The internet is like a conference. Some people have a booth showcasing their product. Some are speaking on the main stage with hundreds of audience members staring at them.

Then there is you, with your name tag and enthusiasm (or fear), ready to showcase who you are, but something is missing.

It is the question you will get asked a lot at a typical conference, or in the case of the first-ever edition of this newsletter, a question you will get asked if you're a creator just starting out: What is your niche? What are you about?

At its core, a niche comes down to representing an idea or a community.

To quote Ra's al Ghul to Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins — yes, reader, we quote movies in this newsletter, get used to it — "If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal... then you become something else entirely. A legend."

I'm not asking you to be a hero. But you need to suit up every day for your niche, because the market is saturated. Everyone is chasing national news or riding trends. It's hard to find a signal in a world that rewards rage bait. But if you find your corner of the internet, one that only you know and dominate, you can find an audience, grow your product, and truly make a difference.

Here is what you need to be thinking about.

Your niche needs to solve a problem.

What is the problem you're trying to solve? For whom are you trying to solve it? These are great steps to begin your niche journey because you need to write with your audience, not at them. A good example is Bryan Vance, who runs Stumptown Savings, a newsletter that breaks down grocery prices for people in Portland, Oregon. His newsletter shows the power of solving a real problem, and he is constantly evolving. In fact, he recently created a searchable guide for Portlanders to learn more about their local farmers markets. (How awesome is that?!) 

Your niche needs to make you happy.

If you don't love what you do, you won't build something good or unique. Matt Brown, founder of Extra Points, a newsletter on the business of college sports, told me at ONA26 that to make "good shit," you have to love what you do. He is right. I have struggled with burnout from covering topics I simply didn't care about. Don't make that mistake. Find something you love or at least can tolerate to really grow.

Your niche needs to make you money.

The unfortunate truth about everything we do is that we need to make money doing it (if you don't, I am jealous). You need an audience that is willing to pay for your product or has an interest in the services you offer. I personally struggle with this — Bottom Up | Boston's audience on TikTok is 75% Gen-Z, and they are not a great base to ask money from. So you need to be thinking about an audience and businesses that actually have money. To do that, you need to imagine the target person in your niche. Not everyone. Just one individual person who has some disposable income, and create for them. Here are some of the most profitable niches out there, per Sellfy.

However, friend, there is an obvious problem.

Journalists and experts often can't just pick these niches. They are doing real reporting, hard news. They are solving the crisis in local news, which as we know is very limited on funding. An alternative is weaving elements of your personality into your content in a way that sets you apart. I, for example, am a sports fan, and I include that in my content as much as I can — allowing for more opportunities, fans who are connected to the sport, and giving the algorithm a little nudge.

So what should you do? Be a lamp.

In other words, go local. I may be biased because I love local news, but if no one is covering something in your community, you have better chances of acquiring local businesses as sponsors, you have more representation in the community, you are making more of an impact, and the algorithms love it because it's easier for them to know where to send your content. It reminds me of a quote from a Bollywood movie called 12th Fail, directed by Vinod Chopra,

"Even if you cannot be the sun that shines upon the earth, be a lamp and light up your street."

So friends, be a lamp.

Practical tips for building your niche on social media

Want more tips? Like, what the heck are sub-niches? How does the algorithm actually work? Want a full guidebook on finding your niche? Become a paid subscriber for just $10 a month and get an exclusive blueprint with everything you need to master content creation.

Thank you for reading the first EVER edition of The Creator Translator. Your feedback is needed — what topic should I cover next? What resources or tools should I include? If you received this newsletter and didn’t like it, that's a bummer, but you can unsubscribe at any time using the link below. If you enjoyed this newsletter, follow me on social media using the link below or share this newsletter with a friend. See you next month!