I don't know about you, Reader, but every time I’ve tried to follow the typical ‘niche down’ playbook, I’ve ended up feeling trapped, resentful, and honestly… bored in my business.
Which leads to either:
(a) doing a service I’m not excited about, or
(b) continuously changing my services so no one knows what the heck I actually do
So last year, I decided to take off the pressure to ‘find my niche’ and take more of an eat-pray-love approach to freelancing, if you will. 😏
And by that, I just mean I didn’t overthink anything.
→ Didn’t rebuild my website with every new idea I had (in fact, I took my website down)
→ Didn’t stress about the “one word” I wanted to be known for
→ Didn’t get caught up in having the perfect content plan laid out
(For the record, though, I didn’t stop working. A girl’s gotta eat. I stayed busy with my retainer clients. 🫶)
Taking the pressure off of niching gave me the space I needed to explore what I actually like doing, and what service solves a pain point that AI can’t replace any time soon.
It also helped me better understand what it means to niche as a multi-passionate person with ADHD.
Which now brings me to one of my favorite creators on LinkedIn: Renee Lynn Frojo ✨
If you’ve heard of Renee, you probably think of storytelling, right?
Before she became known as the go-to person to learn how to write better stories, Renee made several big pivots in her online career.
So, of course, I had to interview her for The Secret Life of Freelancers because I wanted to know how a multi-passionate person like herself found a niche that she’s happy to be in.
I loved the convo with Renee. This was the main question I led with:
As multi-passionate, creative people, how do we reconcile these two truths?:
→ You DO need some focus to stand out online
→ You DON’T want to lock yourself into one thing forever (at least, I don't! #commitmentissues)
After talking with Renee and reflecting on my own journey, I’ve put together a framework for niching that works for those of us who break out in hives at the thought of talking about the same thing online “forever”. So let's get right into it.
🟣 Find your topic through line
Instead of niching narrowly (e.g., “I write SEO blogs for MarTech”), identify the consistent topic thread that runs through all your work.
Here's how Renee thinks about it: “Reflecting back on my career and everything that I’ve done, it does seem like there’s been all these pivots… But there is that through line for me of storytelling. I’ve gotten to the point where I feel less constrained by the niche because it’s a broad enough niche. It’s a topic niche.”
She went on to share that she doesn't feel constrained because there are a lot of different things she can do with the topic of storytelling. For example, she can lead workshops, run a cohort, offer 1:1 service, be a keynote, etc. Her options in this broader topic are endless and freeing.
And the beauty of being known for a topic, is that people will think of you when it comes up. Like the other day when a friend asked if I knew of any good storytelling resources that she could use to help her comms team. Renee was the first person who came to mind.
🌻 Embrace the idea of “niching by season”
One of the reasons I wanted to talk to Renee about niching is because of this Medium article she wrote a couple of years ago.
She reminds us that we have permission to focus on a broader category just for a season if we want to. That way, we have room to pivot and evolve deeper into the category as we learn what we actually like doing and what fits into our lives
As Renee told me: “Take the pressure off. It’s just for this season. Knowing that it’s going to evolve is liberating for me.” A season might be six months, a year, or longer — however long makes sense for your current goals and interests.
So instead of asking, “What’s the one thing I want to be known for (forever)?” you can try asking: “What’s the focus that makes the most sense for me right now, knowing it will evolve?”
And the key to making seasonal niching work is to make your transitions purposeful, not random. If and when you shift focus, connect it back to your through line.
🌱 Evolve in public
I've struggled with the term 'build in public' because I don't always know exactly what I'm building towards. So, I've found that 'evolve' in public accomplishes the same thing and relieves a bit of the pressure of having a clear end goal in mind.
Renee is a great example of evolving in public. A month ago, she posted on LinkedIn that she's "gonna do the thing" aka, finally start her storytelling course. She'd been getting feedback for months that people wanted this, and so she listened.
Instead of locking herself in a creative cave to build out the course in isolation, she put out feelers for interest and started shaping the cohort based on the direct feedback she was getting.
Another good example of someone doing this is Lashay Lewis. Last year, she shared her journey of productizing her consultancy business. It had successes but wasn't going in the direction she wanted, so she pivoted and is taking her audience with her, like in this post.
Renee and Lashay are building trust and buy-in with their audience as they share the journey, which is a reminder that some of your most compelling content can come from sharing how your thinking is evolving and why you’re shifting focus.
I was thinking more about why this concept of evolving in public can feel intimidating. Here's what I came to:
Building/evolving/pivoting (whatever you want to call it!) in public requires a certain level of vulnerability. Because there's always a chance what we're working on will totally fall flat, or the fear that if we start talking about it, we'll hear back crickets.
Either way: ouch.
I don't have advice here except to explore why it feels that way, lean into the discomfort, and do it anyway if this is important to you. And then after I send this email, I'll eat my own words and try to do it too. 😅 Deal?
🤫 The Secret
The biz bros don't want you to know this because it contradicts their overpriced programs, but your "scattered" background is actually an asset.
If you haven't niched down yet, you're not behind. In fact, you might have an advantage over someone with a singular specialty.
As Renee put it: “What I am good at, what you are good at, what generalists like us and multi-passionate creatives and people with ADHD are good at, is creating connections between all these different things. That’s such a superpower.”
All those seemingly unrelated experiences you’ve collected can give you perspectives and insights that specialists simply don’t have.
The freelancer who’s worked across multiple industries spots patterns that someone who’s only ever worked in one niche can’t see. The writer who’s dabbled in technical docs, sales copy, AND creative stories brings a versatility to their approach that others can’t match.
Renee mentioned a book she’s reading (written pre-AI boom) that challenges the popular “10,000 hours of focused practice” narrative. While conventional wisdom suggests that success comes from specializing deeply in one thing, the research shows that many of history’s most innovative people were actually generalists who drew connections between different fields.
And now in 2025, AI might soon replace the need for single-subject experts. “AI is becoming the best subject matter expert because it’s a computer based on math. So actually, the time for generalists is now,” Renee explained.
While the machines master the depth of single-subject expertise, humans will excel at breadth and unexpected connections that LLM algorithms don't have the complexity to match.
And if that's some great news for us creative humans, I don't know what is!
🧠 5 quick reminders for my fellow ADHDers
These days, there's a LOT of advice online about niching. Some helpful, some not so helpful. But, I will say... as a woman with ADHD, these have been helpful reminders as I've fumbled my way to my own niche:
- You can be marketable without sacrificing your multi-passionate nature
- There's nothing wrong with you if you're struggling to find your niche
- Evolving is a good thing
- You're not behind
And if you need some camaraderie, read the comments on this post. 💜
Niching is big on my mind lately because I'm in the process of pivoting my services, and it's been quite a journey. Which is exactly what I'm unpacking in the next deep dive. In the meantime, I'm just an email away.
Talk soon,
Erika
Ps - Renee is launching her storytelling cohort next week! Shoot her a DM if you're interested in joining. Or, reply to this email, and I'll get ya connected. :)
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Thanks for hanging out!
I'm Erika, a content strategist, freelance ghostwriter, and fractional content lead @ ZenMaid. When I'm not writing this newsletter, I'm probably making up an excuse to run to Target.
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