Substance and Style

    Find Your Niche For Personal And Financial Rewards

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    Everyone is always talking about finding your niche, and if you’re starting or running a business or freelancing, it is especially important to listen. For one thing, finding a niche gets you back to doing what you like or love, which is presumably why you wanted to work for yourself in the first place. Another benefit is the old ‘big fish in a small pond’ thing. You’re far more likely to make a good living in a specialty. Here’s how to find a profitable and enjoyable niche with very little time or effort:

    1. Pick apart your resume as a freewriting exercise. Instead of writing to impress a potential employer, write to figure out your strengths. List your skills and experiences, as well as the things you enjoy and care deeply about. Spend some time thinking about what you really like doing and what you’re really good at. Write down everything that comes to mind, even if it seems silly at first. No one is going to see this except you. 
    2. From the exercise above, make another list of areas where your skills and interests intersect, things that you enjoy and excel at. 
    3. Next, make a list of problems that can be solved by the answers you got in number two. These can be problems in the field you’re already in, or problems other business owners have, or problems everyday people face. This will help you decide if your customers are businesses or consumers. 
    4. Think the ways your answers from all of the above make you qualified to solve this problem in a way that sets you apart from the competition. 
    5. Think about how to make this work profitable. How much money do you need to make? Can you reasonably charge enough for this product or service to earn enough money to stay afloat? 
    6. Repeat this process until you find something that will allow you to make the money you need while enjoying your life and work. If an idea won’t make you rich, but will allow you to love what you do and spend time doing things you enjoy, it might be worth it to you to make less money. Think about your own priorities and how to live life on your own terms.