A lot of people live and die by the “you have to have a niche” mindset. I haven’t lived by that rule and in my experience, it’s been quite enriching. Here’s my truth and perspective: Don’t be afraid to venture out and do new things.
In Money Talks by Alan Weiss, Weiss says that your success will increase when you stop limiting yourself to a particular niche and industry.
I was listening to an epic discussion between Chris Guillebeau and Lewis Howes. “Not having a niche is a strength, not a weakness,” Chris said.
“I don’t focus on a niche myself,” Lewis said.
If you look at the staggering success of Chris and Lewis, you have to start to wonder: could the idea “you have to have a niche” simply be flat-out wrong? Chris has been kind enough to encourage me to share this with others (through email exchanges). I’ve also had some inspiring exchanges with Lewis on Twitter.
Let’s consider input from the author and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk. “When I started talking about other topics, people said to me, ‘Go back to talking about wine, wine boy,'” Gary said. Gary went on to say that he doesn’t agree with that feedback and that your best value comes from sharing your expertise across all your experiences. I mentioned Gary in my award-winning book Reach Your Mountaintop because his content is so excellent and because he has so much to offer us.
Please don’t misunderstand: I would never advise someone to talk about a topic they don’t have expertise in. I’m saying to not limit yourself to one niche/focus area when you have wisdom, experience, and expertise to offer in other fields of interest.
Some people will then say the following: “Yeah, you can eventually branch out to other areas, but you need to start with one niche.”
I’ll be honest here, it’s a fair thought but I disagree with this, too. In his bestselling book Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, David Epstein talks about how the people who end up ruling the world and becoming the most successful are the people who started off by NOT focusing on a niche.
Tim Ferriss talks about how some of the most interesting people are actually combining knowledge from different fields of interest (as opposed to focusing on only one niche/area). Check out Tim’s YouTube channel, he’s got some fantastic videos up on there.
I went up to the Mountaintop to interact with some of these legends, and I realized that many of them have been living by different rules than the rules that certain other people “demand” you live by. They took a different approach and saw positive results with it.
Can we finally put the idea “you have to have a niche” to rest?
Some Caveats and Additional Thoughts
If you’re focused on a niche right now and it’s working – do more of it! Continue doing what works. I’m definitely not saying to change something if you’re seeing success with it. At the same time, consider the strong possibility that with your rich, diverse background and experiences, there’s more you have to offer the world.
If you’re like me, and you feel constricted by a niche, think about other topics and areas where you can add value. Then share content in those areas and help more people.
I certainly don’t lack a focus – this is the authentic leadership blog, and all my efforts funnel into authentic leadership. With that said, authentic leadership connects to a heck of a lot of different topics, focus areas, and industries.
I’d also like to add that sometimes it’s a matter of how you look at and frame something. After sharing this on social media, an old friend of mine said that I do have a niche – personal growth. He said that I started off by sharing knowledge about travel, based on my experiences, and then I branched out into helping people travel through life. In his view, my niche went from “travel” to “personal growth”. What he said makes sense.
Even while I was talking about travel, I spoke about other topics as well – so I didn’t start off only with travel. But to my friend’s point, I did have a travel blog and a lot of my initiatives for a while were focused on budget & adventure travel. And with personal growth, the list of potential topics is endless – even beyond my current focus of leadership. I’m actually honored that he sees me as someone who offers real value in such a broad, diverse way.
My goal with this post is to disrupt your thinking and help you to increase your influence – if you find yourself not fully agreeing with what I’m saying, it could be that we’re splitting hairs. As my old friend deftly pointed out, even when not having a niche, your efforts can still be grouped into a larger category.
(Note: in addition to this thought-provoking insight from my friend, there were other people who told me that they really resonated with what I was saying here, and that was awesome to hear.)
What are your thoughts on having or not having a niche? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below, as I value your thoughts and perspective.
Jeff Davis is an award-winning author, most recently publishing The Power of Authentic Leadership: Activating the 13 Keys to Achieving Prosperity Through Authenticity. He’s also an authentic leadership keynote speaker and Executive Coach to leaders and CEOs, offering individualized coaching. Follow him on Twitter.
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