How to Stop Stressing Over ‘Niching Down’
Just start writing
Niching down is currently my greatest block as an aspiring digital writer
“I don’t have any interesting topic to talk about”
“I don’t play sports, collection or any hobby to share.”
“I don’t have interesting work/role to share my knowledge.”
“I don’t want to talk about writing when I’m actually building a business around writing.”
I have these lines for a few weeks or months now, going back and forth of my head.
Until I realized how my favorite creators didn’t actually started and still writing for the same niche until today (even if some of them are telling beginners to pursue a niche).
Instead, they dip their toes into the digital writing world thru:
- making it a side project
- sharing their knowledge and experience or what they are currently learning
- focused on one topic that people love
- curated other thought leaders work
At first, I tried to find what the top 1% percent of creators take on this, so I can learn, (finally) choose and (actually) write about a niche.
But MOST of them are telling people to pick ONE that: 1) Resonates with you 2) You have knowledge already 3) You want to learn 4) What your old self would need.
These led me writing about my journey to switching from being an SEO specialist to a content writer, doing a front desk job, surviving unemployment for more than 2 years, extended reality, sales funnel, breaking down podcasts of my favorite creators and more.
And that became an endless cycle of posting a tweet then deleting it because I don’t want to write about that topic anymore AND focus on a new niche (plus wanting my feed to be consistent)
And Tim Denning, one of my favorite writers online says…
…I’m a 7-figure creator with no niche. This week I wrote about crypto, money, life lessons, careers, business, tech, parenting, relationships, and social media.
I had been a reader since 2021, but I didn’t even realize it.
Now, looking even more from some of my favorite writers, creators and entrepreneurs: Nicolas Cole, Dickie Bush, Pat Walls, Justin Welsh, Ali Abdaal…
They SEEM to talk about one thing, BUT actually most of them started ‘writing’…
As a side project
Nicolas Cole answers different questions from Quora, he created posts and combined it with his own story or experience. He said in an interview that he wrote mostly for self-improvement, until his post about being a skinny guy to “shredded” as he calls it. He eventually created an ebook about it and earned his first income online.
Shared their knowledge and experience
From medical school life, to journalling, to his book reviews, to productivity tips… Ali Abdaal continuously sharing his learnings and hacks in improving the quality of life. Now he just published his book “Feel Good Productivity”
Double clicked on what people love
Justin Welsh knows how to test, read the data and iterate along the way. He started to write knowing that “some form of attention” can be an asset in whatever he plans to do after rendering for his 9–5 job.
He has a lot to talk about startups and leadership but he listens and listens well to what his audience wants. That resulted to his own digital products and courses.
Curated other creators’ work
Podcasts are great way to learn while doing simple exercise like walking, like what Dickie Bush did as a ‘side project’ while working a full time job. He listens to mostly Tim Feriss podcast and distilling his learnings into a thread everyday.
Pat Walls curated a ton of stories, failures, learnings and from his “research” that eventually became his “product”. He scoured through different businesses in different industries and with different products and business models. He’s the top 1 entrepreneur that I really look up to right now, because I keep loving how he’s tackling his business tasks in the simplest ways.
Now, I decided to just write and collect data.
Then, focus on what resonates.
And, keep on improving while talking about: writing, art & design, business, relationships, health, movies, series and/or more.
So if you want to start writing online, write anything that you want to share.
I believe that doing this is much better than picking a niche and going thru the cycle of getting burnt out and giving up.
Again and again.
