Jul 11

Jul 11 Find your niche!

Guest User

Freelancing

Ok yea I never shut up about freelancing. #sorrynotsorry. I just want people to be 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂. Period. Always been my thing.

1/3 of your life is spent working. Make it a positive experience!!

Here's the first step. You don't have to freelance. This works for anyone defining their ideal niche.

Sit down and make 3 lists:

(seriously, write this down)

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤/𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 - basically what you would list on a resume. (Note: This is less important than you think)
𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 & 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 - anything you're just plain good at! Cracking an egg with one hand, helping people feel better about themselves... really dig in with this one. Ask friends & family for insight. You might be surprised ;)
𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
- What did you love to do as a child?
- If you had a free day/month/year completely alone and limitless money to do anything you wanted, what would you do?
- If you were given money to donate to a charity of your choice, what would you choose?
- Looking at #1, what areas did you spend more time on than others, even when they weren’t necessarily going to help you advance or generate income?

Now find the overlap:

If I told you to go live and talk about any subject for at least 10 minutes, what would you choose? Chances are, it's something that combines at least two of these areas. Or you're vegan 😉 (I kid, but that IS a marketable skill!).

Somewhere in there is your zone of genius. What work do you do that doesn't feel like work? If you can capitalize on your innate abilities, you will never cease to find inspiration. Combine that with skill & passion - success, baby, you found your niche.

Freelancing comes into play here because you can truly create your own niche, package it as a service, and deliver it to anyone in the world.

...Which is much easier than finding a local employer to pay you for writing about how to save the elephants.

Take-home: you actually CAN do 𝕒𝕟𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘. I mean try to stay within the law, don't hurt anyone, yadda yadda - but dammit all...

*𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞*

Comment if you agree. Comment if you disagree. Email me your whole list. I got you.

Join us here and get some feedback: Facebook.com/groups/ditchthe9.5

Still stuck?

Here are some examples from my own lists:

Most of my work/educational experience is in business admin, startup, freelancing, and IT.
Something that popped up a lot in conversation with friends & family - motivation! I would not have thought of this as a natural ability on my own because I’m terrible at motivating myself. Believing in the potential of other people and motivating them to achieve comes naturally.
I also receive questions constantly, on a wide variety of subjects, often by people I barely know. I’m just “that guy” who figures stuff out. Ask Jeeves. It’s me, I’m Jeeves. I weigh in on random stuff constantly and waste tons of time researching completely random issues for completely random people. Since…forever. I was a little smart-ass in school. Annoying? Absolutely. But known for utility.
If I won the lottery tomorrow, I have a short list of people who would wake up the next day with their debts paid off. They already know who they are, because we have a deal that if this were to happen, they’d have to quit their job and pursue their dream career.

I’ve also run into issues in every corporate job I’ve had for spending too much time on clients who had a problem I could resolve that didn’t fall within the scope of their product or service.
Result:
I coach (#2 - check) people to become freelancers (#1 & #3 - check).
I also consult for startups & small businesses (check, check, check).
These are people with major potential who are looking to pursue something bigger. They are the clients I “wasted time” on as an employee. They have the questions I “wasted time” on as the Jeeves of my Social Circles. Their problems are in my zone of excellence. Helping them find their passion is my zone of genius. And seeing them through to success? That’s my passion.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat at a party, a bar, a wedding, a funeral - whatever social event I was supposed to be participating in - and talked a complete stranger through their ultimate business plan.
Now I get paid to do it. THAT’S my ideal niche :)