they stop taking me seriously if they see that I’m not just doing one thing?
I can promise you, they won’t.
You don’t need to niche to have a successful business.
The only rule is to be clear about what you do and for whom. And what you do can be several things. You can create products and other services. You can offer therapy and write cookbooks.
Because the thing is: you are the most important part of your business. And forcing yourself to be different will only lead to frustration.
You are the umbrella
Perhaps I’m a bad example. From my bio and website, I seem to have niched quite neatly: I’m a mentor supporting female small business owners, freelancers and creatives run slower, gentler and more profitable businesses.
But when I started my business, I worked as a teacher 4 days a week and as a researcher 1 day a week. I let the research go around 2020 and gradually decreased my hours at my teaching job to where I am now: working in my business 3 days week and 2 in my teaching job. Even though I benefit hugely from my teaching experience in the mentoring work I do, the teaching is not part of my business.
Your situation might be similar. But whatever it is, remember this: you are the umbrella. You are the secret sauce. You are the unifying force in all of this, whether you work a ‘regular’ job and run your business part-time or whether you have two, three or four strands to your business.
How to do more than one thing in your business
- vary in terms of the products/services you sell: for instance creating workshops, self-led courses, mentoring, worksheets, patterns etc. all around one strand or area;
- combine several strands in one business: part of your business is being a public speaker on diversity, and part of your business is writing children’s books on nature; part of your business is creating stationary, and part of it is offering mentoring services to other creatives;
separate businesses: in some cases it might be sense to have two separate businesses. Still, it’s up to you—you’re still the umbrella and both can live in the same business.
Finding focus
Having different passions and strands in your business can be really lovely. But it also means finding a balance, a rhythm, in working on them.
Depending on your time and personality, you might be able to tend to the different strands all at the same time: you might spend the mornings writing, and the afternoons with clients in your therapy practice. Or you might create seasons for yourself, in which the products you sell and create have your focus for a few weeks or even months, before you turn your focus to another strand.
Allow yourself to experiment. Be gentle with yourself. And remember that you don’t need to follow anyone’s rules about niching.
I’d love to know what resonates with you from this post.
Please feel free to share this post it with business friends, in your newsletter or elsewhere. 💛
I’d love to support you in all phases of your business. Providing clarity, focus and next steps is something that my clients tell me I’m really good at. If you’re curious about how we can work together through 1:1 mentoring, check out what I offer or send me an email–no strings attached. I have payment plans available, and flexible options for mentoring calls.
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