UNPOPULAR OPINION COMING ATCHA.

I have a visceral reaction whenever I hear entrepreneurs preaching the virtues of “NICHE” and “STAYING IN ONE LANE.”

Why? Well other than the fact it literally makes me so anxious and like I’m somehow already clucking up before I’ve even started….

I also don’t think that is always possible when you’re first starting out as an entrepreneur. 
In fact, I think it’s really hard to niche down smartly until you’ve tried out a lot of different hats, clients, projects and you figure out (through failures and successes) what your jam is. What actually makes you tick and what actually is useful for other people. Oh and what is sellable!!

All of that only happens by TRYING on a few different fits before you get one that is like “THIS. IS. IT!” So you are not niching… you are flying highly GENERIC and BROAD!

Back in 2017 when I was launching my video production company I decided to “NICHE IT ALL THE WAY DOWN” and only position myself as a “parenting brand” video company.

My beat when I was producing at the TODAY show leaned heavily towards the “parenting” vertical and it was a place I felt familiar with and passionate about being a then mom of 2 young kids. I had contacts. SHOO-IN for my Businazz revenue.

But then something unexpected happened.

I wasn’t getting any initial business from parenting brands.

I did all the things I was supposed to do to “NICHE.” My website screamed “BABY BJORN YOUR GIRL IS HERE….COME TO ME AND GIVE ME YOUR MONEY.”

Never happened. 

My first ever client was a subscription vitamin company based out of Seattle –through a networking event I went too.

My next client was the NYC Department of Education.-friend’s girlfriend worked there and mentioned at a bar she needed video

I ALMOST wasn’t going to bite on those first two clients. Because “SORRY I ONLY DO PARENTING BRAND CONTENT. THAT’S MY NICHE DUH.”

Thank God I didn’t do that. And it went on and on… It fact, it took me a LONG time to “land” a parenting brand client.

The same thing goes for the coaching and digital side of my business. 

When I discovered the magic of teaching other founders online about tapping into their “Founder’s Fire” (By the way, click here to join my Founder’s Fire Waitlist!), I was ALLLLL over the place.

Ask any successful digital entrepreneur and I was doing it all wrong.

My first course was so generic and broad, “Make Video Better.” Seriously. 

Then  I was like “Ohhh I can help you with Instagram!!” I even sold 1:1 Instagram audits (trouble was after a while I realized I kind of hated helping people with Instagram) 

Then  I was like “wait wait wait…. Let me help you film your own videos and have better production” (but turns out I was not passionate about phone settings and ring light setups. Like seriously just YouTube that.) 

As I was going on an outward existential crisis as an entrepreneur never really knowing WHAT exactly made me special I started noticing what I call “hint crumbs.”

Whenever a brand would hire me to tell their Founder or Brand Story -as opposed to quick hit social video or How To videos -I was SO much more into the project.

When I was doing Instagram audits I would spend way more time teaching my clients how to weave in their story more naturally into Stories.

The video production classes? I shone when I talked about showing up on camera with confidence and what to say in a video.

All of this diversification was NECESSARY for me to finally land on MY NICHE. A niche that took me almost 5 years to really hone and publicly claim.

The moral? Don’t be afraid to NOT NICHE if you are still exploring how to match your talents with your audience and what can make you money.

My “Founder’s Fire” program is where I was always headed. During Clubhouse days (OMG REMEMBER THAT!?!) I dropped that term and people LOVED it. It rolled off my tongue and I remember getting a tingling sensation when I said it. It was like OMG THAT IS IT. THAT’S MY NICHE.

A niche, made possible by a lot of trial and error.