The perils of niching down

I've met so many creators—including outwardly successful ones making a great living—who are unhappy, and who feel trapped. They joined the creator economy to pursue a life of freedom and creativity and connection. So they followed all the rules and Best Practices. They did everything right, yet still ended up constructing a prison for themselves, j... See more

As independent creators carve out a new career path for themselves, I suspect that some are unintentionally picking a path that limits their growth and robs the world of their true potential.

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.

Most lists of tips you can find about growing a publication or micro-media and finding “1000 true fans” will say at some point “find your niche,” “you need a niche,” “it’s important to know what your niche is,” or some variation. Which seems to lead to a similar conclusion as generalists: that more and more people value a multi-domain “hyphenated” ... See more

• The long tail of the internet has provided a way for sovereign creators
  
  and businesses to ‘
  
  niche at scale
  
  ‘ in ways not possible at any other time in history, fostering unparalleled creativity and innovation;


• The quality of an audience matters;


• Being tiny is mighty;


• Delighting the weird is a superpower;


• When you build a business, you’re building a new

... See more