Think Outside the Niches (The Art of Creating Freely and Diversely)

Box Cutter Free Issue No. 54

I’ve been chipping away at building digital writing and creator businesses for the past 18 months or so. I’d say it’s the last 12 months where I’ve honed and focussed the most.

However, that does not mean I “Niched Down”. This expression and advice drives me a little batty.

Over the past 12-18 months, I’ve read and researched an immense amount related to the Creator Economy. I’ve taken some courses from successful Creators. I continue to be engaged in some courses and online communities (through lifetime access).

And, I can safely say that one of the most puzzling, frustrating, mind-boggling recommendations (and oft-repeated mantra) is: you must niche down.

I’m not sure there’s any worse advice or direction out there for anyone early in their digital writing or creator journey. And, I see and hear from far too many people new to the Creator Economy who get wrapped up in knots trying to “figure out their niche”.

This isn’t intended as a slight against successful Creators recommending this approach — I respect where they’re coming from. I just don’t agree. And, it doesn’t match my experiences or strategies for building online.

And, yes, I’m certainly not in the hundreds of thousands of Followers stratosphere that some Creators are — who recommend this approach.

And, yes, there is some nuance and context-specificity for the advice too.

But… I have a feeling it may be stopping more potential Creators in their tracks, then it is spurring and rocketing new Creators to health, wealth, and happiness.

In this Issue (Free Issue No. 54) - If you are relatively new to the Creator game… Screw the Niche-Down mantras (and reasons why).

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Summary

• Box Cutting 'Niche Down' BS

• Case Study: Launching a New Medium Account

• Challenging Established Norms

• The Creator Economy

  • Cutting Through Conventional Knowledge

  • Survivor Bias and 'Swimmer's Body Fallacy'

• Some Action Steps for Your Learning Journey

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Box Cutting the “Niche Down” BS

Last week, in Free Issue No. 53. Beware: The "Create Value" Mantra in the Creator Economy is Often Bullshit — we cut into the “create value” BS.

This week, let’s cut into (and out of) the “Niche-Down” BS.

But, first, where can Niche Down be decent advice?

A few days ago — December 23rd — we (my wife Lisa and I) launched a new account on Medium: The Learning Journal Initiative as part of our Humanity Academy start-up.

It’s been a resounding success. In less than 4 days, we’ve gained over 110 Followers and earned almost $10 already — on three published stories. 👇

Our new Learning Journal Initiative account on Medium. (hyperlinked)

Stats since launch a few days ago👇

Screenshot of 3 days on Medium

For comparison's sake… last December, with my personal Medium account I reached 100 Followers and was able to join the Medium Partner Program (MPP). This means stories can earn some revenues, based on views and engagement.

The “100 Follower” threshold doesn’t exist anymore to join the MPP — but it wouldn’t matter anyway as we hit that in only two days.

Do you know how long it took me to reach 100 Followers with my first account?

• 6 months!

All you need to do now to join the MPP is publish at least one story in the last 6 months. Then fill out the paperwork. Provide some bank account connection info. And BOOM! you’re in.

I decided to one-up with the new account. We also joined the Friends of Medium program — which is 3x the annual membership fee — but also comes with the ability to increase earnings and provide reciprocal benefits to other writers.

And, so with 3 stories published in 3 days. We have attracted almost 115 Followers as of this morning and earned almost $10 already.

Again, for comparison’s sake… it took me 8 months with my first account to earn $10 on Medium.

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I just published a story this morning highlighting this experience. This is a ‘friend link’ so anyone can read it. You don’t have to be a Medium member.

100 Followers and $5 in Two Days (on a New Medium Account) — Leveraging 12 months of learning (and pre-Internet sales and dating logic)

Thus, in this particular case, maybe niching down (to a Learning Journal-specific account) is providing benefit?

But the key point here is the sub-title to the article (Leveraging 12 months of learning).

On my personal Medium account, I am having my best month yet. I’m on track to make over $500 US this month (about $660 🇨🇦). Last month, I made $550 🇨🇦.

In this last quarter of 2023, I’ll have made almost $1500 on Medium. But… that did not happen overnight. And, it most certainly did not happen because I “niched down”.

I write on a broad range of topics, across many interests, and consistently cut against more-established norms or advice. I also post and write across multiple platforms (often not a recommended approach by some Creator gurus).

But, I tend to take an ecosystem or biological view of things… there are reasons why biodiversity is good for systems. And in times of rapid climate change, critters in narrow niches will find themselves out of a place to live and thrive.

