NICHING down is the worst thing ever

This week’s observation: Niching down as a designer is the worst thing you can do for your business.

You’ll lose variety, jobs, get looked over for projects, basically lose the good shit that makes it fun right?

But what’s the other option?

You take a looong time building a space in a very congested market - field with AI slop and newbs doing bad work.

You struggle to make an impact because you’re trying to appeal to ‘small businesses’ or ‘start ups’ just like everyone else.

You struggle to stand out with a personal brand that takes fuckin forever to get going.

This is truth - I’ve seen it time and time again.

So maybe you think - I’ll get less variety but here’s what I know from my clients

D closed $15,000 on two jobs in Jan - he only niched down last year and he’s already spoken on one panel, and booked his second this month as a brand specialis.
C is booked out until april and closing 90% of the sales calls she had in jan.
E booked two projects (on the call) in jan both over five figures each.

Each of these clients has a niche.

Each is moving fast, exponentially fast.

The market for designers has shifted, it’s already moved, and you’re still catching up if you haven’t got a clear picture of who you serve and how.

As markets fracture - clients want a specialist not a generalist.

And if you want to move from word of mouth to a real business, this is the number one thing I recommend you double down on.

Be kinda relevant to everyone? Or be hyper relevant to a small group? It’s the latter that will last the distance.