I love old people. There’s a lot of freedom that comes with the experience of living for a long, long time. It’s fascinating how time changes us.

Web design is notorious for changing every 5 minutes. But there are some principles of effective web strategy that I’m still going to be rallying around when I’m 92 (unless we’re using pure telepathy by then; in that case I would hand my mic over to the dude with the shiny purple turban).

1. Effective web design is not nearly as much about aesthetics as it is about achieving a desired result. Design for design’s sake does not work on the web. If your goal is to impress the ten people who end up somehow finding your award-winning site, bravo. You did it.

   But I’m betting you had different reasons for wanting a fabulous-looking site. Things like building up a list of people who adore you. Getting email inquiries by the bucketful. Selling your incredible creations to people who appreciate them deeply. Remember: A pretty site does not a successful online venture make. (Although ugly is definitely worse.)

2. The most effective web strategies are the result of a first creation. Back in the day when Stephen Covey was the only productivity guru I’d ever heard of, I used to mull over his idea of the first creation — this idea that everything involves not one, but two creations. The first being the intentional in-your-brain/on-paper creation that determines the second actual/in-real-life creation. Remember: A lack of the first always leads to a lack in the second.
3. Today’s never-fail attention-grabbing strategy is tomorrow’s invisible dog. My childhood best friend (whose name was/is also Sarah, resulting in me being called “Sarah Joy” for the second six years of my life) used to have one of those leashes that had an invisible dog on the end of it. I thought that was the coolest thing. And that’s what your web strategy looks like if you’re doing the same things you were doing a year or two ago. Except not as cool. Remember: Keeping people’s attention requires constant innovation. No laurel-resting allowed.
4. If you’re noticing that everybody’s using a particular strategy, it’s probably on the down-swing. Web strategy needs to be constantly applied in new ways that run against-the-current. They must be tailored to you and your particular brand of awesome. Most busy online entrepreneurs simply adapt what others are doing and call that their strategy. And while that may work for a while, the results will be a watered-down version of what you could be achieving. Remember: While there are tricks and principles to tattoo in your brain, there are no cookie-cutter solutions.
5. The most successful and enterprising people online make themselves their own best client and customer. Hat tip to Men With Pens for talking about this yesterday. When your business explodes, it’s really hard to keep this in the forefront of your business practice. If anyone knows this, it’s me. But it’s got to be said…hiring strong people to help you is better than crippling your growth. Remember: If you put your business’ oxygen mask on first, you will be better able to serve the world. And oh yeah, define life on your own terms.

These are the reasons I’m launching the Gold-Digging Excursion today. Because there’s something missing in our web presence — it’s the first creation, the strategy. It’s the know-how to actually make our dreams come true. I want you to be equipped throughout your online adventure to make stuff happen in a big way. (And also…gold mining! How fun is that?!)

This is part five in a series on changing your online image. If you haven’t read the first, second, third, and fourth posts in the series, you might want to check them out for full effect. Also, everyone who joins in on the discussion will be added to our marvelous Twitter list so we can keep up with each other. Onward!

My friends call me the “I’ve Decided” girl. Maybe because every other day, I call them with a new revelation.

“I’ve Decided!” Just try it…it’s powerful. It pleases the do-er in me — the part of me that knows that ultimately, I am responsible for my own happiness. I choose to be here or there…do this or that. I may wallow in self-pity for a few days, but through all of that, my brain is formulating a plan to change whatever is mucking up my life. And all of a sudden, I’ve decided.

Your online “I’ve Decided” moment

After you’ve figured out your One Thing, it’s time to do something about it. In this case, “doing something” means planning a re-launch.

The benefits of re-launching

• It’s motivating. Coming out in your full amplified glory is your public “I’ve decided” declaration. The accountability and support that comes from that will propel you to where you want to go. No whip needed.
• It gets people re-excited about what you’re doing. Even if your biz presence was extraordinary before, with repeated exposure, the extraordinary becomes ordinary. Re-launching brings you an influx of new buyers and opportunities almost immediately.
• You effectively change people’s minds about you. Whatever vibe you were putting off before, people will have forgotten it within a week of your re-launch. We human-types have short memories. In the presence of your new mojo, past boringness and inconsistency will be forgotten like yesterday’s turbriskafil.

