It has always intrigued me what the word “niche” means. I first learned about it from one of my subjects back in college when I was taking up Marketing and Advertising Management. My professor mentioned the phrase, “niche marketing”. The very first time I heard it, I smiled and got curious.
“Is that a plant or some kind of insect?”
No kidding, those were my thoughts back then. It seemed like an alien language to me that was so far far away locked up in a dreamy castle of twisted fairytales. Later on, I got the correct definition but still, it didn’t make sense to me, or maybe because I still needed more examples to better get a grasp of it. What also made me curious about the word niche is that it spelled the first five letters of my name and people turned it into one of my nicknames. Not bad. The name Michelle was often shortened to either Mich or Mitch.
What is a niche anyway?
Merriam Webster defines it as a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted.
If we use it in business, a niche market on the other hand is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused.
Even if I have already read the definition hundreds of times, day by day I still wondered what could a niche be? Some kind of mystery lies under it or maybe my imagination is just too strong.
After ten years, I learned to ask the question: Do I have a niche?
I learned more about personality types and it turns out that I’m the enthusiastic one. ENFP from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
I have too many skills and talents but I don’t have one main thing!
I don’t have a niche. Pretty striking but it’s like my reality.
I find it fun to be able to have so many skills but at the same time, I get exhausted with myself sometimes.
I have too many talents and have the tendency to be scattered. I kept on exploring too much stuff on planet earth that I get burned out eventually. I usually plan, get started but the vision of the dream becomes a blur because of my occasional pessimistic thinking. Add to that, I sometimes lack the conviction to pursue my goals, get lazy, forget about it and pursue other dreams. I’m interested in so many things that I feel like my head is going to blow up with the ideas on my head. It just can’t rest until it does what it does.
That’s just an overview of how ENFP’s think and act.
So many questions would pour into my mind towards my confusion on niches. Oftentimes I asked myself the question what is my niche? Why don’t I have one main thing just like everyone else has? Do I have one and is the usage of the word niche even proper to use on skills and talents and not exactly on business just like how I first learned it from my marketing class?
I kept wondering about that thought for a loooong time. There are times that I’d let it rest in my mind but it would keep returning that’s why I decided to write this blog post. I want to shut my mind from thinking about it and also personally help me stay on track with my goals. There was also a part of me that felt absurd about connecting my nickname to the niche that we all know. As I write this I tried to figure, “Oh, my name is Niche and I don’t have a niche!” I dwelled upon it and said to myself, “Wait a minute!” I do have a niche! That’s why I’m already writing this blog!
In the past, I came across the TED talk speaker Emilie Wapnick and I just admire how she explained why some of us don’t have one true calling. The explanation that I could not put into words properly she was able to discuss very well on that TED talk.
“The world needs us.” She said.
I loved how she assured everyone in the audience who were the same personality type or situation as hers.
Over and over again I loved listening to her speech when I feel like I’m losing my way.
If you want to listen to her TED talk here’s the link:
https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling?language=en
It’s hard to be like us. It’s hard when procrastination hits. But what matters is we continue to enjoy the journey.
In the latter part of last year, I finally decided to narrow down all the activities, goals, and skills that I’ve been doing to hone and excel one of my talents at a time.
I love writing, photography, the arts, music, and a whole lot more.
For now, I choose writing.
It’s challenging for a person like me because I find it hard to focus and I want to do as much as I can. ENFP problems, remember? But after doing some self-talk and investigation in my own life has helped me to stay on track. A few years ago, I also underwent a career discernment with my mentor and it has massively helped me understand more of who I am, what do I love doing and where should I be going. If you also want to know more about career discernments just send me an email.
A few years back I explored different types of writing, got a lot of ups and downs in determining which one is my niche. Academic writing, technology, inspiration, gadgets, food, travel, children’s stories, fiction. I joined contests here and there, attended writing workshops, submitted works on both print and online publications, and so on.
Summarizing my writing journey all boils down to that I excel in inspirational writing. I realized that I have more achievements and self-fulfillment in this writing niche.
Finally, I’m focused on the niche of inspirational writing.
I still got to figure out my niche in photography, music, and the arts and will let you know about it in my next blog post!
Now, I feel prouder whenever people call me Niche because I have finally found my writing niche. I found me and it feels great. Have you found your niche?