Packaging yourself up into a tidy business niche is BS. It’s always felt off and humans know this.
Instead, create something that matters to you that only you can create. Enrol others into that idea. Evolve as a person and allow your work to flex with you.
And for the love of sanity… please ignore your numbers and remind yourself that there’s a human clicking “I fricken love this!” instead of just being a notification of a follower 🫶🏼
Looks like I'm pretty much on the right track-a writer who refuses to do anything but write.
I can tell you anything about the universe I'm secretly building that ties in all my different body of works, or how each can be exploited better than crude oil. But that's boring. I'd rather talk about how marketing is not the work of a writer. That a great marketer could find ways to market any product given to them instead of parroting "Take it or leave it." while handing out a strict, unfair contract where they do minimal work reaping maximum percentage. I know the value of my work and I won't settle for a partner treating me anything other than equal.
"Building something that serves people so generously that compensation becomes the natural consequence rather than the desperate goal."
This 🫶 For my new business I'm taking it even one step further. I'm choosing to help as many animals and people in need as possible with the profit it will make.
I've never felt so much energy and passion. Building something for the greater good sets you on fire 🔥
The crazy part is, all those gurus slip into our subconscious and infiltrate our “purpose” without us even realizing it. It was an “aha” moment for me to be like… wait… what if my goal isn’t $10k months but to create something meaningful and love my life while doing it? Pursuing $10k months only sucked the joy out of my craft and business. I’ve totally pivoted. And I think I need to read this daily for awhile. Thank you for being so straightforward!
And I do recommend the Archetype Navigator at the end. For anyone new here. It found me at an awkward time, but it's helped reconsider my approach to creating by a long shot. There were sides to me I hadn't realized need to come out. Very interesting all around. Thank you Philipp for sharing. 🙏✨ Cheers!!
Jeez, I read it and the first thought I had was – have I missed the memo again? Am I even allowed to be on substack publishing my "essays about nothing really" without first considering my brand?
I must have missed (thankfully) the gurus' wisdom about growth. I don't really care about it, like honestly, really, I just thought it would be nice to have my essays stored somewhere neatly –on a substack shelf. For my future self, I guess 😅
And here I had my hopes up again... 😪😜 I'm waking out of a very sleepy and chaotic season now, I'd gone through my 600+ Medium creations in case I could recycle some, but it all no longer fit. Needing to go from posting notes to publishing actual stories and articles again. See how it goes...
I could never, ever fit into a niche. The fact that these platforms reward it, is always a reminder that the people engineering them aren't much different from the niche gurus you so adequately describe here.
I’ll be honest – I saw the button and thought, here we go, another creator selling "truth" as a lead magnet. But I took the test, got The Disruptor, and I’m genuinely unsettled by how accurately it predicted my entire Punk Minimalism identity. Well played, Philipp.
Guess I'll have to camp out in your archive because these are cutting me deep but they are the medicine I needed.
The courses I did buy and started but never finished. The courses I thought I needed but didn't have the cash. The courses I wanted, but waffled back and forth about if I should take the plunge (glad I never did).
The "course" I have developed on my own, not to sell, not to perform, not to become a guru. But because it helped me just START. And it's helping me continue.
This article sounds like me from beginning to end. What happened? Where did we lose the ability to believe in ourselves and believe we could do anything. What happened to the fearless children we were that would get scraped up climbing trees or touching the gas lit burner because we didn't think we would get burned.
How did we succumb to the self doubt that enabled others, well intentioned or not, to earn off our self doubt. The same energy we use to make employers rich can be used for ourselves.
I hate it took so long, but I am glad I arrived eventually, and so glad only God gets the credit for that arrival.
If we really take to heart the insidious preponderance of hindsight and survivorship bias, then maybe we would do whatever we have to do to destroy the economic and cultural systems built around such schemes.
There is of course, doing the act, whatever that is for you, but there is also the reality that being able to do the act is not equally distributed to everyone. Looking at reality plainly, without stories of exceptionalism, merit or other forms of fantastical grandeur, is not at all popular.
Packaging yourself up into a tidy business niche is BS. It’s always felt off and humans know this.
Instead, create something that matters to you that only you can create. Enrol others into that idea. Evolve as a person and allow your work to flex with you.