Do it, do it, do it

* said while banging fork and knife on the lunchroom table *

Nerdy developer types have a saying that we pass around like turbriskafil. Launch early and often. Launch while it’s hot and ready enough, and then re-launch when it’s even hotter and readier. Repeat the process ad infinitum.

So go ahead and pick a date for your re-launch. Or if you’re not the date-picking type, just decide that your next re-launch is going to be something you’re consistently working toward. Next Tuesday, we’re going to be talking about what to pack for your re-launch (and go over your branding assets like I promised last week). Wear comfy shoes!

So I’m betting you’re wondering where I was yesterday, right? Oh, it didn’t even cross your mind? Well, I’m going to pretend that it did.

The morning started off bad, got worse, and then spit in my face at the end of the day. I keep telling myself that it’s only February, and even pirate queens get cranky this time of year. What more can I expect?

So to make myself feel better, I’m going to show you a glimpse of my under-the-sheets project. That I’ve been working on since September. And then give you an opportunity to get on the pre-launch daisychain so that you’ll be the first to know when I’m opening the doors (because that’s what the pre-launch daisychain is for, y’know? That and seeing more sneaky-peeks before it’s unveiled to the public).

Just a glimpse, okay? I haven’t even shown this to my dad, and that’s saying something.

Oh yes. And here’s the link to the daisychain (or you can click on the image itself). If you’re already subscribed for yummies, you’re not already on the daisychain. It’s a separate thing.

I feel better already.

This is part four in a series on changing your online image. I’ll be alluding to the first, second, and third posts in the series, so you might want to go back and have a look if you haven’t read them already. Also, everyone who joins in on the discussion will get added to our marvelous Twitter list so we can keep up with each other. Onward!

With all of the essential and contrarian attributes you possess, your mind is probably spinning at this point. Geez, what am I anyway? And how can I possibly convey that in any sort of consistent branding effort? It’s easy to get overwhelmed and toss up your hands in defeat.

Take a breath…all you need is some self-distillation

Self-distillation: A word I just made up The art of combining all that’s wild and wonderful about you into a meaningful One Thing.

Your One Thing is what is going to assert your brand effectively to the world. It’s your measuring stick of your juice-to-water ratio (are you sending out a watered-down message, or is your brand-juice pure and undiluted?).

How to use your One Thing measuring stick

Getting ready to publish an article? If it doesn’t jive with the One Thing, don’t press “Publish”. Tweeting about your day? If you can’t see your One Thing in it, don’t tweet it. Or rather than not publishing and not tweeting (never a strategic move), change your article, change your tweet. Align it with your One Thing.

Same thing goes for projects that you accept, collaborations you embark on, relationships that you hitch your ride to (not that they must be the same, but be mindful of who you spend your time with). This is not a new rule that you must follow in order to be “of the moment”. But if you’re having a branding problem…if you can’t seem to communicate “you” to the world, you’re probably sending out a diluted message. If you want a brand that your audience can recognize a mile away, whip out your One Thing measuring stick.

Distilling your essence into your One Thing

I haven’t created a step-by-step process for finding your One Thing (it’s usually more of an individual, can’t-be-replicated quest), but here are three things I’ve grasped about them:

• They include some measure of visual recognition. Stark. Flouncy. Colorful. Sexy. A feast for the eyes.
• There’s a voice behind the curtain. Formal. Sweet. Funny. Down-to-earth. The lingo’s important and apparent.
• They’re in pursuit of some level of world-change. Feed the hungry. Empower the weak. Release the prisoners. The end-goal is powerful.

Cue your visuals. Amplify your voice. Announce your mission.

Your homework: Take all of your research and lists and practice distilling yourself in these three areas. Notice I said practice. This is not a one-time-only, you-must-do-it-right sort of thing. This is a seeking, getting-closer-to-the-goal sort of thing.

Next Tuesday, we’re going to be looking more deeply into your branding assets — your tagline, your business cards, your website…all of it. A practice in objectivity. Bring fresh eyeballs!