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Challenging and Thinking About Established Norms (Business and otherwise)

The Creator Economy is alive and well. It’s growing rapidly, some suggest at least 30% per year.

It’s currently valued at over $250 billion in annual creative output. Many predict this will double in the next 3-4 years.

Well over 4 billion people use social media regularly — and about 5 billion with Internet access. It’s the majority of the global population. Yet, the composition of the 200 million or so Creators in this economy is diverse.

Generational Composition in the Creator Economy

I’m of the Native Analog generation. I’m Gen X.

Meaning… I was an adult when the Internet came into being. I played ‘computer games’ in MS-DOS as a kid. This meant green text only and a truly floppy disks.

The term ‘video games’ carries meaning for me, because I remember when games shifted from text to ‘video’-like qualities.

I remember dial-up well. Netscape. I remember the first Microsoft Windows.

Our kids are Native Digital. They only know the Internet (except for when we camp on isolated beaches in NW British Columbia in the summers).

These generational and digital experience differences can create interesting tensions, different belief structures, and varying approaches to challenges and opportunities — including beliefs about conventional norms and knowledge.

Cutting through Conventional Knowledge (even when it’s newish, like in the Creator Economy)

A Box Cutter philosophy is all about critical engagement, analysis, questioning, reflection (looking back), introspection (looking in), and prospection (thinking forward).

The reality of the Creator Economy is that it evolves, changes, and shifts fast. Yet, this also depends on one’s concepts and relationship with time.

I’ve just recently entered my fifth decade. Thinking back 25 years ago to when the Internet was in its early days — sometimes it doesn’t feel that long ago.

I find it fascinating — that a little over 20 years ago — Bill Gates suggested “Content is King” (or at least would become so). It was the title of an essay he wrote back in 1996. (That was prospection at its finest)

A recent study by Adobe, suggests that Creators in the Creator Economy are diverse. The approximate breakdown looks like this:

• 13% 👉 Gen Z

• 41% 👉 Millennials

• 30% 👉 Gen X

• 15% 👉 Boomers (and older)

With this sort of variety, with the number of people participating in the Creator Economy, and the vast diversity of this ‘economy’ — there will be a wide range of opinions, perspectives, and ways to go about things.

For example, what often gets lost in much of the hustle hype online is that the vast majority of Creators, do not have large followings.

• Approximately 70% have about 1,000 to 10,000 Followers

• Only 2% have over 100,000 Followers.

Some other stats to keep in mind (from Adobe study and Thinkific 2023 report):

• Only 20% of creators run a content-related business (but 40% more aspire to)

• 66% of creators do it part-time

• 58% of content creators have a full-time job

• 45% of creators have multiple income streams

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In such Diversity — why Niche Down?

With this diversity in mind, whyTF niche down?

In some cases, in some contexts, it makes sense. However, it also comes down to goals, values, and long-term sustainability.

If one niches down too early, then it limits a whole grand range of learning.

Just because one of the folks in the 2% of Creators with over 100,000 Followers keeps repeating “The riches are in the niches”… doesn’t mean you have to niche down.

(…especially if you live in Canada, because we pronounce niche… Knee-sh)

If you are just starting (or early on) — for the vast majority — I’ve found it’s more important:

1. To learn before you earn

2. To Just start.

   • Start posting regularly

   • Start publishing

   • Start a newsletter

3. To build foundations before structures

4. To Learn systems before publishing products

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Don’t Level-up too Fast — Build a Foundation — Learning Before Earning

For the last year plus, I’ve studied other Creators who have done very well. I follow several and even have taken some courses from a few. It’s all very valuable information.

Yet…

… the critical thing to keep in mind, is that what they are sharing is their journeys, their learning, their strategies, their mantras, and especially in their marketing materials…

… is often valuable. But… these are all theirs’ (not yours’)

And I say the same thing about suggestions, strategies, systems or otherwise that I recommend. Including:

👉 Learn before you Earn.

From Amy Porterfield, through Jay Clouse, Dan Koe, Nicolas Cole, and many other successful Creators — if you look deeper into their stories (and some share this openly) — it took years of building, failing, learning, iterating, and building some more.

Amy Porterfield writes in her most recent best-selling book:

• Two Weeks Notice: Find the Courage to Quit Your Job, Make More Money, Work Where You Want, and Change the World…

… that her first online course was an absolute flop. She tried to build a course on an idea that she hadn’t even yet implemented. It was a BS course.

Now she makes millions, over a decade later — especially as she’s teaching what she learned (often the hard way).

Similarly, Dan Koe shares how he spent several years trying many different ‘niches’ and building different skills, to eventually land where he is now earning millions per year.

