[HN Gopher] Niches are overrated
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Niches are overrated
Author : memorable
Score : 67 points
Date : 2022-11-02 04:49 UTC (18 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (scottjack.me)
(TXT) w3m dump (scottjack.me)
| solidgiant wrote:
| I wonder if anyone has niched down not into a vertical, but into
| a demographic. For example a lot of my clients are religious
| CEO's. And I'm contemplating just trying to niche into that
| demographic as opposed to an actual industry or vertical.
| lupire wrote:
| How so? Religious marketing for business services? Or providing
| a service that religious CEOs need?
| solidgiant wrote:
| I'd be providing a service that religious CEO's need.
| holler wrote:
| Curious how you ended up with that demographic?
| 0ff wrote:
| Indulgences?
| petewailes wrote:
| Every successful company. Segmentation, targeting and
| positioning 101.
| tluyben2 wrote:
| I had this experience early on (1998 around) when I
| accidentally stumbled on a rich client who was very religious
| and introduced us to his church where almost all men were rich
| business guys (only ceo's, investors and their families etc).
| It was a great niche money wise, but as my co-founders and
| myself were (and are) atheists, we really couldn't work with
| them as they continuesly mixed religion with business and we
| cut ties after a few projects.
|
| But it is a good idea I think if you can get into a large
| (enough) group of a certain demographic that doesn't bite (too
| much?) with your own beliefs and values.
| lurkervizzle wrote:
| Think this is a great reinforcement of also requiring a
| guiding mission to what you do - otherwise it won't feel
| authentic.
|
| So if your niche is for example custom IT security services
| for religious, well off business folks, if you don't align
| and empathize with that niche (e.g., you're an atheist), even
| if it's a monetary opportunity, you're going to feel
| dissonance.
|
| At a broader level, this is why I think aligning with your
| company's mission helps when people can do that vs. taking a
| more agnostic approach to where you work.
| mrcheesebreeze wrote:
| also if you are in one of those demographics it can be even
| better.
|
| you would have a level of rapport inherently with those
| people and can make those connections even easier.
| solidgiant wrote:
| Yes agreed. I've seen this work well countless times over
| the last 15 years in business. Which is what is leading me
| to do more of it.
| ericmcer wrote:
| Isn't doing business with people of the same faith a tens of
| thousands of years old practice? It would be hard to pull this
| off without embracing similar faiths.
| hcho wrote:
| Some say it's the reason religions pop up.
| caminante wrote:
| _> For example a lot of my clients are religious CEO 's. And
| I'm contemplating just trying to niche into that demographic as
| opposed to an actual industry or vertical._
|
| "as opposed to" doesn't make sense as I don't think you can
| avoid "an actual industry"
|
| There is definitely sub-differentiation within each industry
| that cater to religious principals. Look at ESG finance, which
| has existed and persisted in the pre-modern sense, e.g. plenty
| of money managers that claim differentiation by investing in
| firms that screen out obvious vices or work around lending
| restrictions in the Koran.
| crftr wrote:
| Sounds a lot like establishing a lifestyle brand. And yes, it
| works.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| I don't know about anyone else, but I _have_ to have a niche,
| because there is so much to learn. I learn something new, every
| single day, and I am still barely treading water, in my niche.
| lucasmullens wrote:
| A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better
| than a master of one.
| lob_it wrote:
| Analog 101 sayings were not nimble enough with technology.
|
| I've worked on projects where wearing a lot of hats was much
| more of a pleasure than sending a change request....
| Waiting.... Getting innacurate results.... Waiting..... Sending
| another waiting request..... Etc....
|
| We still enjoy 100% analog blocks of time, so much like
| "squinting to see it" is offensive to asians, IDE references
| are sure to offend someone :)
|
| I digress......
| Enginerrrd wrote:
| Is "squinting to see it" really offensive to asians?
|
| All people of all races, epicanthic fold or not, engage the
| muscles around the eye for various reasons.
|
| Squinting itself, per wikipedia: "helps momentarily improve
| their eyesight by slightly changing the shape of the eye to
| make it rounder, which helps light properly reach the fovea"
|
| I've never heard anyone besides you suggest this is
| offensive? The term is in no way racially derived.
| lob_it wrote:
| klyrs wrote:
| > Cultural sensitivity warning labels should have been
| applied.
