lushprofits.com » choosing a niche

Niche Hunting Here We Go! (Part 1)

Kaz — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:32:44 +0000

I’m really itching to jump into a new niche, and what better way to get started than making a detailed post about how I’m going to go about it. In the past I’ve always targeted niches that appealed to people’s desperation and didn’t pay much attention to whether or not the actual niche held a lot of interest for me.

Well, not this time. I’m dead set serious about getting into a niche that I can actually leverage my own true passion about. But I must be honest and up front here. I’m not actually looking to start into a new niche for the purpose of making money – not initially anyways. I want to get into something enjoyable and entertaining for ME. Of course I want to be successful in what I do so I will eventually look to monetize it.

You hear time and time again from many sources that the best place to start niche hunting is to look at your own hobbies and likes. Like I said before, I’ve always glossed over that and went the other direction (and certainly both can be successful). So now I’m faced with this looming over my head… what are my hobbies? It saddens me because I’ve long given up my most beloved hobby which is quilting.

Forget about that for a minute though because I want to ramble. Let’s talk about this blog for a minute. There are a billion “internet marketing” blogs online and a billion people who want to tell you how to make money and sell you their info. For a long time that’s exactly why I didn’t create a blog about marketing. But then came a time when I said screw it – I want somewhere to record, regurgitate, share, rant, vent about MY experiences online. I wanted my little place on the ‘net and to be honest, really didn’t care if it got traffic much or not. As you can undoubtedly tell, I don’t focus very much on monetizing this site! The whole point I’m getting at is this is so LIBERATING. Finally, just to have some little place that isn’t about making money online – ha, well the blog IS about marketing, but the purpose isn’t to empty your wallets! It just feels good to let loose, write when I feel like it, not feel pressured to get “xx” amount of posts out. Not feel pressured to heavily promote this site at all etc. Pressure cuts off creativity!

So the reason I’m rambling on about all this is because I’m TIRED. I’m tired of ignoring everything I used to love to do before I got into marketing. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still 1000% committed to my business. But it’s high time I started doing something for MYSELF. It’s time I revive those old hobbies and if that means I get my feet warm again via a content site for example, then so be it. At least I’ll be building something that I have a passion in and can actually enjoy.

So – back to niche hunting! I’m a little spooked at trying to identify what my hobbies are because it’s such a touchy subject for me. Since I gave up many of my hobbies and turned into a work-a-holic! But this is like therapy for me… and I need to take baby steps.

My first task I’ll assign myself is to just brainstorm things that I like, with no thought as to whether or not they would make a good niche. I’m not even going to rank them according to interest. You should try this, I have a feeling it’s going to be liberating too!

Likes:

Quilting – traditional, art, designing patterns, sewing room organization and decor, applique, machine quilting, scrap quilting, textiles, quilt book reviews
Decorating – interior decorating, feng shui, decorating children’s rooms, on a budget, etc.
Astrology – really love this topic
Photography – taking photos (kids & people), editing and enhancing digitally
Scrapbooking – traditional and digital
Baking – and cooking but mostly baking, have a good collection of favorite recipes
Games – I love all kinds of games, board games, cards, online games ranging from puzzles, to first person shooter! Oh yeah and I have a PS3, love Guitar Hero – World Tour rocks!
Problem solving – it’s not a hobby but I’m really good at it, and I really love doing it. That’s one of the reasons why I love programming so much. Oh yeah, and researching.. love to research things.
Programming – voila, I am a programmer! Yep, been doing that for 10+ years. I’m staying away from this niche though because I do enough of this during the day (J.O.B.)

Well, there we have it. That’s pretty diverse, don’t you think? I’m going to have to look at this list closely now to determine what topics interest me the most, and then the fun part begins! I like the next part – the research required to identify if a niche can be profitable or not. Even if I don’t plan on monetizing it at first, I need to know what the potential is and I want to know about my market.

I’ll be making more posts as I progress but nothing is on any type of schedule. If you want to stay updated on what’s going on just subscribe to my feed, easiest way. Comments are always welcomed!

Cheers!
Kaz

Facing Your Fears – What Niche Do I Choose?

Facing Your Fears – What Niche Do I Choose?

