Category: Entrepreneurship

My Journey to Finding a Double Niche as a Freelance Content Writer

In late 2013, I was navigating the unpredictable world of freelance writing in India. At the time, I was paid Rs. 500 for an 800-word article. Fast forward to 2018, I won my first $1000 client. It took almost 5 years to realise I deserve better. I had my daughter in 2017, and I told myself, something needs to change. And, that was – “I need to shift my perspective. I need to change my lens.”

Does it take 5 years? NO. You don’t have to wait that long.

I am sharing my story to encourage freelance content writers and make them believe that they can aim high and achieve things that you dream of.

Whatever happened between the gig that paid me peanuts, and the assignment that changed everything. When, I did not know who I was writing for and what I was writing, I felt like a jack-of-all-trades, struggling to carve out a specific niche that could elevate my career.

But when I landed on a $1000 client, I realised the importance of a niche and then doubling down my niche to secure my career.

My Double Niche

My first niche was Marketing Technology (MarTech) and second was Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This story is about how I arrived at them, and how you can arrive at it faster.

MarTech: My First Niche

I have been a marketer since 2006. Marketing as an industry was being changed by technology rapidly in 2017-18. Marketing Automation Platforms were on a rise, finding their sweet spot. Account-based marketing was a sought after strategy to land on enterprise clients. Personalization in customer experience became a must-have. Everyone was recommending a Chatbot to the martech stack. And, the words AI and machine learning were being infused into everything other positioning statement.

In general I got curious about how technology was changing the way people do marketing. I started reading a lot and then started writing about it. This lead me to give critical insights, and owned a PoV with strong opinions about MarTech as an emerging sector. I loved the attention as I got better at it.

That led me to realise that MarTech was as effortless niche that I can empathise with and write for a living. That was a defining moment that led me to choose MarTech as my first niche.

AI: My Second Niche

Everyone is an AI expert, and I wanted to be one too.

But, let me tell you, it was definitely not as easy as I thought.

When I was writing for a digital marketing agency as a ghost writer I stumbled upon the importance of understanding and exploring AI. To begin with AI just meant a chatbot with human names. Then, I started digging deeper.

Eventually, I drilled down my interest to Generative AI (GenAI). Because as a writer I was insecure about being wiped out of work. It seemed too cool to be true, and scary to believe.

But, here I am in the profession of writing prompts and making life easy for many companies. This is a much longer story and something for later.

The Turning Point: Landing a $1000 Client

From the time I decided I need to stick to a niche until I actually found a $1000 client in 2018, it took 6 months. Trust me this could have been shorter, if not for my mistakes and naivety. My journey took a pivotal turn six months later when I landed my first $1000 client. This client was a martech startup, from my first niche.

Let’s pause here.

The Power of a Double Niche

Identifying my double niche in martech and AI was not an overnight process; it was a culmination of months of exploration and learning. Here’s how I pieced it together non-linearly:

1. Self-Assessment and Skill Inventory:
   • Reflecting on my strengths in technical writing and my passion for marketing, I knew I needed to find a niche that leveraged both. Writing about martech and AI seemed like a perfect fit, given my growing expertise in these areas.
2. Market Research:
   • I continuously monitored industry trends and demands. Reports from Gartner, MarTech, Scott Brinker, McKinsey and BCG to understand complex technologies to a broader audience. Reading became an everyday habit. This helped me be in a prescriptive mode rather than a doer mode.
3. Client Feedback:
   • Feedback from my clients helped me simplify technical concepts, making them accessible and engaging. Collaborative brainstorming helped me validate many of my ideas.
4. Networking and Community Involvement:
   • LinkedIn was my universe of meeting new people. While I got 50% of my new gigs from word of mouth, the other 50% was from Linkedin.
5. Content Analysis:
   • Using tools like Google Keyword Planner, I identified high-demand, low-competition keywords related to martech and AI. This SEO-driven approach helped my content reach a wider audience and attract more clients.