This is part three in a series on changing your online image. I’ll be alluding to the first and second posts in the series, so you might want to go back and have a look if you haven’t read them already. Also, everyone who joins in on the discussion will get added to our marvelous Twitter list so we can keep up with each other. Onward!

Since Thursday, I’ve learned some quite astonishing things about myself. First, I should totally have a country accent. What a disappointment that I do not! After living in Nashville for six years and various parts of Virginia for the rest of my life (including places barely on the map), the entirety of my Southern accent potential stayed firmly grounded with my parents. My friends say I was meant for NYC, and I agree with them (though an idyllic pastoral setting also has its swoon points).

Also, I’ve been rumored to be taller than I actually am. I would have liked to perpetuate that misconception, but at 5′1″, I’ve been known as “the short one” all my life. I can’t pretend to be taller, even on the internet.

There are other, more relevant things that I’ve discovered people think about me and my work. I’m still pondering them…stewing them around in my brain. Some could be good (that I’ve got an audience of thousands!) and others not-so-good (that I’m not spiritual…which to me is like saying that I regularly cheat on my lover).

It’s not that these perceptions in themselves are so important. The point, after all, isn’t to change yourself so that people will like you. The point is to gauge how accurately you are voicing your truths. If people think that you’re a snarky big-mouth when you’re actually a peace-loving Zen practitioner, then perhaps you need to adjust some things.

For most of us, we don’t have an issue with coming across as something completely different that what we are. We struggle with stepping out in the fullness of ourselves. We’re subconsciously only pouring one-third of our juice in the glass and diluting the rest with water so that it’s not too sweet/sticky/powerful for everyone else.

Even though I feel like I’ve “found my voice”, I still struggle with this. For instance, I published something last night that is giving me queasy stomach flops today. At 3am, it seemed perfectly natural to share my self-doubts with the world. (Go transparency!) At 10am, I was feeling less certain. At 11am, I nearly deleted it.

So here’s my homework (and yours too, if you dig it)

Pull out your “things that describe the real you” list to prime the pump (does anyone say that anymore? Just us Virginians?).

• If you could be anyone on the internet, who would you be? (It doesn’t have to be a person, though it can be. What qualities would you amplify? What values would you possess?)
• How do you see your online self now, and how does it differ from the “ideal you”? (And when I say “ideal”, I mean you on your very best, most inspired day.)
• What might the ideal you look like, fully realized? (What kinds of things would you create? What would you do to change the world? Fantasize…think both practical and intangible.)
• What are your reasons/excuses/justifications for not stepping more fully into your ideal self?

On Thursday, we’re going to look deeper into your ideal, epitomized self, so come prepared for some comfort-zone shifting!

In business, it’s good to care what people think about you. Even if they’re thinking, “Wow, she doesn’t give a crap about what people think about her!”, you care that they’re thinking that. The beauty happens when what people think about you lines up with the awesomeness that you actually stand for. And by beauty, I mean a bigger, happier, audience who wants to shout your name to the heavens. You and your clients riding off into the sunset. More cash to free your life up. You know. Beauty.

A mini-step before we get started

Before we dive into step one on Thursday (Tuesday/Thursday posts are back! Jello pudding all around!), I need you to come prepared. Humor my teacher-side for a second and grab a pencil and some paper. Write down ten words to describe the way people feel about you right now. Or rather, how you think they feel about you. Use your intuition. Here are some examples:

• A dedicated father/mother
• Snarky
• Really, really affordable (read: cheap!)
• Invisible
• Stylish
• Business-like
• Self-promote-y
• Unreachable
• Uber confident
• Happy!

Now, make a second list of ten words that describe the real you. The way people who totally get you would describe you. The way you would describe yourself when your flame is burning brightest. Some examples:

• Funny
• Book-lover
• Super high quality
• Well-respected in whatever field you’re in
• Always has new ideas
• Always knows where to go/who to talk to
• Genuine
• Everything you do is amazing
• Smart
• Trend-starter

Now look at your two lists. Are they the same? If not (even if they’re just a little bit off), I’m writing this series for you. And I’m writing it for me, too.

