This is a question I’ve asked myself often, even after two of my podcast guests, Matt Drzymala and Jon Richards, demonstrated so well why having a clear niche works.
As someone who likes lots of things, has lots of skills and loves variety in my work, I have struggled for a long time with working out how to explain what I do. Particularly in the last couple of years as I’ve transitioned away from a freelance career working as an agency project director (and editor/writer) into what you can loosely describe as coaching.
And I say loosely, because that’s been part of my challenge. Trying to position myself in a market that’s very full of coaches, when I had so many other things that sat within the breadth of services I was offering. Some of which were more aligned to my agency-style “doing” work eg writing.
But now, I’m clear on what I’m offering and to whom.
I have two ideal client types in my head, and I know what challenges each of them has. And the thing they have in common is that they’re full of ideas, they’re passionate about their work, but they can’t move forward because they’ve got stuck – either because they’re lost sight of what’s important to them, or because there’s so much going on they forget what’s important amongst the overwhelm of stuff in their heads.
So my work starts with one of two things. Coaching to help them figure out what’s important to them and how they might adapt their working patterns and practices to include more of those things. Or “untangling”, which is a mixture of strategy, planning and prioritising – and doing that in the context of an understanding of their current needs, their own “creative identity” and their business values.
(“Creative identity” is a term I use in my book Things I Know About Creativity, and I’ll be exploring it in more detail on my posts over the coming months.)
Now that I have finally nailed my description and understanding of who I work with, I’ve been able to narrow down my packages confidently. Two starting points, followed by a bespoke ongoing package which I call Momentum. And that can be anything my client needs it to be – which is where my need for variety and other skills can come in if needed. Or can simply be a container once a month for them to muse about their projects and their ideas, with me listening and asking them questions to help them reflect.
So what impact has that had for me so far?
It’s made my marketing planning much easier. I know the topics I need to be talking about. I know the challenges I need to refer to. I can assess whether an opportunity is right for me.
And this time, finally, it feels right. But it has been a LONG time coming. If you’ve followed me through what I am probably going to call my Wilderness Years (when I maybe collect together more blog posts in an ebook on the subject), you’ll know how many times I’ve changed my mind, how many new graphics I’ve created on Canva, how much market research I’ve done, how many experiments I’ve tried.
So while my niche may not be a traditional one, I do have one now. Time will tell how this plays out, but it definitely feels better, and I think that’s already coming across when I talk to people about what I do.
You can read more about my services if you go back to the home page of this website.
