Finding Your Unique Niche as a Multi-Passionate Writer
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Chapter 1: Embracing Your Multipotentiality
Throughout my life, I’ve faced challenges in pinpointing a singular passion to pursue. Years ago, I came across a transformative YouTube video that reshaped my understanding of my identity and place in the world.
If you haven't yet seen Emilie Wapnick's TED Talk titled "Why Some of Us Don't Have One True Calling," I highly recommend taking 12 and a half minutes to watch it before continuing.
For the first time, I discovered an identity that celebrated my diverse interests rather than confining me to a narrow path, leading to dissatisfaction. I proudly identify as a multipotentialite.
Fast forward through years of uncertainty and frustration in seeking a blend of passions that could yield both financial success and genuine happiness. Over the past three months of my writing journey, I’ve absorbed insights from accomplished authors, copywriters, and bloggers on Medium. A common piece of advice echoed throughout: find your niche.
This advice often makes me feel like I’m back in second grade, pondering what I want to be when I grow up. So, how can we cultivate a rewarding writing career that accommodates our myriad interests? Here are four questions I have been contemplating.
Section 1.1: What is Your Writing Goal?
The essential first step is to clarify what you hope to achieve. If your objective is to earn money, your expectations will differ considerably from those looking for a creative outlet.
Why not engage in a little exercise with me? Ask yourself: what is your writing goal?
It doesn’t have to be monumental or life-changing. It could be generating income, enjoying flexible hours, building a community, or even serving as a therapeutic outlet. For me, it boils down to financial gain and schedule flexibility.
Do you have your goal in mind? Fantastic! Let’s proceed.
Section 1.2: What Drives Your Motivation?
With your goal established, the next question is: what motivates you? Why is this goal significant? What will achieving it allow you to do that you can't find elsewhere?
Are you aiming to leave your 9-to-5 job, explore new topics, or tackle community issues? Personally, my goal is to create a stable writing career that allows me to leave my day job and be present for my family.
This motivation is my guiding principle. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or discouraged by slow financial progress, I remind myself of my ‘why’—my family.
Writing down your goal and motivation and placing it somewhere visible can help you navigate through moments of frustration. I keep mine on a sticky note on my laptop.
Subsection 1.2.1: What Type of Writing Appeals to You?
Now that we have a goal and understand its importance, the next step is determining the type of writing you wish to pursue.
This is where it can get a bit complicated. Remember our goal? It plays a crucial role here. Many writing professionals advise finding your niche, but what if I told you that your niche doesn’t have to be a specific subject?
What if your niche was the type of writing itself? For instance, you might specialize in copywriting but have the flexibility to choose various formats—sales copy, email content, or long-form articles.
This flexibility feels liberating, especially for someone with diverse interests. From my findings, copywriting is a lucrative field that's relatively accessible to beginners.
In particular, I’ve been leaning toward email copy, as it allows for creativity and the opportunity to connect with an audience.
Section 1.3: Merging Multiple Topics within a Broad Niche
Depending on your writing aspirations, it’s possible to intertwine various niches. For example, if you're considering starting a blog purely for enjoyment, you have the freedom to write about any topic you desire.
Writing for yourself on your own platform offers immense flexibility, though it may not yield the same financial rewards as crafting sales copy for a major corporation.
That said, personal blogs can also lead to success, albeit requiring more time. I have been contemplating how I can balance flexibility while aligning with my objectives.
As I mentioned earlier, email copy provides an avenue for creativity and relationship-building with readers. I can write email campaigns for brands that resonate with my interests, ensuring I don’t get pigeonholed into a single topic.
For instance, I could craft an email campaign for a parenting website or promote a new yoga routine. The possibilities are limitless.
If this approach doesn't resonate with you, perhaps selecting a broader topic feels more appealing. This could mean choosing a general area, such as health, and creating diverse content through that lens.
Closing Thoughts
As a child, when asked what I aspired to become, I often responded with three seemingly unrelated options: actress, veterinarian, and astronaut.
After spending over a decade in college searching for my niche, I accumulated three and a half associate degrees and a bachelor’s in English with a geology minor. The term commonly used to describe this is "well-rounded."
Recently, I expressed my intention to carve out a space for myself in the parenting niche online. While this remains true, I've come to realize that it might limit my financial potential in freelancing.
Some niches provide substantial earning opportunities, so I decided to gather insights from my previous articles to conduct an experiment—this article is the outcome.
Although I only have two articles with sufficient views for insights, the most popular topic across both was writing. My hope is to follow my readers' interests and see where it leads.
Thank you for indulging my curiosity, and I would love to hear your responses to the questions above if you feel comfortable sharing in the comments.
In this video, Emilie Wapnick discusses how to identify your niche when you have many interests, providing insights that can help you embrace your multi-passionate nature.
This video explores strategies for finding your niche when overwhelmed by ideas, especially beneficial for those with multiple passions.