fbpx

A Lesson on Niching from a Possibility Junkie

I’m convinced of the importance of having a niche and targeting
marketing efforts. It makes perfect sense. That said, for a long time I
experienced the resistance of not wanting to choose or narrow my options. Like
most creative people, the more variety the better, ‘a don’t box me in’ rumbled
from deep within. Now that I have chosen a niche, I feel another form of
resistance popping up – the rebel, that wants to throw it overboard and start
over every time a new seductive possibility appears on the horizon.

There is a little bit of a possibility junkie in me that
craves the rush of always having something new to sink my creative teeth into. New
things take a lot of energy and even though fun, when you keep saying yes to
new things you can get pretty worn out. Too many new things lead to a drop in
effectiveness and in the end you can have little to show for all that energy
output.

So the new question I’ve been asking myself is how to
embrace a narrow focus and experience creativity and freedom within it.

What I’m noticing (now that I’ve claimed a niche) is that
having a problem to solve is just as invigorating a creative outlet as the
brand new thing was. The niche provides a container for creative exploration.
I’m creating with a purpose. The parameters enhance the creative process rather
than detract from it – resulting in better work. The creative projects within a
niche build on each other and you get to explore layers and go deep. The parallel from fine art is that I am now creating
a body of work as opposed to experimenting in lots of different styles and
mediums. 

Surprisingly I am finding that having a niche provides
plenty of avenues for creativity so what about freedom?

The biggest aspect of freedom to me is variety and the
option to follow urges.

I think I made up that a niche would limit variety and that
everyone in a niche group would somehow be the same. Wrong! Here’s the secret,
even though I work in a niche, I continue to attract the perfect clients for me
and each one is unique and creative. The opportunity to be spontaneous and
creative and intuitive and playful and challenging is available in every client
interaction.

On the financial business side – having a focus for my
marketing efforts is getting results with less effort. I have more time for
other pursuits, and I’m less worn out.

And one last thing – just because you have a niche doesn’t
mean you can’t work with someone outside your target area. It just means your
marketing efforts are targeted.