Kaz — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:41:55 +0000

This is the first post in a series of posts that discusses how your fears could be holding you back from succeeding. I’m writing this from my own experiences, because I think a lot of people may be able to relate. There’s always been a lot of talk in the Internet Marketing communities about taking action and being “stuck” in the learning phase. Several people say things such as “just do it”, “it doesn’t have to be perfect”, “stop learning and start acting”, “taking action is key”.

I firmly believe that you will NOT get out of your “learning paralysis” until you identify and conquer your fears.

There are communities online in the Internet Marketing field that are goldmines. Free places where experienced marketers lay out blueprints for you to jump in with both feet. Some even give unbelievable details. For those of you who haven’t taken any action yet, do you ever stop to ask yourself WHY?

I urge you to think about this. Close your browser, turn off your Skype, MSN, AIM and whatnot. Get out a piece of paper and write down your answers. Why haven’t you chosen an idea and taken action yet? What is stopping you?

In this first post, I wanted to discuss a very common fear many people have when they’re first starting out in Internet Marketing. It’s the dreaded topic of choosing a niche.

I’m sooo %¿aj!34a@@# frustrated!! Someone PLEASE tell me how to find a profitable niche!

I think this is one of the major concerns most newbies have. Choosing a niche has become such a HUGE endeavor it appears. I don’t think it’s such a huge endeavor, but it certainly gets blown into one sometimes. There are entire books dedicated to choosing a niche, some 50 pages long or more. So one must think that choosing a niche requires a high learning curve to learn the ropes. I think a lot of people get stuck here. They don’t feel as if they have adequate experience or knowledge to properly select a niche.

But again, there are many great posts and even free books out there guiding you on how to choose a profitable niche. What stops people from simply following advice of their fellow marketers?

Here’s an interesting question for you. Let’s say your neighbor is a highly successful Internet Marketer. They’ve been making a comfortable income for a few years now, are are in many niche markets. They aren’t rich, but living quite comfortably.

One day you’re sitting having a coffee with your neighbor, and she tells you step by step how she goes about choosing profitable niches. I bet you in a heartbeat you’d be hanging on to every word. You’d probably take notes and are much more likely to take action versus if you read it in a book or on a post in some forum. Do you agree?

This is where BELIEF comes into play. You BELIEVE your neighbor’s strategies are well worth trying, because you can clearly SEE how well she is living, and how successful she is. You BELIEVE that her strategies work. The word “hype” doesn’t even enter your mind. A lot of doubts are removed, aren’t they? The only doubt that might remain is the inevitable question: Can YOU do what SHE does? But before we get to that…

The problem with the many books, posts, and other content we find online that tell us various ways to make money, is a lot of us have trouble weeding out the crap from the gems. How do we know who’s just trying to make a fast buck? How can we tell who’s providing HONEST and experience-based knowledge?

This is where you must be willing to take RISKS. Every time you take someone’s advice and take action, you’re taking a risk. The simple truth of it is you have to be WILLING to take risks, period. There’s no way around that.

For example, I write some PLR material and although I’m taking action, I’m also taking risks. I have to choose what I think will be a profitable niche to sell in. I can’t know for absolute certain what niche material other marketers will buy. So I put in hours of work into a PLR package, which might sell like hotcakes or idle away into oblivion. It can be frustrating when something doesn’t go as I planned, but I learn what I can from it and move on. I’m satisfied that I took action, feel good about allowing myself to take risks, and at the same time I’m learning more about my target market.

Now back to the fear uncovered earlier: “Can YOU do what SHE does?”. Not only do we struggle to believe the advice we’re given, but we struggle to believe in ourselves. I say “we” in a generic sense. This could apply to newbies or experienced marketers.

Until you BELIEVE that you can succeed, you will be forever paralyzed.

Believing in yourself will stem from your own self esteem. If this is a crucial stopping point for you, it may well be worth your time to nurture and develop that self esteem.

REVIEW:

You need to learn the basics of choosing a niche from some sources that you find BELIEVABLE and TRUSTWORTHY
You need to be willing to assume RISKS
You need to BELIEVE in yourself
This goes without saying, but you need to take ACTION