Dan is a heavy-duty proponent of teaching yourself first, then teaching others what you learned. (I call it the Airline Wisdom approach — put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others).

Similarly, Jay Clouse (Creator Lab) shares how he made very little in the first couple of years and is now making hundreds of thousands. Just steady posting, building, learning, iterating, sticking to it.

Nicolas Cole, same thing. He started young, almost a teenager. He’s now in his early 30s and doing very well — but also had a serious burnout episode along the way.

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We’re all Beginners (at some point)

Like sports, or video games, or various other pursuits. In the beginning… we’re all Beginners (sometimes at the end, we’re still Beginners too). Then we learn, embed those learnings (sometimes as wisdom), increase our skills, and move to the next level.

It’s no different when one becomes a coach of certain things. Or, in higher education. For example, I’m a Level 2 Ski Instructor. But, first, I needed to learn to ski. Then I took Level 1 Ski Instructing, which is about teaching beginners.

Then, after more ski improvement and ski instruction, I took Level 2. I passed and now I can instruct up to intermediate-level skiers. If I wanted, I could most likely take and pass Level 3, which often takes a few tries.

The thing with moving up in levels of ski instruction is that you also need to improve your skiing too. It’s not just about the instruction, and it’s not just about the skills, and it’s not just about the execution of the skills.

It’s about becoming a stronger skier in a wide variety of terrains and conditions. Then being able to take these skills and knowledge and teach them to someone else.

Not only teaching them but also being able to identify, diagnose, and strategize certain core skills for other skiers to then help them improve and level up their skiing.

Similar to driving, or flying. We must start at the beginning, learn the basics, then begin to level up. Race car drivers generally start in go-carts. Fighter jet pilots learn to fly small planes and then progress through larger and more powerful ones.

It’s not all that different if you’re starting to (or already well into) the Creator Economy. And remember: 👇

It’s Too Easy to Get Frustrated (especially in the Early Days)

… especially if you get stuck in the ‘comparison game’.

On the ski hill, watching someone effortlessly drop down a double-black diamond couloir… it’s easy to think:

“Hey, that looks easy, I can do that too…”

Even more so when the skiers are our 12 and 15-year-old boys… Like this double-black diamond terrain at Kicking Horse Resort in SW British Columbia.

I’d be lying if I said my knees weren’t shaking on our first day in this terrain (they did the second day too). Double-black terrain is intimidatingly steep and gnarly. It is even more so as the one parent taking two young boys in.

Kicking Horse Resort

And looking at our youngest getting ready to drop into this terrain. That’s him standing at the top.

One mistake in the wrong place can be catastrophic.

But… I trusted their abilities — they’ve both been skiing since they were two, and had done years of learning and training in a freestyle skiing program.

They had levelled up over time to the point where they could do this sort of thing with skill and safety in mind 👇

A 6’1” fifteen-year-old learns to backflip on skis.

We’re constantly talking to our kids about actions, and consequences, and knowing their limits. We’re not so much about ‘stay within the limits’ — but more… pushing gently, mindfully, and smartly against those limits.

In other words, level up with some smarts and push the boundaries on limits… to expand them.

Levelling Up Mindfully in the Creator Economy

It’s too easy to get caught thinking everyone’s killing it in the Creator Economy.

They’re not.

It’s “Survivor Bias” playing out every day on social media.

Do you think any online Creator, course developer, or program seller is going to start publishing their non-completion, drop-out, or failure rates?

• Not unless they’re super open and honest about things.

I took a premium online course this year. For me, it was well worth the premium price for what I learned. I see it as a long-term investment, not an instant return trigger.

I’ve seen enrolment in that particular course explode since I took it. Many people have reached out to me on social media to ask about my experience, and whether it’s “worth it?”

I always say a similar thing — worked great for me, but it’s context-specific, and I implement very little of what’s taught in the course (eg., cold DM’ing everyone and their dog).

I have lifetime access to the course — a great course. And based on that, I can start to do some rough calculations of potential ‘success’ rates for learners.

And, it is most likely a success rate of well under 10% in short-term gains (eg., making the $5k course costs back).

I could be wrong, but that’s my rough calculation — and it’s only based on $ earned. (In my case, I use other metrics and others probably do too.)

Yet some of the success stories are awesome. Fantastic results! A few have gone on to earn $20k/month, $30k/month, and maybe even $40k/month. (At least in the interim).

These results are shared and plastered around in marketing materials. (And for good reason).

But, let’s consider the numbers for a moment.