Future-Proof your writing career

By the end of 2018, I had established myself as a specialist in martech and AI writing. The journey was challenging, but it was also incredibly rewarding. Understanding and embracing these niches allowed me to offer unique value to my clients, secure higher-paying projects, and build a sustainable freelance career. The experience taught me the importance of continuous learning and adaptability, especially as a freelance writer.

Reflecting on my journey, I am grateful for the serendipitous discoveries that came my way from my double niche. It transformed not only my career but also my approach to freelance writing,

Here is how you can identify your Double Niche using GenAI tools.

Learning and unlearning can happen anywhere. My apartment garden has become my classroom. It helped me realise that a gardener and a business tycoon need very similar lessons to thrive.

I failed over 8 times in growing a money plant as a simple climber in water. From there, I have created a terrace garden with over 10 veggies and a lot of house plants to refresh my space.

My Apartment Oasis: How 50 Plants Became My Unlikely Business Mentors?

My daughter’s favourite hideout place is this 5 feet tall plantfall (like a waterfall). Why do I have this?

Somehow this act of nurturing really soothes me. It has helped me stay calmer. I guess that’s what is called ‘garden therapy’. Now, gardening is a serious hobby for me. And, I do a bit of pruning, tilling or propagating for atleast 30 – 40 mins every other day.

My home is a mini jungle with plant mementos of different species. They are on the walls, in my balconies, outside in the corridor, utility area, inside my house, and everywhere.

A friend of mine calls them my “Plant pets”.

From Seedlings to CEOs: How my addiction to gardening taught me 3 business lessons?

Top 3 lessons that I learnt from my Plant Pets

Lesson #1: Resilience is possible when you remain rooted.

Plants are a very resilient species, and so are humans.

But, why is it that we humans cannot be resilient all the time. Only because we are not rooted enough. Comeback Stories of Steve Jobs and Sam Altman to Apple and Open.AI talk about this. They were called back to their original position after being fired from their own company. This tells us their soil stayed nurtured and they remained rooted. Their soil has been their tribe and internal compass.

I have learnt that plants thrive better in a nursery rather than a newly adopted home. Why is it? Because there are similar plants surrounding every sapling. They feel belonged and can communicate. I’m not saying this because I feel it.

They have a tribe to feel belonged. Dr. Perez Barrales found in his research clear evidence that the seedling and nurse tree beside it were more likely to thrive when grown together, compared to either plant growing alone.

This tribe helps even an entrepreneur jump back into action.

Lesson #2: Cloning is inevitable when you grow.

Propagation is a “must” after every 6 months for a house plant. With every growth spurt, plants grow faster and bigger than before. If they are not pruned or grafted well enough to be propagated, they die either because of a disease or they whittle. Diseases could get contagious killing other plants too.

If a leader does not expend enough effort to clone herself and make more people like her, then the organization will remain diseased. Or it will meet its diminishing growth. A leader needs to create more people like herself. Start cloning.

Lesson #3: Be prepared for your creation to be somebody else’s reward.

Whatever the crop yields, the plants don’t sit and eat. The plant’s creation is always given away rather taken by humans, us. It could be the fruits, leaves, roots, stem, or flowers. We enjoy its creation and we are rewarded by its yield. I have had a huge success with greens, tomatoes, carrots and radish in my terrace garden.

Even in business, if I create something, it also needs to be propagated in no time, when done well. If we are creating a product that is extremely consumable, it will be taken away. The customers will nurture the business to have more of it.

Whatever is being created, it will be someone else’s reward. In business, if your creation (product or solution) is not being someone else’s reward, then it won’t spread.

Bonus lesson: The seed that we sow or the sapling that we graft determines the plant that comes out of it.

Why talk about it now?

I have been giving away plants that I propagated to many of my neighbours and friends. Over the years, it feels like I have become a friendly official gardening consultant for many in my neighborhood.

I recently discovered that today, the 14th of April is the National Gardening Day. If you work from home, plant pets can be very easy to care for and save some good head space for you with their aura.

They help you focus and refocus while you are working from home.

For all work from home folks out there, happy to help you start ‘gardening as a hobby’.

DM me. It’s just a friendly gesture.