To Niche or Not to Niche? Hear From 6 Experienced Freelancers

This age-old quandary confronts every freelancer: Should I Niche down or not?

When you think you can have it all, picking just one thing doesn’t look attractive. It might seem like a good idea to be everything to everyone. On the flip side, the common advice you must have heard is to focus on a specific area to become successful.

Thinking about this question can lead to confusion and prevent you from charting a course.

So, where should you belong? Before going into that, here's where I think the problem lies. You are seeing things from an either/or perspective, which makes it harder.?

I have put this piece together to help you find a balance between niching down and being a specialist. In interviewing seasoned freelancers, I sought their advice on how they've dealt with this quandary. Most of them have had the best of both worlds. They highlight from experience the benefits and drawbacks of both, as well as how they got to the point where they are in their careers.?

Heather?

After ten years of employment with a company providing educational services, Heather assumed that when she went freelance, she would naturally focus on education and educational technology. But that wasn’t the case. She got more B2B tech jobs and, according to Heather, "it snowballed into a niche". It works for me," she continues, "because I am good at explaining complex concepts in a compelling way." She notes that "niches are good for attracting clients that want expertise."?

According to her, being a generalist came naturally because of her background as a well-educated, well-informed journalist. "I'm used to doing research and getting up to speed quickly on new issues," she says, and continues, "I also realized that I get bored if I write about the same thing over and over again." Being a generalist, she explains, "keeps it interesting and allows you to learn new things." She acknowledges that it is difficult to establish oneself as an expert in any field as a generalist. Heather says:

"You can feel spread too thin trying to market yourself in multiple areas."

Depending on your goals and what you want to write about, Heather believes "it's probably different for everyone" when it comes to deciding when to niche. She advises that it's important to take into account whether a particular niche pays enough to meet your financial objectives. Highlighting the benefits of niching down, she says that it gives you an increased level of expertise, and working in more specialized fields pays better.

Krystal?

Krystal is a social worker and anti-oppressive advocate who spent the first few years of her career as a generalist. According to her, niching down was much easier after the sad incident of Mr. George Floyd's murder ,which made it possible to get opportunities as a BIPOC writer. She further states that narrowing her focus to the health niche made it possible for her to draw on her transferable skills as a social worker who has provided services as a mental health therapist. It also made her a credible writer.

In her words, "the benefit of niching down in my experience has been credibility as a health writer in a relatively short time". More importantly, niching helped Krystal pursue her entire purpose in writing which is, equality work. For her, being a generalist allowed her some time to feel confident in her ability to write about a variety of topics. She stresses, however, that the disadvantage of being a generalist comes with low pay opportunities.

When it comes to deciding when to specialize, she says:

"The right time to niche down depends on different factors, but I would encourage folx to reflect on any transferable skills that may be leveraged in doing so."

Krystal admits that she "thankfully" hasn't ever found it boring to write about health because the influence that equity-based issues have on people's health is always something she can discuss. There's always a connection.

Kat?

Kat Friedrich is a writer and editor. She considers herself a niche writer and she means this in the broadest sense possible as you would see. "I already was not a generalist because I was interested in writing about science, technology, engineering, and math", she says.?

This was easy for her because Kat already had a working knowledge of HTML and Visual Basic programming. She also was familiar with Microsoft Excel's basic functions for data journalism analyses. So after interning at an environmental NGO, she took up a role as a book writer at a university with an extended position that included reporting for its news site.

She focused on software, energy, engineering, and sustainability as her main areas of expertise. In addition, she edits print journalism, internet journalism, web editing, social media and research editing, podcasts, and video editing, among other things, which makes her a generalist of some sort.?

In light of her own experiences, she advises that you identify your areas of expertise as soon as possible. She went into detail about why she felt that way. She explains:

"In the writing/editing sector, there are niches based on:?

a) Beat topics, which might be your geographic area if you write local or regional news

b) Writing types and

c) Specialized skills"

In her case, she chose to specialize to make it easier for employers and potential customers to understand where she fits in each of these three dimensions. Aside from your personality traits, she said employers look at your work background, and level of experience. She recommends niching right away to avoid being labeled as "inexperienced and will write anything for anyone category". She said this isn't a good thing because you would earn much less and get hired less reliably. Because of being in a very broad niche and writing and editing various content forms, Kat never gets bored.

Lauren?

Lauren Krouse is a journalist and writer who is in the process of niching down. Before now, according to her, she has written on everything for survival. But she is gradually turning things in the opposite direction because she believes that beat reporters (people who specialize in a specific area) take up an important position in the news industry.

Lauren’s experience is her major driver for niching down, "with my personal experience and interests, it just made sense to work toward making women's health, gender, and domestic violence my main focus", she says.

According to Lauren, with each subject she tackles, she connects with a new expert in the industry and expands her network, allowing her to contribute to a larger conversation about the topic at hand. In addition, she enjoys being a part of a community and following movements as they unfold is exciting to her.

