Do One Thing

Today I want to take a deep dive on my #1 way to build a powerful, profitable Creator Business without burning out. You’ll get further by doing less with this method, but be warned you will resist…

You will kick and scream all the way to burn out. You will refuse until you feel so frustrated at your lack of progress that you finally cave in or give up. 

We can avoid that if you implement this now before it’s too late:

Do one thing.

Go all in.

Show up on repeat.

Because as much as you want to be a multi-passionate creative, it's killing your business.

Every new idea, project, product, revenue stream, or offer requires a customer base, marketing, administration, strategy, structure, etc.

You're just diluting yourself and your market.

Try this instead: be known for something specific. Choose a Niche. Solve ONE problem for ONE person with ONE solution on ONE platform. Be the best you can be at it. Tell everyone. Put it on repeat and see what happens.

You'll stand out. You'll be remembered. You'll be recommended. You'll be mentioned. You'll be anticipated!

And something even more magical will happen...

Your business will grow. You'll make more money. It'll get easier. You'll be able to serve more people. And you'll have more time to do all those other things you love for your own enjoyment.

Niche = Freedom

.....before you come after me because you don't want to give up your photo-gardening-macrame-illustrating-traveling-speaking-yoga-writing-coaching non-niche niche that you've created for yourself, ask yourself if you've found success in doing All. The. Things. 🧐

If you haven't had the results you've been dreaming of, maybe it's time to go against the grain and pick a niche?

Let me give you 8 more reasons why choosing a niche is the fastest way to grow without burning out:

1. When you understand your audience's needs, desires and pain points and you know exactly how you help them solve their problem then your content creation becomes easier because you’ll know exactly what to write, create, or post about.
2. When you're clear about who you serve and how you help, customers feel seen and understood, making them more likely to trust and buy from you.
3. The more specific and niche your business is, the more likely you can cut through the noise and position yourself as unique in your market. 
4. With a niche you can tailor messaging and create targeted campaigns that will save you time and effort. Not to mention paid ad strategy becomes so much simpler.
5. You’ll design products and services that perfectly meet your audience’s needs instead of guessing and randomly throwing offers out to your list.
6. Specialists are perceived as more valuable and can command premium prices.
7. A niche helps you stay top of mind, positions you as the authority in your space and leads to more opportunities.
8. Scaling your business becomes more manageable with a specific niche because you can put clear systems in place.

If choosing a niche still feels too limiting, let’s take the broader view for a moment. Let’s discuss how businesses and brands that seem to be doing it all actually started very niche which allowed them to grow and eventually expand with new offers, ideas and products. But they started with something very specific. 

AMAZON STARTED AS A BOOKSELLER

The most obvious to me is Amazon. In the 90s it was an online bookseller. But once it mastered that niche it went on to dominate almost every aspect of our lives. It’s not only a bazaar of endless consumerism, but it’s become our grocer and pharmacist and cloud computing center. I have no doubt they’d be running their own country if they could, but it all started by solving ONE problem for ONE person with ONE solution on ONE platform (which happens to be their own).

THE HOME EDIT STARTED AS AN INSTAGRAM ORGANIZING ACCOUNT

But let’s take a look at a smaller creator business that has taken off over the years - The Home Edit. Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin started by sharing their organizational skills on Instagram. Even though between them they had experience in fashion, event organization and marketing, they were very specific in posting photos of organized pantries, closets, and playrooms using their systems with rainbow-colored arrangements.Over time this helped them land book deals, run workshops, get picked up for brand deals that include Walmart and The Container Store, and even a streaming series with Netflix. If they hadn’t started by solving ONE problem for ONE person with ONE solution on ONE platform, you probably would have never heard of The Home Edit.

HUMANS OF NEW YORK STARTED AS A FACEBOOK PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOWCASE

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton is another great example of specificity. When Brandon lost his finance job he began a passion project documenting the everyday people of New York. Over time he began including their stories and his Facebook account grew by millions landing him book deals and expanding his reach globally. He had a story (niche) that tied everything together to help his work stand out. He solved ONE problem for ONE person (ok, really everyone, but we could say the compassionate among us) with ONE solution on ONE platform. This would not have happened if he was just a random photographer snapping at anything his lens could capture.

DREW STEINBRECHER IS A GREAT CASE STUDY FROM MY PROGRAM

And finally I want to tell you about my client, Drew Steinbrecher. He is multipassionate, but his business is hyper focused and in less than 3 years of working with me he went from barely making money with his art to running not one, but two very successful summits. Drew has a background in graphic design, quilting, performance production and collage. If he had tried to create offers for each of his interests, talk to all of those different potential customers and build a social media account for everyone, he would not be where he is today. 

Instead he took his expertise as a graphic designer and his ideas from quilting and translated that into bold graphic gel printed papers to make into collage. And in the last 3 years he decided to put his love of collaboration on repeat with group summits that each have thousands of students every session. Drew solves ONE problem for ONE person with ONE solution on ONE platform. He is the epitome of what happens when you go all in on your specific niche and put it on repeat. But don’t worry, he still has fun doing all the other things he is passionate about - he simply does not monetize them. And that is the key.

This quote from one of my very favorite books helps put the idea of  “doing less but doing it better” into perspective:

“We can’t have it all or do it all. If we could, there would be no reason to evaluate or eliminate options. Once we accept the reality of trade-offs we stop asking, ‘How can I make it all work?’ and start asking the more honest question ‘Which problem do I want to solve?’”

― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

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Hey, if the thought of picking a niche and letting your other multi-passions take a break for a while makes you panic a bit, I want to remind you that we’re all in this together. Instead of worrying about all the things we aren't doing doing, let's pin them for inspiration that may be picked up at a future time. 

There's more to this story:

I’ve struggled with trying to execute too many things at once while holding on tight to every idea. But after burning out and falling flat in 2024, I’ve made a promise to myself that this year will be the year I double down on what has worked and do it on repeat until all the pieces fall into place. And I am excited to bring you on this journey with me. This is our chance to do it together.

And if you're wondering, I finally know my niche:

My purpose is to help you find your purpose and bring it to life.