Niches are for neurotypicals, all the places I need a trash can, and deadlines are 💀 to me.
It feels weird writing about this now, because I feel like I actually have finally found a niche and stuck with it for more than a hot minute...
... but I honestly believe that for the most part, the way we think about niches isn't meant for us.
There are two main reasons for this:
1. We get bored. You know it, I know it, we need something to keep us busy and help us dive deep into things. I think for me, with neurodivergent humans, there's always new research and new knowledge to keep me engaged - but before this, I worked in everything from education to alcobev, equestrian to ecommerce, and a million things in between. I needed that novelty to find the work interesting. Building websites and creating marketing plans over and over for the same types of business just gets boring when you do it week after week!
2. Your client roster is literally the only time that diversity will ever be discouraged by common wisdom.
Stock portfolio? Diversify to insulate yourself from excessive risk in any one industry or geographic area.
Sports team? Make sure you have someone playing each position, and make sure THEY all play other sports in the off-season.
Dinner party menu? Don't serve all desserts, people need variety.
But your clients? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE (type.)
I don't buy it.
I want to insulate my business from excessive risk in any one area or industry or geography. I want my roster to seem well rounded and have different people doing different things. I also want novelty! My brain needs it! And industries can cross-pollenate ideas, so clients benefit, too.
Now, does this mean you should never specialize? Of course not. If you're talking to everyone, you're talking to no one.
But think of your niches less like a box for you to fit in, and more like books on your shelf.
When you're interested in one, pick it up and flip through it. Get caught up in the story, delight in it, enjoy it, and when you're done... Put it back on the shelf. You might pick it up again some day and get more clients from that space, you might not, but at the end of the day what matters is that you had fun while you did it.
The key to doing this is finding out what these clients have in common - and that often comes down to the symptoms of their problems.
If you know how it feels to have their problem, chances are that other businesses and other people in other niches FEEL the same way - even if their problems aren't solved the exact same way.
For example, both alcobev clients and content creators struggle with distribution. They need to get someone to say "yes" to their stuff and help them put it out there, or they'll be stuck trying to get one person at a time to their homebase. It feels disempowering to wait to be "picked", so both types of businesses would resonate with content that helped them feel seen and understood.
Even though the underlying solution for one is a national SDR program and quarterly portfolio review meetings with distributors, and the solution for the other is probably JVs and content collabs.
Both feel the same way.
Both need sales and persuasion support.
Both could benefit from working with similar providers.
Yet have WILDLY different businesses.
Try this in your work. Think of two niches you'd love to work with that seem disconnected, and figure out a shared FEELING between them - and how someone like you could resolve both.
- Cheryl
❤️ How to work with me
Solo School has launched a certification program! (Details are here.)
If you serve neurodivergent humans, or you want to, and you'd love to fill your pipeline with a bunch of leads at the same time, join Solo School now to get one of the last 3 Founders Circle spots. You'll get certified as a Neurodivergent Accessible Provider in our 16-week program, have full access to our marketing support program to fill your pipeline with leads and get radically supported while doing so, AND (if you're one of these final 3) be part of an exclusive mastermind of certification students to get direct 1:1 support and collaboration with me on growing your business and filling your client roster with ND humans.