Fear of the unknown was a concern when it was time for Lauren to niche down. According to her, dropping long-term clients that paid the bills was terrifying. She cites "financial and practical" drawbacks as a disadvantage for choosing to niche down. She highlights that you may need to take a wage cut while building up a new specialization. Hear her!

"You may need to take a dip in pay while building up your presence in a new niche, and that's difficult if not impossible for many to do in a shaky industry. If you pick the "wrong" niche, you might also get bored after a while. But I also think that's okay and normal".

She advises a degree of flexibility when making the change. On the advantages of being a generalist, she said, "You get to write for a living—a privilege in and of itself—and you can work for just about anyone, progressively exploiting clips to gain better gigs". She added that it’s a useful tactic to practice and create a portfolio. "There are disadvantages to that, as well, she admits "such as being forced to write about a field that one does not particularly enjoy". Another drawback of being a generalist, she noted, is the difficulty to find time to work on the things you want for yourself. About being a generalist, she is certain that if one has a wide range of interests, one could happily work as a generalist their entire career and added that plenty do.?

?According to Lauren, It doesn't matter if you choose to niche down at an early stage or not. For her, the right moment is when you know what your niche is and can imagine yourself enjoying writing about it for the next year. To help you niche down Lauren recommends the following

• Getting a few clips in that area
• Set some Google Alerts for your main interests,?
• Follow leaders in the field.?

Lauren loves her niche and she never gets bored. Although, she admits that sometimes her topic — domestic violence — can be triggering or bring up old trauma. To handle this, she said she sometimes gives herself a day off after a difficult turn-in and makes sure to reward herself for goals hit along the way to keep up her mental health. "It’s always okay to take a step away, and that's where a generalist background still comes in handy". She concluded.

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Michele

Michele is a generalist with a few niche topics. Michele believes that specializing makes you more attractive to editors. I've written for "Inside Your Cat's Mind," "Inside Your Dog's Mind," and "The Animals' Mind," she says. "The editor comes to me because she knows I'm a geek for animal behavior."

Michele enjoys talking to experts about mental health, climate change, and health, and considers writing in a wide range of topics a learning opportunity. She says, "I feel like my job is a type of continuing education". For her, it is advantageous to specialize in several different fields to enable you to "switch up".

According to Michele, selecting 3–4 niches is critical to avoiding boredom. Boredom, according to her, means you are ready for a change and recommends writing in other areas when it comes knocking. However, in the real sense of it, she opines that there is absolutely no wrong or proper time to specialize. She also advises that writers should learn to connect the dots and get creative to help deal with boredom that may arise from niching down. Thinking broadly and seeing the connection between several niches can help you stay interested.

"If you are bored, look at the subject and see how you can transition it to cover something that interests you",

she says. She further illustrates "I was able to approach the home furnishings I wrote to see if I could write about pets since pets are part of the home." If you choose to niche, aside from picking several niches, Michele warns against being too narrow when picking a niche. she says, "a broad niche helps you write for various websites in that niche". Michele admits that having a specialized field made her more money.

Precious

Precious considers himself a generalist. According to him being a generalist gives him the chance to write various forms of copy. He says:

"I prefer being a generalist because of the range of content forms I'll have to produce."

Precious writes for SaaS brands, "but it may be a blog post today, an email tomorrow, a distribution document, social media content the next day, and so on," he says while describing his job to me. He advises freelancers not to rush into picking a niche. According to him, it gives you time to keep many clients until you're confident you can handle clients in a single area successfully. For him, this means that you have a list of potential clients and have figured out how to find them or make them discover you.

What options do you have?

You are wrong to think that you can be either a generalist or a specialist. You have more options than you think, which I have outlined below.

• You could niche down without feeling stuck if you have a very broad niche. Like in the case of Kat.
• You could choose to have multiple niches and still write about other things. Like in the case of Michele.
• You can stop thinking about niching down and focus on getting clips and honing your skills. Down the line, when you have become a lot more stable, experienced and certain about your interests, pick a niche. Like in the cases of Lauren and Krystal.
• Allow things take care of itself and see where it snowballs into. Like in the case of Kenny.?
• You could pick a niche and write different content forms in that niche, like in the case of Precious.
• If you are always a curious person, you can explore writing in several areas your entire life and succeed at it. (This is entirely for people who hate the idea of niching down and not so focused on the pay.)

Before picking a niche, consider the following:

• Your background. This should come from what you studied in school, your reality, interests, passions, and experiences.?
• Can you afford to be picky about clients? Think about finance and your experience level.
• To prevent boredom, figure out how you can be adaptable. Settle for niches that are connected and broad.

In writing, and indeed, freelancing, nothing is cast in stone. You can evolve as your interests change and trends change, and that’s fine. Your answer today might be different from what you want tomorrow. Most importantly, being an adaptable person is what helps you succeed in the long run as a freelancer.??I hope this piece helped you gain clarity. Let me know what you think.

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