For the first three years of my freelance career, my website was a laundry list of anxieties. It read: "Web Development • Interactive Installations • Video Production • Graphic Design • Motion Graphics • Consulting."
I thought I was casting a wide net. In reality, I was just telling the world I was a master of none. I was trying to be an option for everyone, and in doing so, I became the first choice for no one. When a client needs a heart surgeon, they don't hire a general practitioner. And when a client needs a brilliant interactive installation for a live performance, they don't hire the guy who also does their business cards.
My income tripled in eight months. The only thing that changed was one sentence on my website. I went from "I do everything" to "I build creative technology for live performance and interactive art."
Same skills. Radically different positioning.
The Generalist's Paradox
The logic of the generalist is seductive: more services mean more potential clients, which must mean more money. But it’s a trap. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.
Imagine a client with a budget for a stunning interactive museum exhibit. They search for "interactive installation artist." They find ten specialists whose entire portfolio is filled with gorgeous, relevant work. Then they find your site, which has one installation tucked between a Shopify website and a logo design package.
Who do you think they're going to call?
By trying to be everything, you’re competing with specialists on their home turf, and you will lose every time. They have the portfolio, the testimonials, and the specific language that signals deep expertise. You just have a long list of services.
The Fear of Missing Out is Costing You a Fortune
"But if I niche down, I'll miss out on all the other opportunities!"
I know this fear. It’s a scarcity mindset. It’s the voice that tells you to take any work that comes along, because you might not get another chance.
Let's do the math. As a generalist, you might have 100 potential project leads in a year across all your service areas. But your win rate is abysmal—maybe 5%—because you're never the obvious best choice. So you land 5 projects at an average of $5,000 each. That’s $25,000.
Now, let's say you specialize. The pool of potential projects shrinks to 30. That’s terrifying, right? But now, for those 30 clients, you are the perfect fit. Your win rate jumps to 40%. You land 12 projects. And because you’re a specialist, you can charge an expert’s premium—say, $12,000 per project. Your revenue is now $144,000.
You win more, you earn more, and you spend your days doing the work you’re actually best at. You don't miss out on opportunities; you trade a hundred mediocre lottery tickets for a dozen golden ones.
How to Find Your Niche (It's a Messy Process)
I wish I could tell you I had a brilliant strategic vision from day one. I didn't. I stumbled into my niche through a process of elimination, exhaustion, and paying attention.
For two years, I said yes to everything. It was a painful but necessary education. Then, I did an audit. I made a list of every project I'd ever done and rated each one on a few simple criteria:
- Did it energize me or drain me?
- Was I uniquely good at it?
- Was it highly profitable?
- Did the client love the result?
The pattern was staring me right in the face. The projects that lit me up, that I was uniquely good at, and that commanded the highest rates were all at the intersection of live performance and technology. All the other services—the generic web design, the quick motion graphics—were draining, competitive, and paid less.
My niche wasn't something I had to invent. It was something I had to uncover. It was already there, buried under a pile of things I thought I should be doing.
Your Niche is a Combination, Not a Single Skill
The most powerful niches are rarely a single service. They are an intersection.
- You can niche by INDUSTRY: "I do creative technology for museums and cultural institutions."
- You can niche by PROBLEM: "I help artists translate their physical work into compelling digital experiences."
- You can niche by TECHNOLOGY: "I am a specialist in large-scale projection mapping using TouchDesigner."
The real magic happens when you combine two or three of these. "I use TouchDesigner to create interactive installations that help museums engage a younger audience." Now you're not just a "creative technologist." You are the only logical choice for a specific type of client with a specific type of problem.
The Painfully Practical Steps to Niching Down
You don't have to burn the boats overnight. It's a gradual transition.
- Do the Audit. Make the list. Find the pattern in your past work. Where is the intersection of joy, skill, and profit?
- Formulate Your Hypothesis. Write down your new positioning statement. "I help [TARGET AUDIENCE] achieve [SPECIFIC OUTCOME] through [YOUR UNIQUE APPROACH]."
- Tilt Your Portfolio. You don't need to delete your old work. Just rewrite the case studies. Reframe that old web project not as "website design" but as an "interactive brand experience." Pull the relevant skills to the foreground.
- Start Saying "No" (Strategically). You don't have to turn down all non-niche work tomorrow. Just start quoting it at a higher rate. This does two things: it either pays you a premium for doing work you're less excited about, or it gently encourages those clients to find a better-fit specialist, freeing you up for the work you actually want.
- Hunt for Your People. Go to the conferences, join the online communities, and read the publications where your ideal clients hang out. Start speaking their language and contributing to their conversations.
Being a generalist feels safe because you're never fully committing. But safety is the enemy of mastery. The riches—both financial and creative—are in the niches.
So, if you could only be known for one thing, what would it be? The answer to that question isn't a limitation. It's the key to your entire future.