|
| Not really. It's just flamebait. You recognize it as
| flamebait, or you wouldn't think that warning labels
| would be needed. Please eschew flamebait.
| lob_it wrote:
| I'm laughing that it really worked.
|
| Do you internalize everything you read?
|
| Tabloids probably give you conniptions
|
| As stated, I'm over it
| klyrs wrote:
| We have site guidelines for a reason. Trolling is not
| welcome here.
| lob_it wrote:
| The burden is on you to prove it is not a self-
| deprecating statement and/or that I am not offended every
| time someone says squint.
|
| Also, the operative words of "much like" and "sure to
| offend someone" can be ammended to "at least two"
|
| I have laughed so hard the (5) days on a global forum. It
| has been very entertaining :)
|
| The conniptions only confirm mental illness over
| something so trivial and trife.
| [deleted]
| jackconsidine wrote:
| > I think the pressure and emphasis on having a niche is
| unfounded. Especially if you're in the first few years of your
| freelancing career and especially if a niche hasn't made itself
| apparent to you.
|
| I have found this to be the case. Niches are a hindsight thing a
| lot of the time. Sometimes it's helpful to hear "stop dealing
| with problem X since these are a time suck for you", but hearing
| "find a niche" before you have the problems in front of you isn't
| all that useful.
| etempleton wrote:
| Having a niche is a good way to get your first and probably
| second promotion. Be good at a thing, get promoted to senior
| person of thing, maybe manager of thing. At this point you don't
| want to be a specialist anymore if your goal is promotion. You
| want to be a generalist and know how things generally should work
| and be a good communicator. It helps if you are likable. The
| switch is hard. It is hard to give up what you are good at and
| hard to get people to see you are good at other things.
| zokier wrote:
| I don't know. If anything, I feel generalism is overrated, at
| least on places like HN. Maybe I've got very limited viewpoint,
| but I haven't experienced this sentiment of appreciation towards
| niches. And in the industry what companies seem to want is mostly
| fullstack devops people that do everything and can adapt to any
| tech stack, instead of any particular specialists.
| lupire wrote:
| Generalism is valuable when you work for a company that has a
| lot of small needs. Specialism is valuable when the company has
| a big need for the specialty.
| matwood wrote:
| It depends. In a broad stroke sense, small companies often need
| generalists more than specialists, and big companies are the
| opposite.
|
| HN, at least historically, leans towards start ups and
| entrepreneurship. These often (not always) do better starting
| with some generalists.
| [deleted]
| si_164 wrote:
| Agreed.
| [deleted]
| kareemm wrote:
| Depends on what you're optimizing for. This post is about being
| at the beginning of your freelancing career when you're trying to
| figure out what's going to keep you going. I found that after 13
| years of consulting I finally pick a niche. When I did marketing,
| sales conversations, and execution became a lot easier, and
| effective hourly rate skyrocketed.
|
| Picking a niche is smart if you know it'll sustain you on the
| dimensions that matter (emotionally, financially, intellectually,
| etc).
| tamilkangaroo wrote:
| Americans would say -- "Whatever works for you"
| claudiulodro wrote:
| I'd say, like almost anything, "it's complicated and there are
| tradeoffs".
|
| Niching improves efficiency. It makes it easier to communicate
| your value proposition, find clients that are a good fit, makes
| it easier to get-up-to-speed on new projects, and ensures you can
| deliver on the projects you take on. If you're ever going to do a
| "productized service", you kind-of need to have a niche.
|
| On the flip side, niching reduces the total market size of your
| customers (e.g. can't fulfill requests for mobile apps if you're
| a WordPress shop), makes it more difficult to transition to other
| domains if you're trying to get a job (pigeonholing is real), and
| it's boring to do the same tech or industry forever (personal
| opinion).
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Well said.
|
| If you're well-regarded in your niche, you'll always find work
| in it. The problems are:
|
| 1. You can get bored with it, or sick of the clients.
|
| 2. The niche can decline over time, or be too small to support
| you.
|
| Fortunately, I've always found that in high tech, you can
| acquire skill in some new area fast enough to get hired in it,
| without having spent your whole life doing it. If they really
| _want_ the person who 's spent their whole life in it, they'll
| pick that person, but usually there aren't enough of those to
| go around.
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