It’s Time to Go Deep
The Transition from Diverse Content Creator to Niche Community Builder
My Creative Background
I’m at an interesting crossroads in my creative journey.
I’ve been writing online consistently for over 2 years now. When I started out, there wasn’t one specific topic that I was obsessed with or an expert in. I just knew I wanted to write.
Instead of putting pressure on myself to figure out what “my thing” was before I even started, my boss Gary Vaynerchuk encouraged me to put out my writing as much as possible, regardless of what it was about. The important thing was that I developed the habit of creating, sharing, and documenting my journey through content. Clarity of focus would come with putting in the reps and being patient.
So that’s exactly what I did. The content I’ve published in those 2+ years reflects the topics I’m interested in such as self-improvement, motivation, creativity, careers, and personal branding. I’ve tried to attract other people who are interested in those areas by starting an email list and my own personal blog.
The Desire to Become More Niche
It’s been an awesome journey so far, but I’d love to take things to the next level as a creator.
To me, that means putting more of a stake in the ground as to what I’m trying to become an expert in. When I think about the people I admire, they all started out as an expert in X before they expanded into other areas. It’s hard to pull off going about it the other way around.
I love writing about multiple related subject matters, but I worry that continuing to do so is only going to spread myself too thin, resulting in me being seen as more of a generalist than an expert. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop writing about the things I love; it just means I’m trying to focus more narrowly so I can build community around a more specific thing. You can find a balance and do both.
What I Did to Narrow Down My Interests
So, how do you figure out what to focus on then?
It depends on the kind of person you are.
If you’re more intuitive, you might already know deep down what that niche should be; you’re just afraid to admit it and start. Seriously, stop waiting and start creating.
If you’re more methodical like me, you could begin by looking at the performance of your content and figure out what had the most views, engagements, etc. That won’t necessarily tell you exactly what your niche is, but it might give you some clues since that type of content has resonated most with strangers online.
For example, my most popular pieces of content across platforms are the following:
- Most Website Views: 7 Life Lessons from the Movie “The Bucket List”
- Most Medium Views and Reads: How to Approach Your Career Like an Artist: 5 Pillars for Building the Work Life You Want
- Most LinkedIn Views: 10 Reasons to Read More Books
- Most Quora Views: Life Lessons from an IKEA Nightstand
Based on the above list, I could explore becoming an expert in lessons from movies, crafting a career, positive habits, or self-development through life experiences. Honestly, the thought of building a community around what we can learn from movies sounds pretty exciting to me.
In addition to the above analysis, I would recommend brainstorming with yourself and/or your close friends to figure out what you want to build a community around. Towards the end of last year, I became obsessed with starting a podcast so I did some serious brainstorming. I came up with my own questions and borrowed some from other creators I admire. Here’s a sample of the questions I asked myself:
- What kind of art do I want to make?
- What are some themes I’m interested in exploring? What fascinates me?
- What do I love most about similar kind of work from the people I look up to?
- What are my goals?
- What’s my unique angle? What category will my work be first in? How will my work stand from other creators trying to do something similar?
- Who will my work be for? Be specific. Who is it not for?
- What do I want my audience to do / take away from my work?
- What’s the purpose of my work? How does it improve people’s lives?
- What problem is my work solving?
- Why am I doing this kind of work?
- What stories do I want to tell?
- How will I make money?
- What does my work teach?
- It’s a _____ that does _____ for _____ because _____.
- What makes my work special? Why should anyone care?
- What’s work that I want to see in the world but can’t find?
- What would this look like if it were easy?
After I answered everything, I landed on wanting to create a podcast that unpacks the mindset behind modern day creators. Its purpose would be to motivate and empower both aspiring and current artists to build a life and career around the work they’re meant to do. If that sounds interesting to you, sign up for my email newsletter and learn more about when it launches. Coming soon!
Do I know if this is going to work? Absolutely not. The market will ultimately decide. However, I’m going to give it a real shot and see what happens. I can always pivot and try to build a community around something else.
What are you interested in building a community around? Let me know in the comments.
