Walking Through The Niche Door To Get Into The Wide Room

"Niche down, niche down, niche down." That's what all the great say. I guess the main reason why they all say so is because to be able to grasp the full extent of something, you need to give it your undivided attention. However, given the constant changing nature of things, you'll never actually know everything, but you'll know enough to be considered an expert. Now, niching down is certainly a great idea that I know I've certainly benefitted from (finally) over the years, however, I don't think that's the ultimate goal with everything you do. I reckon, that you need to niche down in order to gain access to a much wider room. With the amount of creatives I've spoken to, we're as multifaceted as anything. In the exact same way that someone who plays the keyboard, can pick up guitar or drums relatively easily, I reckon most creatives can pick up other creative skills and abilities quite quickly too. So, my proposition is that you niche down so that you can pick up a perculiar set of skills which you can then transfer and apply into any arena you may find yourself in.

Believe it or not, the guy who helped me to develop the full branding for my talent management agency (Musta), from the logo, to the why and brand guidelines... is now a fitness coach. Yes, I was shocked too. For ages, I couldn't understand why he would make such a radical jump and it gave me a sinking feeling to think I had developed my brand with someone who wasn't really as passionate about branding as I had thought. But then it occurred to me that the process of niching down is an intense one where you are focused on understanding an audience, figuring out how to market to them, coming up with content ideas and doing your best to deliver a great product/service. That right there is the blueprint for success in any field!

So, with that in mind, here are three ways in which niching down is great for the bigger picture:

👉🏾 Niche down to gain more expertise

Expertise here is to be understood as both theoretical knowledge and practical technical skills. In order to be at the very top of your game you'll need to take time to do courses, watch videos, listen to podcasts and read blog posts! Now you might be thinking, how will learning X help me with Y further down the line? Simple. Because you wanted to niche down, you put in an enormous amount of energy, focus and dedication into your craft. That in itself has built a resilience in you that you just can't buy down at your local corner shop. Resilience is transferable.

👉🏾 Niche down to gain more confidence

I don't know about you, but the more I know about something, the more confident it makes me in myself and my capabilities. It's really that simple. You feel knowledgable, you feel empowered and then slowly but surely those fraud-y feelings come around much less often and imposter syndrome doesn't have a hold on you like it did before. You can only gain this high level of confidence when you have been demonstrated ability to be able to master something sufficiently. Once you know you can master one thing, there is heightened confidence that you can master anything. Confidence is transferable.

👉🏾 Niche down to blow things up

Some of the most explosive people I know are creatives. I think that's because creativity in itself is inherently explosive. It's explosive by means of being able to achieve the seemingly "impossible" and to really drag ideas to the point where you're not just thinking outside the box, but you've demolished the existing box and have remodelled a rocket ship in it's place. The best creatives are the ones that are able to take something that already exists and enhance it to all new heights. But the secret to being able to create something that's virtually unrecognisable? Niching down first, understanding how things work and what's already out there. That's where real innovation lies. Innovation is transferable.

Narrow is the way that leads to greatness. Take the time to go through the process and you'll be grateful for the results.