Find Your Niche Online, Part 1B: Bunny Trail

One question I get asked a lot is, “How do you just do what you want to do?” In other words, how do I transition from dream to reality?

I think the answer lies in my DNA. We all have our natural strengths. Some people are naturally good at being thrifty, some people have a gift for working with the elderly, some people are choreographers. I excel at transition. Adventuring through big change is, kind of like, my thing.

When I decided it was time for me to exit the boutique life and take a chance on my lifelong dream of being a writer who works from home and cafés, it wasn’t too long from the moment of “I can do this. I can really do this,” to “I’m doing this!” When I feel in my bones that something is right, I don’t let grass grow under my feet.

I want to share with you the bunny trail of influence that helped me conceptualize and launch Abby Kerr Ink in just three months.

It started with Danielle LaPorte of White Hot Truth and a one-on-one Fire Starter Session I had with her in late September 2009. Some terrifically generous retailer friends had treated me to it. At that point, I knew I wanted to close my shop but wasn’t sure how — should I try to sell or just close? I knew what I wanted to spend my days doing — writing, teaching, advising, creating, conversing — but I wasn’t sure what shape those desires should take. I also wasn’t sure if anyone would actually pay me to do the things I love to do. Danielle’s bracing clarity and inspired acumen helped me envision possibilities that I hadn’t been aware of. After my Fire Starter Session, she emailed me a resource list — other inspiring peeps to check out who could provide support where I needed it.

That was September.

By February 2010, I had closed my shop and announced my new intentions: to go forth and write!

But I still hadn’t checked out the resource list.

But after the dust had settled from the shop closing, one cold February day, I finally got around to checking out the list. And little did I know, it was as if I’d been handed keys that unlocked all the right doors I hadn’t even known existed up ’til that point.

Who I’ve Been Watching, Who I’ve Been Reading

I started with Sarah Bray, who was on Danielle’s list. Sarah’s the creative director of S. Joy Studios, a fun and fab web and graphic design agency {also home-based}. From Sarah, I learned what a content driven website is. In a week’s time, I read through all of her blog archives, noticed the evolution of her writing voice as she became more confident and comfortable with putting it all out there, and learned a lot about user-friendly sites. I felt like I’d made a new friend and I hadn’t even introduced myself to her yet! What impressed me most about Sarah and her site was how utterly down to earth and approachable she seemed. In my first business, I’d worked hard to create an impermeable brand identity that I could hide behind, and that was something I did not want to carry forward into my new venture.

From Sarah’s site, I found my way to Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz, who astounded me with her generosity and her no bull approach to marketing for home-based businesses with fewer than five employees. Naomi’s site blew me away because I realized just what extraordinary value her readers were getting from her. As casual blog readers, we sometimes take for granted the idea that information “should” be free. Now I realize just how wildly generous it is when bloggers share their experiences, secrets, and insights with us — people they don’t even know! Freely sharing amazing quality content that can really equip your readers to do what they want to do is a priceless relationship building tool.

Somewhere along the way, I stumbled upon Charlie Gilkey of Productive Flourishing, Dave Navarro of The Launch Coach, Havi Brooks of The Fluent Self, Sinclair of Self Activator, Marissa Bracke of Can-Do-Ology, Srinivas Rao and Sid Savara of BlogcastFM {one of my very favorite podcasts}, and a couple hundred others. From these people, I learned about the lifestyle of a solopreneur whose blog is a huge part of her business. I observed the type and quality of content these people were producing. I admired the intellectually engaging conversations that took place on their blogs around topics I naturally gravitated to — solopreneurship, marketing, and finding one’s own way. I realized which voices resonated with me and which didn’t and which urged me on to do my best work. I spent hours each day from February through May poring over these posts and listening to podcasts while I walked, did laundry, and wrote. I put myself into self-made graduate courses in Online Marketing {the non-sleazy type} and Freelance Copywriting. I was determined to immerse myself in my craft and learn something everywhere I looked.

Baptism by immersion works for me. But it may not for you.

I’m a studier. I find something that intrigues me and I run with it. Although it may appear so at times to people who don’t know me well, I’m never steering my ship without a course. I’m guided by a blend of intuition, natural curiosity, and scholarship. If I want to be an expert, I study the experts. I study the practitioners, the craftsmen, the people everybody talks about and the people still lurking around in corners with a lot of talent. I absorb everything I can get my hands on. And then I ask myself, where is my unique path through all this? How can I put my own spin on this — the perspective that only I can bring because, well, I’m only me! How does my niche stand apart from the rest of these? {Entrepreneurs, this is a really. important. question. to ask yourself. Especially in the beginning phases.}

So for me, sharpening my game is first about learning and observing and studying, and secondly about diving in there and figuring it out for myself.

For you, it might be totally the opposite. David Crandall of Heroic Destiny has a great post on getting over your fear of “shipping” {which I think is a phraseologie reference to the inimitable Seth Godin}. He made me think about how different people create and then “ship” {or publish, or launch, or put it all there} differently.

What You Can Learn From My Bunny Trail

Your bunny trail of influence won’t look exactly like mine. It may not even look anything like mine. Online marketing and freelance copywriting, as topics of study, may bore you half to death.

So you will discover your own influencers and find your way through your own bunny trail. It’s out there waiting for you. And when you’re on it, you’ll know. You’ll hardly be able to sleep, your mind will be so alert and alive with all these new ideas.

Let’s Talk About Your Bunny Trail

Are you on a bunny trail right now? How do you interact with those who influence and inspire you online? Do you tend to watch them from afar, lapping up every drop of their good stuff? Do you get right in there and introduce yourself? Do your influencers know you exist?

Ready to go more in-depth into creating your niche? Subscribe to Inklings, my weekly-ish e-newsletter, and receive some help with that in the form of my 10-part e-course called Creating a Truly Irresistible Niche. Look for the sign-up form in the righthand sidebar.