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Why Having NO Freelance Writing Niche is Keeping You Broke

By Jorden Makelle

I love staying at hotels.

I mean, I get a change of scenery, a big ol comfy bed, AND someone’s going to clean up after me?

SIGN ME THE FUCK UP.

Hotels do have one major downside though…

It’s those shitty toiletries they leave in the bathroom for you.

And the worst one of all?

The dreaded all-in-one shampoo and conditioner combo.

You know what I’m talking about.

The tiny bottle that claims it’s great at both cleaning your hair AND making it soft, shiny, and healthy.

#LiesAndBlasphemy

I use it anyway, because I almost always forget to bring ACTUAL shampoo and conditioner.

And when I finish drying and styling my hair?

It comes out looking like the end of a witch’s broom and feeling like dead grass.

My new hairstyle after using all-in-one shampoo and conditioner. Try to contain your jealousy.

Because everyone knows that all-in-one shampoo and conditioner sucks.

Hair products, like freelance writers, are MUCH more successful when focused around one selling and delivering ONE specific benefit.

Let me explain.

Why Having NO Freelance Writing Niche (AKA Being A Generalist) is Keeping You Broke

Let’s imagine your hair is color-treated and dry.

If you wanted your hair to look amazing and you had a choice between these 3 options:

A general all-in-one shampoo and conditioner
A shampoo and separate conditioner
A shampoo and separate conditioner – both specifically made for dry, color-treated hair

Which will you choose (assuming your budget is unlimited)?

…Well, duh.

You’re going to pick option 3.

Each product is good at ONE thing and tailored to your specific needs.

This is exactly how high-paying clients think when they go to look for a freelance writer.

Imagine you’re a dental office marketing manager, and you need to hire a blog post writer.

You have these 3 options:

A generalist freelance writer
A dental freelance writer
A freelance writer who specializes in writing blog posts that help dental offices get more website traffic and win more patients

The last one.

Obviously.

Not only are they a dental writer – they also specialize in blog posts (similar to how, in the hair example above, the last choice also offered more by being made for dry, color-treated hair).

Friend…

You can fight me on this all day long, but psychology and years of sales research says that niching down and solving a SPECIFIC problem for a SPECIFIC type of customer is the way to go when you’re starting a business.

There are a stupid amount of examples of how this applies in everyday life too.

People who want something important done right and are willing to pay well for it are going to look for a specialized solution EVERY. DAMN. TIME.

—-> Like, how you go to a dermatologist and not a general doctor when you have acne (they specialize in exactly what you need help with).

—-> Like, how you’d take a date you really wanted to impress to an amazing, all-vegan restaurant if they were vegan (instead of some Applebee’s type shit with a little bit of everything).

—-> Like, how when I eloped to Las Vegas and went to hire a photographer, I SPECIFICALLY looked for a Las Vegas Elopement Photographer – NOT a general photographer or even a regular wedding photographer.

The list could go on and on.

But you need to niche down, because if you stay a generalist, your potential clients will think:

How can this person possibly be GREAT at all these different things?

Generalizing actually cheapens you, even if you’re a great writer, because it signals to clients that you can’t be trusted to do the ONE thing they need really, really well.

Clients who have a large budget are going to look for EXACTLY what they need. Because they don’t need to settle for any less than that.

…And to give them exactly what they need, you need to niche down and position your freelance writing niche expertise.

I shit you not, every single one of my Killer Cold Emailing students who has become a massive success story had niched down and followed my niche marketing strategy process.

A few examples:

These results didn’t happen by accident.

They happened because niching down BUILDS TRUST.

Just like I don’t trust a shitty hotel all-in-one shampoo and conditioner, if I’m a client and I’m in the technology industry, I don’t trust a generalist writer to get the job done right.

Clients MUST trust you before they will work with you.

And when you’re a newbie, you don’t have trust-building elements like awesome bylines, social proof, and testimonials.

…But what you DO have is the ability to build trust by niching down. That’s how you’re going to make your first $1,000 freelance writing quickly.

Which is why this strategy is so effective for newbie freelance writers with no experience.

And that brings me to the next point…

“But… but… but… Sally has a full-time freelance writing business, and she says she’s never had a freelance writing niche before! So I don’t need one, right?”

Let’s talk about Sally.

I can almost guarantee you that at least one of these things applies to her:

She started out with other trust-building assets, like testimonials/social proof.
She started out with an amazing network of connections and referral sources.
She isn’t doing as well as she thinks / isn’t doing as well as YOU want to be doing.

Long story short:

Yes, there are niche-less freelance writers out there who can get clients.

But 99.99999999% of the time, it’s because they have other shit going for them and didn’t start out as true “newbies.”

They’re worked with big-name people/companies.

They have amazing bylines and testimonials.

…Things that BUILD TRUST with potential clients.

When you’re a newbie, you have nothing to build trust with clients…

UNLESS YOU PICK A FREELANCE WRITING NICHE.

Niching down builds trust like crazy.

So much so that, when I started out, I was pitching for a bit with ZERO writing samples on my freelance writer website, and because it was so niched, I STILL won clients.

(To be clear, I don’t recommend pitching with zero samples on your site. But this example goes to show how powerful niching down can be.)

Now as far as what generalist freelance writers get paid:

It’s not much in comparison with writers who have niched down.

So sure, Sally might be telling you she has no niche and she’s doing just fine.

But maybe “just fine” to her is working 50 hours per week to make $2,500/mo.

Is that what YOU want?

Probably not.

So, don’t take advice from people whose situation you don’t envy. Get the whole story before someone tells you how “successful” they are without a niche.

Now, let’s go ahead and address this:

What If You Want to Write in Multiple Freelance Writing Niches?

DO IT.

…Just know that you still need to go ALL IN on MARKETING yourself as an expert in one specific niche, and focus most of your pitching efforts in that niche for the best results in the quickest time frame

Read this carefully and let it sink in:

Your freelance writing niche has to do with how you position and market yourself – NOT necessarily what you actually write about!

Sure, ideally you’re writing about that niche most of the time since it’s the niche your marketing yourself in.

But that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to pitch out of your niche.

You can be 100% ALL IN on marketing yourself as a technology writer, and still pitch a pet care blog every once in a while.

Why the fuck not?

Maybe you’ll even change your niche one day.

I’ve changed mine many times. There are a lot of profitable niches out there. Go for it.

Again, the main point is:

Niche MARKETING is your fast track to becoming a full-time freelance writer, ESPECIALLY if you have no experience.

(It allowed me to scale to $5,000/mo within 4 months of being fired from my shitty job.)

So…

How can you choose a freelance writing niche and market it so that you land clients, even if you’re an inexperienced beginner?

Long story short…

You take my FREE class on how to make your first $1,000 freelance writing with NO experience, which over 6,200 writers have gone through!

When you sign up, you get INSTANT ACCESS to the class, where you’ll learn EXACTLY what I did to make over $1,000 FAST as a newbie freelance writer with no college degree.

Here’s more of what you’ll learn:

Why a “portfolio” is NOT enough (and what you MUST have instead)
How you can stand out and get hired (even over writers with more experience than you!)
The #1 method for landing your first high-paying clients (without shitty bidding sites and content mills!)

Sign up right here for INSTANT access.

My friend…

You only get one life.

Don’t waste it working at a soul-sucking 9-to-5.

Start freelance writing, and do it the RIGHT way by taking my free class now.

See you there. 🙂

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