That’s What a Niche Is!

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a person say that everyone needs a niche and that a niche is a clearly defined statement of what you do and it isn’t for everyone, I always understood the words that they were saying but not quite grasping the concept

I knew I was supposed to have a niche and thought I had come up with a great one. Freelance corporate writer.

Like a million other freelancers before me, I thought that was narrow enough. Then I thought that being a conversational writer within that corporate freelance world was super-niched. Now I know that both of those are way too broad and got me into boatloads of trouble.

Guess who got me niched - yeah, it was Randy. How annoying that my husband has business skills I don’t. Luckily, he’s my husband and not yours and I didn’t have to pay for the consult. Well I did…but that’s another story for a non-PG13 blog.

See, before I thought my niche was my “ideal client” and I could still work for other clients. So every time I got a little twitchy and afraid about income (which is often, no matter how awesome my savings account may be) I’d go to the Problogger Job Board and start applying for blogging gigs.

Seriously. What the hell was I thinking? Especially with fantastic offers like $10 to rewrite a 750-word article. Could I do it in ten minutes and make decent money hourly? Sure!

Do I want to? Hell no!

The beauty of having my one steady gig is that I don’t have to act like I’m in the middle of a panic attack 24/7. Well I shouldn’t act that way, training myself to calm the hell down is easier said than done sometimes. I try to remind myself that we’ve also reduced household spending immensely (except for that $50/mo. for Sadie’s dance class). We didn’t do that so I could be half crazy with pressure and deadlines. We did it so we could all have a better life.

Randy also probably thinks we did all this so he could get a home-cooked meal when he gets home from work. Yeah, I’m working on that. Domestic diva I am not. But he totally knew that going in, so I only feel a little guilty about not being Donna Reed.

The moral of the story: When perspective gets wonky, it’s difficult to see that you are the one who put yourself in the situation you’re in.

So, what’s your dream? Mine is to be the Rolls Royce of freelance corporate writers. The one they go to when they’re prepared to pay. The one that doesn’t need to advertise hither and thither on social media sites and the Internet to get work. The shop where you know it’s appointment only and you have to know someone to even talk to a salesman. The one that provides amazing customer service - the kind others only dream of getting - and for that you pay a premium and are glad to.

That is what I want to accomplish as a freelance writer. That is what I am going to accomplish. I feel much better about the path to get there since talking to Randy about it - he helped me find a niche. (Oh, don’t tell him I sung his praises so much, he’ll strut around like a peacock with the prettiest tail feathers at the zoo.)

I’m not particularly worried about the recession, because when large companies are losing customers, they up the marketing budgets and use freelancers, so I think I’m positioned well. We shall see, won’t we?

November 11, 2008 | By: Jennifer Gniadecki | Filed Under Current Events, Family, Money, Social Networking, Work/Life Balance, writing |  

Comments

One Response to “That’s What a Niche Is!”

  1. Jenn Givler on November 11th, 2008 3:09 pm

    Oh the joys of defining a niche… I’ve recently reigned in my ideal client AND my niche (as you so eloquently define it here… :) ). My current dream is to be the Internet Marketing go-to Guru for the heart-centered business owner set. This includes holistic and creative businesses.

    Happy to say I’m already accomplishing this - yee haw.

    Now, a word on this God-Forsaken economy if I might… yeah, choosing a niche is SO going to help in any economy. So those of you reading Jenny’s awesome advice - take it.

    When you are very focused in what you provide and who you provide it to - you will always find those who need you - crapola economy or not.

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