How I Accidentally Found My Writing Niche
And A Few Tips On How To Find Your Niche
As a freelance writer, the common advice I find on writing blogs is to find a niche and advertise yourself in this specific niche. But for someone with no writing education like me, this is one of the writing advice I never actually paid attention to.
I wrote for different companies about different topics. I was lucky enough to get a consistent job through different platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr. Having my own niche is one thing that is far from my mind because I successfully wrote anything that is offered to me.
All the blogs about freelance writing stressed that you have to find your niche to be successful. I tried to figure out what I want to write, but it never seems to work out. I take too much time researching the articles I am writing about, or I am having a hard time finding a client.
In the end, I just stopped figuring out and just tried to find jobs I think I can do.
However, finding a niche came back and haunted my career when a job posting I found on Facebook requires me to send in a resume.
I do have a resume, but it was back from my corporate days, and all the included work experience is now unrelated to writing, or so I thought.
I Found My Niche While Updating My Resume
Of course, as someone who has no idea about the freelancing world, my resume used to be a standard resume that you submit to corporate clients. I tried using it, but it got me no clients at all.
The reason being, resumes are not really what the client wants. Your working experience is nothing to them unless you have a history of writing beforehand.
For freelance writers, the most important thing is your portfolio. But it does not mean that the resume is not as important. If you know how to highlight that you have worked with big clients, it is easy to make your resume stand out among other writers.
While listing down all my previous clients, I noticed a certain thing: I actually have a niche that I have not yet noticed.
It just took me a few hours of reflecting on my articles before I realized what I really need.
Am I A Finance Content Writer?
This was the question I asked myself as I reviewed the best articles that I want to include in my resume. I never noticed it before, but the people who always approach me are usually about financial goals and tips.
I have always enjoyed writing these as I am a bit of a thrifty person. I’m always looking for ways to save money, and thus, have unknowingly become an expert in it.
Needless to say, I enjoyed writing about financial tips more than other types of articles. While I have always thought that I am a Lifestyle Content Writer and enjoy writing about those, I am not as good at it compared to my finance content articles.
My Experience In The Finance Field
Before becoming a content writer, I worked for a financial account in a call centre company before. When it comes to figuring out how the credit card works, I am well educated and can speak (or rather, write) with confidence.
This is an added benefit to the fact that I am personally a thrifty person. In retrospect, I do not understand why I had such a hard time figuring out my niche when it has been in front of me all along.
Tips On Finding Your Niche
#1 Write About Different Things
My experience with having a writing niche is that you need to take your time and actually try out writing about different things before finding one that you truly excel at.
#2 Reflect On The Things You’ve Written
Now that you have written about different ideas, it’s now time to reflect on what you have so far. I only found my writing niche based on my past projects and clients.
#3 Check What You Can Sell
My decision to become a finance content writer is based on the fact that almost all of my clients who keep asking for another project are all from the finance field. Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe, I am simply more connected with people in that area. Who knows? The important thing is that I can sell my services to people in the finance field because that’s where I get most of my clients, after all.
#4 Figure Out What You Like
The main reason that many of my clients in the finance field are happy and comes back to avail my services again is that I am knowledgeable in the field. It makes my research time-consuming, and I can really talk about what I am saying with expertise.
Now that I found my niche, I plan on advertising myself to further improve my client base in this area. I won’t have a hard time figuring out where to find clients I can write for because I know exactly where to find them.
While it took me a while (a year, to be exact), I do not regret my experiences while writing for other fields. Maybe, in the future, this can also help me figure out something about myself. But for now, I am happy that I found my writing niche.