The Real Problem With Finding Your Niche
What Most People Get Wrong
Here's the problem with trying to find your niche:
You're not thinking about your audience—you’re thinking about yourself.
You're thinking:
Will people pay attention to me?
Will I make money from this?
Will I be successful?
If these are your main concerns, you will likely end up:
Chasing trends,
Being a slave to the algorithm,
Obsessing over the number of likes and views,
People-pleasing,
Getting burnt out, and
Quitting.
If your primary motivation for creating content is to get many views and make money, go ahead and look up the most profitable niche—there's nothing wrong with that since that's your goal. But just know that unless you're genuinely passionate about it, you might find yourself experiencing the things listed above.
Ask the Right Questions
What you really need to find isn’t your niche, but your WHY.
Why do you want to make content?
Do you just want to make money?
Do you just want to do what you love?
Or do you want to make money doing what you love?
You need to get clear on that because here’s the reality:
You don’t make money doing what you love.
You make money by providing value to others.
You don’t think “What’s in it for me?” but “What’s in it for them?”
You’re thinking:
Who can I help?
How can I help them?
How can I improve myself so that I can give more value and help more people?
If you don’t care about any of these things, just keep it as a hobby and don’t bother monetizing it.
Your audience won’t give you their money, time, or attention unless you offer them something of value in return, such as education, inspiration, or entertainment—it’s simply an exchange of value.
“What can I get in return?” is the mindset of a consumer.
“What can I give?” is the mindset of a creator.
And as a creator, it’s hard to give your time and effort doing the things you don’t like for people you don’t even care about—you might as well get any other job that pays the bills.
If you want to make money with your passion, you have to find something that you love doing that will also bring value to others.
You can't treat it as a mere hobby or a get-rich-quick scheme.
You have to treat it as your life's work, your mission, your ikigai.
If you get zero subscribers, zero views, and zero likes, will you still do it?
Because that's likely what you'll see at the beginning, and you will need a reason to keep going.
Content creation is a long-term game. It takes time to build an audience and learn the skills required to monetize your work.
People who give up quickly because they don't see immediate results are those who are doing this mainly for the outcome, not the process. That doesn't make them a coward or a loser for giving up—it’s simply because this path isn't for everyone. Some people are just drawn to the dream of passive income and escaping the 9-to-5 grind, but they're not willing to put in the time and effort it takes to succeed.
So you have to be honest with yourself and ask:
As a creator, am I trying to find a niche so that I can use my knowledge and skills to provide value for my target audience?
Or am I doing it to chase money, fame, and attention?
Find the Right Words
I kept seeing all these articles and videos insisting that I needed to “find my niche” to be successful. As a result, I got stuck for years trying to figure it out. I was too scared to start because I kept worrying that my chosen niche would either be too saturated or wouldn’t be profitable enough.
That’s the problem—the word “niche” has so often been tied to the words “profit” and “success,” both of which are focused on the outcome, not the process.
The truth is, creators succeed not by finding a “profitable niche,” but by finding something they are deeply passionate about—something that drives them to master their craft and persevere long enough to achieve lasting results.
So instead of using the word “niche,” find the word that will:
not leave you paralyzed by indecision
give you the courage to start
remind you why you’re doing this in the first place
inspire you to improve yourself and master your craft
help you get through the tough times and motivate you to keep going
In my case, these are the words that helped me gain more clarity:
Purpose
Life’s work
Mission in life
Ikigai (reason for being)
If you can’t find your niche, find the word that resonates with you and keeps you focused on what truly matters.
“Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.”
— Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning
Yup, that's what matters. I learnt it very later
The 2 points I liked the most, 1. We've to first give a lot of value to others 2. It's about keep going even when you see no results.