How to Find Your Freelance Niche
Perhaps one of the most maddening questions a creative will attempt to figure out is, “What’s my niche?”
In this blog, I will walk you through step-by-step how to find your niche. I guarantee by the end of this blog, you will finally have clarity around what your next steps should be. And if you don’t, please shoot me an email and I will provide individualized support. That’s how much I believe in the framework I’m about to lay out.
Before we begin, I want to define the word “niche”. Dictionary.com puts it two different ways (and this is important):
“a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.”
“denoting products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population.”
This is important because it’s saying a niche could be a specific industry or a specific service.
Step 1. Get in the right mindset.
This step is the key. It is the most important part of this entire article, which is why I listed it first.
Reread the two dictionary definitions I pasted in. You need to understand that your niche doesn’t need to be a specific industry and it doesn’t need to be a specific service, but it should lean to one or the other to start. Uncovering your niche is an ongoing journey. You cannot understand freelancing until you’re truly in it. Same goes for providing a product/service and same goes for working with an industry.
So, the mindset is: today we are selecting which niche you will start with. This does not mean you are married to this niche for the rest of your working life. You may need to try on a couple different industries or services before you find the sweet spot.
Step 2. Self Reflection.
In my opinion, this is the most annoying step. But I also have a serious mind block when it comes to journaling, which is exactly what this step entails. I’m going to give you a number of prompts and some guidance for each. Your job is to get out a pen and paper and answer these questions. (And yes, write this down. It’s essential that you physically use pen + paper, this is psychologically proven to make your brain work differently and pull out a different creative side).
What are your perceived strengths?
This answer should be based solely on your own opinion of yourself. If this question causes your mind to go completely blank, that’s okay. Here are some starters to get the wheels turning:
Throughout your day or week, what things do you find satisfying?
Do you get asked to help with things? If yes, what?
What was your favorite subject in school?
What time of day do you feel most energized? What are you usually doing during this time?
Have you ever felt the need to make yourself smaller so others could feel better? What were you hiding in those moments?
What challenges have you overcome in life? What did you use to cope and get through?
If you still can’t think of any strengths, I can tell you one strength you have just by reading this blog is “curiosity” or “personal development” or “willingness to learn”.
What professional compliments have you received? (school counts, too!)
If you have access to your past performance reviews or report cards, these are great to reference. If not, it’s not an odd thing to just outright ask your superior. Here’s a template you could message them:
“Hi there! Working on a professional development plan for myself this year and would love to pick your brain on it when you have a spare moment. Looking to get some help identifying strengths and weaknesses.”
What are your perceived weaknesses?
Again, perceived weaknesses is based on your opinion of yourself. Here are some questions to get wheels turning:
In what moments do I feel most uncomfortable or unprepared?
What kind of people do I have rocky relationships with? What is their primary complaint towards me? (friendships, romantic relationships, family, all of this counts!)
If you keep a journal, are there frequent complaints?
Are your thoughts commonly positive or negative?
What kind of feedback have you received for improvement?
Reference old work performance reviews or report cards.
Is there any work or project or hobby you currently perform that you “lose yourself” in?
For example, I lose myself in process flow mapping. I think it is so oddly satisfying to see a process come together.
Have you ever worked on a project where you felt empowered, fulfilled, and intelligent? (hobbies count here. seriously.)
And if after this you’re still stuck, try taking some of these personality tests. Don’t take the results for bible, but instead just consider whether or not you agree with the strengths and weaknesses it “reads” you on. Side note: These are all free versions of the tests!
Step 3. Create a list of options.
Review a long list of niches such as this one. Which listings make you feel excited, hopeful, or safe? Write all of these down and then begin to weigh them against your strengths and weaknesses. Also consider, do you see this fitting an industry? Or more of a product or service?
Narrow the list down to three and make sure to clarify if it’s an industry niche or product/service niche. Remember the mindset here. This is our starting point. You aren’t marrying this niche for the rest of this life or even the rest of this year, if you don’t want to.
Step 4. Get Practical.
An easy way to burnout of freelancing altogether or to lose confidence, is to not be realistic about what you’re getting yourself into. Take your list of three niches and compare them to these questions.
How much do you need to make?
Does the niche you have in mind support that? If not, how can you blend it?
What kind of audience do you want to speak to? What niches do they like? Do these niches fit that?
What existing problems have you seen or do you currently experience that you could solve for?
Conclusion.
Now, you should have one niche who is a clear frontrunner. It’s okay if you’re only mildly interested, or even if you’re very torn between two or all three of your options. You can “try these on” throughout the next year to see how you like them. By the time you create a strategy for one, you may clearly realize that is not the niche for you. And that my friends, is progress!