If it’s 2 of 400 with incredible results… that’s less than 1%. It’s 0.5%.

Yet, that’s enough to entice another hundred to believe that they will be part of the 1% who are ultra-successful. Or even if they can get half the success, they might be part of the 3%.

That’s what “Survivor Bias” does.

And for the over 90% that don’t see the fantastic results… frustration sets in.

• Why can’t I get those results?! 🤬

It’s “Survivor Bias” in what’s marketed and “Swimmer’s Body Fallacy” for those of us who are earlier in the journey.

The "Swimmer's Body Fallacy" refers to a mistaken belief that one can achieve a swimmer's body (like an Olympian) by simply swimming — and swimming a lot.

But this overlooks the reality that Olympic-level swimmers get to that level based on body types, genetics, diet, and other training — not just hours upon hours of swimming.

High-level swimmers are often naturally predisposed to having such physiques.

In the Creator Economy, this fallacy parallels the situation where new creators compare themselves to the top 2% of successful creators, assuming that emulating their strategies will guarantee similar success.

This comparison ignores the unique talents, resources, and circumstances that contribute to the success of top creators, leading newcomers to potentially unrealistic expectations about their paths to success (both realistic and sustainable)

What we don’t see plastered all over the Internet and in popular news outlets (eg., CNBC) are the far larger, much more vast number of Creators that got too frustrated, failed, blew out, gave up, and decided that being a Creator was “stupid!”

(Keep in mind this number is vastly bigger than the 2% of successful creators - just like the number of swimmers that didn’t make it to the Olympics is vastly larger than those that did).

Many Creators simply don’t build the beginner, then intermediate, advanced, then expert skills to become highly successful (and highly satisfied) upon building, failing, iterating, building some more, and slowly, steadily, sustainably levelling up.

It is possible to build digital writing and creator businesses that are a wonderful part-time income generator and creative outlet — as well as it’s possible to build reasonable, sustainable digital writing and creator businesses that bring in full-time-like incomes.

It just takes time.

It also takes patience, resilience, and particular mindsets.

And it takes a beginner-mind approach that is always open to learning, trying, experimenting, and (when needed) trying some more.

This is why I get frustrated when I see newcomers, keen creative folks, spinning their wheels on “WHAT’s MY NICHE?!”

I’ve been there. Last January I was in a course that repeated this mantra — “You must niche down”.

It ate at me too — “what’s my niche” for about 6 months. Until I finally said, “fuck that!”

And, not long after… I started Box Cutter Co… : )

Just over one year ago.

Wrapping Up with Action Steps

Whether you’re relatively new (like me), just starting (like I was a little over 12 months ago), or well down the path — here are Actions to consider in your Learning Journey:

1. Engage in Continuous Learning: Try to use a little time each week to learn something new related to what you’re building, creating, publishing, or aiming for. This could be through online courses, reading articles, or exploring new tools.

   1. Keep a Learning Journal of these — for me, Box Cutter Co. and publishing on Medium are my digital learning Journals. Teach your Self first then share with others.

   2. The best way - though - is to do this is through DOING.

2. Create and Publish Regularly: Yes, this is a common mantra and advice, but it’s also pretty key (for many reasons). Post content consistently, whether it's a blog, social media, a newsletter, or a platform like Medium.

   1. Set a realistic schedule for yourself and try to stick to it. If you fall off, examine why and simply go at it again. No shame, no blame.

3. Launch a Newsletter: Start a simple newsletter to share your learnings and experiences. This can be a great way to build an audience and get feedback.

   1. Last December, I was at Zero subscribers and Zero posts. I’m now at 120 posts and 430 Subscribers (including some generous paying ones - thank-you!)

4. Build Your Foundation: Focus on developing a strong base in your area(s) of interest. This could be mastering the basics of your craft, or understanding the core principles of an area of interest. It also includes learning about social media, marketing, sales, building and selling products, and so much more.

   1. The best way to learn these is simply to do them. Posting regularly across multiple platforms will build your skills, knowledge and most importantly confidence.

5. Learn Systems and Processes: Before launching a product, spend some time understanding the systems that make it work. This can be the technology behind your platform or the process of marketing and sales.

Small, manageable steps are key. And, steady, sustainable and consistent effort over time will produce results. But make sure you define and outline these — not some guru with hundreds of thousands of followers.

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That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading this Un-niched newsletter.

Would love to hear your questions (or disagreements) — drop a like, a comment, or re-post on channels you navigate. Thank you to those who do this regularly.

Watch for the next Free Issue of The Solopreneur Series this week.

Happy Holidays!