“Choose a niche!”
If I never hear these three words of advice again, it’s too soon.
“Pick your niche” or “choose a niche” is some of the worst advice to befall women thought leaders — especially when we’re beginning to invest in and develop our body of thought leadership.
But if “choose a niche” is bad advice, then why is it pervasive?
Why does every marketer extol the virtues of niching?
Why do free PDFs, courses and workshops promise that they’ll help you pick the niche you “need” to get started?
The problem with niching advice is that it’s nearly always incomplete, misleading and inappropriate. It causes overwhelm, mental freeze and confusion, and holds us back from trusting ourselves and voicing the strong opinions that will amplify our influence, build our exponential audience, and attract qualified leads.
Why “Choose a Niche” Misleads (and Hurts) Women Thought Leaders
Once upon a time a coach helped me “pick my niche.” She asked me questions about my interests and what I cared about, and the difference I want to make in the world.
Then, she “presented me” with my niche: social media marketer for sustainable clothing brands.
Exciting, right?!
The only problem was that this niche made me profoundly uncomfortable.
I knew nothing about selling products. Nothing about the fashion industry. While I cared about and was interested in sustainable fashion, I had zero experience. That wouldn’t necessarily disqualify me if I were excited to do that work….
But I wasn’t. I felt trapped. And then I felt bad, because my coach was a professional, and I’d answered her questions honestly. Why didn’t I feel the relief or excitement or clarity I’d been expecting?
Years later, I had a wholly different and deep satisfying experience when my niche came to ME.
Your niche is an evolution — not a divine intervention
It’s October, 2020. I’ve just spent ten months investing in and developing my thought leadership and experiencing its profound impacts.
At first, I wrote about digital marketing. But I was more drawn to the creative process of thought leadership, the mindset and emotions of declaring bold opinions, and the way they build an exponential audience.
I’d been positioning myself as a “marketing lady for women entrepreneurs” for years. But in truth, marketing never felt like the right fit.
But it worked, for a while, as my proto-niche. It was an adequate starting place until a more heartfelt niche revealed itself: thought leadership consultant for women entrepreneurs.
This niche came to me slowly, unfolding over months. It made me nervous! Could I really abandon marketing? Could I really declare myself into something so specific?
I started SAYING my niche — trying it on. First, I told my coach. Then I told some colleagues. Next, I rewrote my bio and LinkedIn profile. And it felt really good, like a jacket that fits just right.
Over the course of the following eighteen months (I want to underscore that “niching” is a long process, not something you check off your to-do list) I invested in a rebrand and in having my website completely rebuilt — which launched in February 2022. By that time, I’d refined my niche even further, to thought leadership trainer and advisor to women leaders.
(You can read more about this process in Case Study: Finding Your Niche with Eva Jannotta via my coach Eleanor Beaton of SAFI Media.)
The niche that was manufactured for me felt forced and wrong.
The niche that evolved organically over time felt exactly right.
You Have What You Need to Create Thought Leadership – No Niche Required
It’s not that niching is bad. In fact, it’s a powerful communication tool to be explicit about what you do, and for whom. It’s not niching that’s bad, it’s niching advice — especially the three poison words, choose a niche.
A niche is rarely something you whip out of a hat, or check off your to-do list, or that falls in your lap from divine inspiration.
But the way niching advice is positioned, as though you can “pick” one like a flavor of ice cream, sets up a false and damaging expectation for women thought leaders:
- It holds us back from getting started: I can’t create thought leadership until I pick my niche.
- It makes us feel broken: I can’t figure out what my niche is! What’s wrong with me?
- It keeps our thought leadership narrow and stifling: I can’t write about what piques my interest because it’s “outside my niche”
You do NOT need to “choose your niche” to create thought leadership.
Thought leadership is not the product of you having it all figured out. It’s the process by which you figure out what you believe and crucially, why.
You already have what you need to be a thought leader, right now:
1. You already have a “proto-niche”
If you’re honest, you probably already have an idea of who you want to work with — even if it seems too broad to be a “real niche”: Women leaders. Solopreneurs. Introverts. Middle managers. Etc.
It’s likely that you have something — or a lot of things — in common with this “proto-niche.” As the saying goes, “we teach what we need to learn,” and you want to work with people you can relate to because you’ve shared their experience.
There’s nothing you need to “pick.” Rather, accept that what and who you’re drawn to is enough, and you don’t have to force yourself to be more specific. Then:
2. You can practice, starting now
With time and attention a refined, focused niche will emerge organically and make itself known to you — but not if you spend your time lollygagging.
Thought leadership is a practice of discovering what you believe and communicating it. That means consistently identifying your opinions and sharing them with your audience.
And you can’t do that while The Bachelorette is on. It takes focused action because it’s a commitment to yourself to trust and develop your thinking.
As you practice, notice the way it makes you feel: the parts that excite and entertain you; the feedback from your audience; the people who are attracted to your work and engage with it.
THAT is the intelligence that gives rise to your unique niche.
3. Your niche will find you — again and again.
When you listen and pay attention — when you’re an avid student of yourself and your audience — your niche will make itself known. Like Ollivander says in Harry Potter, “the wand chooses the wizard” — or the niche chooses the woman thought leader and entrepreneur.
Identifying your niche is not a one-and-done process. Your niche will evolve as you, your services, and the market change over time. That’s why “picking a niche” is forced and artificial. Niching is not an act of choosing but a revelation that will evolve as you do.
Your Niche WILL Come to You
When you commit with consistency to developing your magnetic thought leadership, a refined and focused niche will find you.
What you need to know today is this: You have everything you need to create magnetic thought leadership right now. You don’t have to wait for a niche.
You are enough. You’re qualified enough. Smart enough. Wise enough. Experienced enough.
All you need is you: your trust and committed action and curiosity + a little time and patience = an unequivocally niched magnetic thought leader.
Thought leadership Builds Your Exponential Audience™
Businesses thrive on relationships. And the most effective way to build highly engaged, eager-to-buy, and ready-to-refer relationships is through magnetic thought leadership.
In Exponential Audience™, you’ll join an intimate group of women thought leaders (of all levels) to create thought leadership — that kind that attracts leads, clients and opportunities like a magnet.
You’ll master the mental, emotional and practical skills you need to produce unignorable thought leadership for your business that makes you a woman of authority and influence.
No niche required. Just you and your formidable, creative, ready mind.
Join the priority notification list for Exponential Audience™.
