One of my clients is a web designer. She does all kinds of websites, because...

 

"I don't want to do websites for dentists for the rest of my life!"

Picking a niche – i.e. specializing –  is a scary thing to do.

At first glance, it feels ... restricting.

But it is also the best way to make progress with your business.

It means serving only a certain group of people.

Or, offering only a certain thing.

I decided to focus on Brand Storyboarding, in spite of being capable of doing a multitude of things. (Remind me to show you the cute animal-shaped plant covers that I designed a few years ago!)

 

How to decide on your thing

How do you decide who you want to work with for the next few years? Should I pick dentists? Software developers? Artisan welders?

Option 1: The easiest way is to pick an "earlier version" of yourself. 

Help "the alternate you" with something that you wish you had known. This way you can be sure you know the industry and the psychology inside out.

 

Option 2: Pick a type of client that you have worked with before, and that you know well.

(Of course there are more options, but I'll leave it at this for now)

To go back to the start, and answer my client who doesn't want to do websites for dentists for the rest of her life:

Why do you even think about dentists? You might have designed a beautiful site for your friend who is an artisan welder. His business took off with the new website.

Why not specialize in website for artisans? Or even artisan welders?

Only you can answer such questions, but chances are, that your gold niche is quite close to your heart.

And then "picking a niche" gets a different flavour.

Have you looked in your life if there is a group of people you WANT to help?

Here is what is happening when you go deep instead of broad:

Your "one thing"  expands. All of a sudden you see facets that you hadn't seen before.

Now you have become the true expert in this niche!

And you can charge accordingly.