On your first day of preschool or kindergarten, you were assigned a cubbyhole. A 2 x 2 square box attached to twenty-five other cubbyholes, painted in various colors. Each square box had a placard with a students name neatly printed on it. Everything of value would be placed in your cubby like lunch box, papers, crayons, and pencil boxes. You were told to take care of the things in your cubby.
However, this did not always work out because as Murphy’s Law would have it, cubbyholes would and could not hold everything.
Cubbyhole sounds like something cute and snugly but take away the fuzzy wuzzies and you have a Niche: 1) a snug or cramped space or room; 2) a small compartment, 3) a category, especially an overly restrictive one.
Niche’s are much like definition #3. It is written all over the blogosphere that finding and marketing your niche is very important to your business. I won’t disagree with that because niche’s can be very profitable. However, I liken a niche to a college major. Any one who has attended college knows that your major may change many times before you choose one to focus on.
Once you discover or choose your niche, are you stuck with it? No. But just as with a college major, it is OK to experiment with different niche’s for a while or even a year or two. Nevertheless, somewhere down the line you need to grow up and stay in one place for a few years before venturing off to another cubbyhole.
However, this did not always work out because as Murphy’s Law would have it, cubbyholes would and could not hold everything.
Cubbyhole sounds like something cute and snugly but take away the fuzzy wuzzies and you have a Niche: 1) a snug or cramped space or room; 2) a small compartment, 3) a category, especially an overly restrictive one.
Niche’s are much like definition #3. It is written all over the blogosphere that finding and marketing your niche is very important to your business. I won’t disagree with that because niche’s can be very profitable. However, I liken a niche to a college major. Any one who has attended college knows that your major may change many times before you choose one to focus on.
Once you discover or choose your niche, are you stuck with it? No. But just as with a college major, it is OK to experiment with different niche’s for a while or even a year or two. Nevertheless, somewhere down the line you need to grow up and stay in one place for a few years before venturing off to another cubbyhole.
Write it down,
Carma
I think you are right. It is good to try to find a niche, but not to try and limit oneself to that one niche alone.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great start to your week.
truly,
Sylvia C.
(PS, working in a kindergarten classroom, I love the cubby analogy :)
Hi Sylvia,
ReplyDeleteThe cubby analogy came to me when I visited my granddaughter's class. the first place they head when they enter the class is to their cubby to put or get things.
It is easy to get stiffled if we limit ourselves too much.