"Niche" = a rose by any other name...

Within hours of that first post, it hit me:  I enjoy the process of honing in on a niche more than committing to one at the exclusion of others.  Oh, well then duh, if what I love doing is figuring out what lights people up, then that's my niche to market.  Helping people figure out what they want to do.


I'm running into trouble using the word 'niche' though.  It's been co-opted by the online marketing community to refer to narrowly defining a target population, and using precise marketing search engine terms to find them.  The moment I started telling folks I help people find the niche that lights them up, they immediately ask SEO questions.  


So maybe 'niche' isn't the best word to use.  The lover-of-language in me is reluctant to give it up, because it offers such delightful word play:  NicheDoctor rhymes with Witch Doctor, an irreverent nod to my PhD.  'Finding a Niche to Scratch' is simply too much fun; very catchy.  


What lights me up is helping others figure out what they want to do.  My perfect clients would say things like, "I've always wanted to go back to school, but I haven't a clue where to start."  "Someday ... I want to go to Egypt."  "The kids are grown, and I'm restless, I don't know what I want to do with my life."  Move forward on a project or goal that's been sitting on the shelf unused, unexplored.  


So I'm not quite sure how to define that, which words will let people easily see what I do.  AND I know the key is to start anyway, and the right words will bubble to the surface, shiny and fun and catchy.  

WELCOME to this curious business of finding a niche!

Finding a niche should be such a simple thing.  We know what we like doing, we know what we're good at.  And yet...  And yet for so many of us, we wrangle and struggle with it as if this one decision is going to define the course of our entire lives.  Such silliness!  We know better!  And yet...


Welcome to Finding a Niche to Scratch.  I'll be narrating my own process on settling on a niche, and I invite you to participate.  Add comments, post ideas for yourself or others.  For such a ridiculously simple thing, it's been surprisingly difficult.  This blog is going to cure that.  


For climbers, a niche is a toehold.  That's it.  A place to step, to lift oneself up merely to the next step.  Is it the top of the peak?  Of course not.  Is it just the first step, to begin the process.  Yes.  Funny how we put so much drama around it...


I am moving from being a psychologist to being a coach.  I have fabulous training, I get the difference, I'm ready to roll.  Then comes the question:  "what kind of life coach?"  I stammer, I stumble, ahhh... um.... well....  So I invite you along as I sort that out, and hopefully it'll light clarity in your heart too about what YOUR passion is, what your niche is, to start your ascent.