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

Related posts:

1. Facing Your Fears – What Niche Do I Choose?