Episode #3 of Relational Series On Being A Jack Of All Trades: going niche-less on Medium

Why I’ve Decided to Not Stick to a Niche and Say ‘Screw Niches’

I might stick to two wide niches, or screw niches all together. Let’s see where my ideas take me.

In my previous article within the Jack of all trades series, I mentioned not having a dream job (part 2). The biggest reason is due to the multiple interests that I have had throughout my whole life. And this applies to my Medium blog as well. I don’t quite have a niche, and I probably won’t — at least not anytime soon. I kinda have two pretty broad niches at the moment though, looking at my published articles along with the upcoming article ideas I’m working on publishing eventually. Music, along with what belongs under the big umbrella about life (personal essays/self-help).

I also know for sure that I won’t be writing about writing on Medium unless it relates to a personal event. This is simply because many people are already doing it and are way more experienced and knowledgeable than I do. I look up to these people for advice too. Also, these are contents catered more for writers instead of readers. I want to create content that I too enjoy reading, beyond just reading about writing — writers also need to read content that’s not about writing. Plus, I’m an aspiring writer whose only been writing for a total of 3 months since the start of August. As much as it’s okay for me to share my writing journey with others, I’m not confident enough to teach/guide others yet.

I have been generating ideas for Medium, and I found that I have topics all over the place, and they do not all fit into the same box of niche. I do not want to feel creatively restricted in a box, confined to only one niche. I have personal essays on all sorts of topics and more ideas that I plan to cover in the future.

I do realise that in 3 Important Life Lessons I Learnt As A Classical Musician, I linked and talked about the article by Ruth Matthews that gave me the idea of writing about a topic beyond my initial niche, and changing the writing perspective to fit it. I realised that as smart as that tactic is, sometimes it’s simply not what I always wish to convey. I would like to be able to do it both ways without always relating them. Best of both worlds, you know?

So far on Medium, I’ve shared a lot of personal essays, a few self-development, and one music-related article that I related to life. I might have several more ideas about music and other random topics in the making. In the future, I plan to also share personal stories on my journey as a musician — things I’ve learnt, different experiences and encounters. I wish to also write about everything else I’m interested in learning or the next new things that catch my eyes and attention, and my journey with them.

Like many others, I was warned that if I do that, my followers might be confused upon receiving the contents of my next article on a different topic than what they had initially followed. This is the main reason that kept me away from ‘screwing’ and ditching niches, especially when the advice on having a niche just makes so much sense.

However, I just want to focus on things that I love — things that I can write from the heart and topics I’m excited to research on and hit publish. I also saw a few articles about this after discovering the Fuck Niches publication, and I’m really glad I did. Medium is an online social community, and there’s definitely a reader for almost any topic on here.

Final thoughts

There are also countless many articles listing reasons to not have a niche. And for each and every one of those articles being published, I’m very grateful. Whether I’ve read them or not, these articles further confirm my decision to restrict myself less. I’m relieved that many other writers here on Medium feel the same way too.

I probably won’t earn much or have (or maintain) a great follower count in the long run, but I get to write about what I love, which is most important to me. I also may not be an expert at everything I want to talk about, only having a rough idea about each topic. Ultimately, I believe that by speaking from experience, passion, paired with ample research, I would certainly be able to produce content that could relate to someone. Even if it’s just one reader. I’m a jack of all trades, and I’ll embrace that on and offline.

This concludes the mini-series of the Jack of all Trades, at least for now. Again, this was inspired by Winston from his article that you can check out here. Here’s links to part 1 and part 2. The contents of this series are inspired by real-life experiences, coupled with some mini-research I’ve done.

If you’re interested to read the rest of this series, you can visit the linked list for the compilation. For more future articles and keep in touch, do subscribe to my email notifications or sign up for Medium via this link. I do get a portion of your membership fee. Thank you to everyone for being here. I’ve finally made it to the MPP earlier this week.