Even Insects Are Doubting Specialization
On the one hand, you’re told niche down. On the other, you’re told to have multiple streams of income!
The job market in the past three years has not been stable. That leaves us, except those hired by their aunties and uncles, with one choice. Building leverage in the open market, the internet.
One strategic error people make in the digital economy is trying to specialize and keep talking about that one thing. That is a recipe for becoming predictable and boring real quick.
The currency of the digital economy is attention. And to gain attention from people, you need to be what Dale Carnegie advised years ago; be an interesting person.
This is where you need to become an atheist to the belief of finding a niche. The relentless evangelism of “find a niche” misses a significant point.
Here is why:
When you combine things you are not supposed to connect, you become INTERESTING.
What makes Bruce Lee interesting is his rare combination of philosophy, martial arts, and striking thoughts. There would not be much thrill to the Bruce Lee personality if he niched down and lesser focused on just martial arts. Elon Musk is not just known for or specialized in the space industry. The guy is trying to implant chips into a human brain. He is diverse.
The average person is either good at one thing or made to believe they should be good at only one thing. That is the norm.
So when the few among us single themselves out as multi-talented with diverse interests, we immediately take notice. And these are the ones who reap the benefit of recognition and building a name or brand.
It is incredible how people render themselves uninteresting by being predictable and boring.
They can’t weave personality into their business and money talk. They cannot seem to perceive and articulate anything outside their specialty. You can basically replace this person with another one with the same specialty, and there will be no difference. And that means both these people don not exist. They are just noise in the online marketplace.
What makes Muhammad Ali so interesting is not that he could render you unconscious with one punch in the mouth. No. It was a bit of wisdom and activism. I hear he refused the Vietnam War draft.
What works for me
I cannot imagine what my LinkedIn journey would look like if I only talked about digital marketing. Most of my best-performing posts have nothing to do with my services. But they attract people who get curious about me, read my profile, and discover I provide digital marketing services.
I tend to attract the attention of senior executives when I talk about Africa or challenge them to leave an impactful legacy. I also talk about food and nutrition, fitness, and geopolitics. These are my interests.
I avoid talking about digital marketing all day. It is really tiring. Humans are not specialists. Humans are broad.
“To be interesting, be interested.”
Without a deep interest in what you post for us to see, your posts will come out forced and lifeless. You are not radiating genuine interest. You are just posting it for us to engage.
So if you struggle with what to post, three explanations may be plausible:
- You lack an interest in anything, which is not true.
- You have a linguistic challenge to present your interests. Which is something you can learn.
- Or sadly, you are a boring person with no persona and have nothing going on in your life.
You get it wrong when you say, “What should I post today” You get it right when you say, “What am I interested to talk about.”
Find your interests first. And you will be excited to share them with your audience. This is how you win in the digital economy.
So here is the question for you; Outside of money and business talk, what can you perceive and articulate? Figure that out. It could be the missing link to your digital rhetoric.
