Now that October is closing out, I’m waxing nostalgic for the year that is slipping past.
I often joke that I’m still trying to figure out where 1992 went, ’cause I can’t remember being IN that year…or what I did WITH it. [But I won’t bore you with my missives about selective amnesia.]
I realize at this juncture I haven’t nearly worked through half my “list of things to do in 2019”!
I was talking to my wife about this on Monday. She’s convinced me that I’m working hard, but not working smart. As usual, she’s right. I’ve spend a good bit of my time engaging in the classic blunder of handling what’s urgent, and not what’s important. For those of you who are not familiar with this concept, read anything by the late great Stephen R. Covey, including his Time Management Matrix and the “four quadrants”. See “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.
People have written tomes on effective use of time, principle-centered thinking, optimizing your talents, goal-setting, etc. So much so that there’s a muddy miasma of vectors pulling every which way. What’s one to do? Who do you believe?
I have my own rules of thumb about how to conduct life and business. Those lofty goals are roughly stated in the following list:
- Play to your strengths
- Listen to those who know you
- K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid)
- Know your limits
- Work your niche
What? Wait. Work your niche? I haven’t seen that one in any of the popular self-help books!
Yeah, I know…I just made it up. Or at least I think I did. Maybe a book has already been written about it.
By “working your niche”, I don’t mean limit yourself…I mean be realistic. What is your bread ‘n’ butter? What is your money-maker that seems really not much work to you at all? Something that can sustain your VO business while you’re dreaming of narrating that National Geographic Special.
Working your niche means knowing your specialty as good as the top 1% in the field.
Working your niche substantiates you as an expert.
Working your niche establishes you as the thought leader, an influencer, a pace-setter.
Working your niche makes you comfortable mentoring and coaching others in your specialty. But above all, working your niche shows you’ve mastered the art of turning your specialty into a steady income stream.
I like being a renaissance man. As a former news guy, it gives me context on a broad range of topics of which I’m expected to know something when virtually ANY story pops up. But Renaissance man only waters down my strengths in voice acting. I’d love to be able to master all the genres…from animation and video games to E-Learning, audiobooks, and Network Promos. But is that realistic? One of them can be a niche. Two are possible, certainly. Three or more, and I begin to spread myself too thin, maybe?
How ’bout you? Are you a niche kinda person, or a nebulous jack-of-all-trades, and master of none?
Oh, and BTW, I say “nitch”, not “neesh”! LOL!
CourVO