And for the love of sanity… please ignore your numbers and remind yourself that there’s a human clicking “I fricken love this!” instead of just being a notification of a follower 🫶🏼
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
Another banger
Most helpful … settling into my bones … which is a good sign for me
i was a victim tbh, i had to learn the hard way that the niche is me
Looks like I'm pretty much on the right track-a writer who refuses to do anything but write.
I can tell you anything about the universe I'm secretly building that ties in all my different body of works, or how each can be exploited better than crude oil. But that's boring. I'd rather talk about how marketing is not the work of a writer. That a great marketer could find ways to market any product given to them instead of parroting "Take it or leave it." while handing out a strict, unfair contract where they do minimal work reaping maximum percentage. I know the value of my work and I won't settle for a partner treating me anything other than equal.
So, which bricklayer am I?
I love the vibe of this piece. Feels very David Lynch to me (one of my all-time favourite directors).
And, as always, you’re spot on.
I read those now mostly for a good laugh.
Oof, as someone who’s literally gone by “I am the niche,” this one was like a dagger ngl. 💀🤣 But I’m teachable! I’m going to chew on this.
Sidebar: I also highly recommend the Archetype Navigator! Very insightful.
"Building something that serves people so generously that compensation becomes the natural consequence rather than the desperate goal."
This 🫶 For my new business I'm taking it even one step further. I'm choosing to help as many animals and people in need as possible with the profit it will make.
I've never felt so much energy and passion. Building something for the greater good sets you on fire 🔥
The crazy part is, all those gurus slip into our subconscious and infiltrate our “purpose” without us even realizing it. It was an “aha” moment for me to be like… wait… what if my goal isn’t $10k months but to create something meaningful and love my life while doing it? Pursuing $10k months only sucked the joy out of my craft and business. I’ve totally pivoted. And I think I need to read this daily for awhile. Thank you for being so straightforward!
And I do recommend the Archetype Navigator at the end. For anyone new here. It found me at an awkward time, but it's helped reconsider my approach to creating by a long shot. There were sides to me I hadn't realized need to come out. Very interesting all around. Thank you Philipp for sharing. 🙏✨ Cheers!!
Jeez, I read it and the first thought I had was – have I missed the memo again? Am I even allowed to be on substack publishing my "essays about nothing really" without first considering my brand?
I must have missed (thankfully) the gurus' wisdom about growth. I don't really care about it, like honestly, really, I just thought it would be nice to have my essays stored somewhere neatly –on a substack shelf. For my future self, I guess 😅
And here I had my hopes up again... 😪😜 I'm waking out of a very sleepy and chaotic season now, I'd gone through my 600+ Medium creations in case I could recycle some, but it all no longer fit. Needing to go from posting notes to publishing actual stories and articles again. See how it goes...
I could never, ever fit into a niche. The fact that these platforms reward it, is always a reminder that the people engineering them aren't much different from the niche gurus you so adequately describe here.
I’ll be honest – I saw the button and thought, here we go, another creator selling "truth" as a lead magnet. But I took the test, got The Disruptor, and I’m genuinely unsettled by how accurately it predicted my entire Punk Minimalism identity. Well played, Philipp.
Guess I'll have to camp out in your archive because these are cutting me deep but they are the medicine I needed.
The courses I did buy and started but never finished. The courses I thought I needed but didn't have the cash. The courses I wanted, but waffled back and forth about if I should take the plunge (glad I never did).
The "course" I have developed on my own, not to sell, not to perform, not to become a guru. But because it helped me just START. And it's helping me continue.
This article sounds like me from beginning to end. What happened? Where did we lose the ability to believe in ourselves and believe we could do anything. What happened to the fearless children we were that would get scraped up climbing trees or touching the gas lit burner because we didn't think we would get burned.
How did we succumb to the self doubt that enabled others, well intentioned or not, to earn off our self doubt. The same energy we use to make employers rich can be used for ourselves.
I hate it took so long, but I am glad I arrived eventually, and so glad only God gets the credit for that arrival.
If we really take to heart the insidious preponderance of hindsight and survivorship bias, then maybe we would do whatever we have to do to destroy the economic and cultural systems built around such schemes.
There is of course, doing the act, whatever that is for you, but there is also the reality that being able to do the act is not equally distributed to everyone. Looking at reality plainly, without stories of exceptionalism, merit or other forms of fantastical grandeur, is not at all popular.