The problem with niche strategy, in a nutshell, is that it's a reliable destroyer of the human spirit. It's built on the assumption that we can segment ourselves, and turn one static aspect of the self into an economic engine that makes the rest of our life feel how we wish it'd feel. It's a nice idea in theory, but after everything I've

... See more

1. I didn’t pick a niche . I have often admired and envied people who have their one thing —whether it’s literature, urban planning, art history, sociology, mathematics, architecture, software—because I have never been able to commit like that. The usual advice is to “niche down” if you want to build an audience for your newsletter, but trying to

... See more

So in this post I’m going to reject the commonly accepted wisdom and look at why specializing is hard, why it fails and what an alternative path looks like. The answer lies in developing strong opinions and a distinctive vibe.

There are two types of indie consultants. There are those that have created a very clear specialization, you can look at their website and see something like “I help B2B SaaS companies with their content strategy” or “I help brands build audience via email”...Then there are those who are… weirder, less legible, harder to define. Folks who’s website... See more

Part 1: Strong Opinions