What it means to be yourself on the web

When people tell you to be yourself on the web, they usually mean that you shouldn’t talk like a robot. That you should acknowledge and embrace the fact that you’re a real person or that your team is made up of real people. Other than that, all’s fair, baby. As Sparky commented last week:

Do your thing. You’re a rock star. You’re ninjariffic. It’s a game! You’re JanisJoplinTreCoolGwenStafaniAnthonyKeidis all rolled into one huge rock idol.

(Sparky. Is. Awesome.)

Saying that there’s one particular way to be yourself is like saying there’s one way to freestyle — it just doesn’t make any sense. Still, there is a way to cut the confusion out of all of this.

Ambiguity, be gone!

Over the next month, we’re going to talk about how to change people’s minds about you. Even if you’ve got a bunch of raving fans, it’s good to go through this process once a year or so to re-align yourself with your audience.

Ready? Come armed with your lists and your thinking caps (again with the teacher-mode!) on Thursday.

Last week, I was completely minding my own business when I came across this “you are not a rockstar” post. And I thought to myself [at the risk of sounding a little defensive of your rockstardom], “Huh. Because that’s exactly the problem with entrepreneurs…we are much too confident. We think we’re too awesome.”

Not once have I encountered a struggling entrepreneur who thought that they were amazing. No one needs to tell us that we’re here to serve. We struggle with feeling worthy even of that. We stutter when someone asks how much we charge. We get heart-palpitations when we walk into a room of strangers. The only people who struggle with rockstar-itis are rockstars who are rolling in fame. That’s like 0.0001% of the population. For the rest of us, taking ourselves down a peg is not a business strategy.

You vs. Lady Gaga

• Lady Gaga wakes up thinking “How can I add leather, metal, or a hat made out of my own hair to this outfit? You wake up thinking “You know…I could probably get by with my pjs today.”
• Lady Gaga “can’t live without attention.” You eat blog comments like peanut butter.
• Lady Gaga gets pissed when a waitress gives her food with trash on it. You would probably be more pissed than she was.
• Tim Gunn rejected Lady Gaga for a Project Runway appearance. Darren Rowse never answered that email you sent him. (Sidenote: It probably went to spam. He’s actually a really nice guy.)
• Jason Derulo is pining for a collaboration with Lady Gaga. You’re pining for a collaboration with Naomi Dunford.
• Lady Gaga’s tweets are grammatically and punctuationally challenged. Your tweets are highly decipherable.
• Lady Gaga looks scared to death of Barbara Walters. You’re scared to death of Lisa Barone (Sidenote: I love Lisa Barone! Though she does make me wet my pants occasionally.).

Being a rockstar does not mean free cheese platters

(Though to be honest, that’s a reallllly good incentive.) It means being comfortable enough with your strengths so that the rest of the world can benefit from them. It reminds me of the sovereignty concept. As Havi puts it, sovereignty “is the quality of owning your space so completely and fully that you can’t be shaken from being you.” You can’t effectively serve people unless you know that what you’re serving them is at least as good as a platter of cheese.

You are specifically gifted to accomplish a purpose (or a platter of purposes!) to better our planet and our world. Take yourself up a peg for a minute. Embrace your rockstar-self. We need ya.

This is the second part of a series on rocking your audience at whatever stage you’re at. As we go through each stage, I’d love to discuss it like crazy and do some q&a before moving on to the next one. So got comments? Leave ‘em. I’ll be adding everyone who participates to the Twitter list so that we can keep up with each other.

It seems like I’m a magnet for database freakishness and server issues recently. (My mantra this week: I SWEAR I DIDN’T TOUCH IT!)

I’ve been so intrigued by all of your stories and different POVs about what being a peanut means. In a lot of ways, I’m still a peanut. I don’t have this huge readership or paparazzi or anything. I’ve been part of some higher-profile webby-ness in the past, but this here…this is kind of my secret hang-out. Ya’ll are in an exclusive club of “People who know who Sarah Bray is”. Secret password: “traditional websites don’t work” (and then knock three times followed by a whistle).

So just to clarify, there is nothing wrong with peanut-hood. Having a giant fan base also means that you have a large base of haters and complainers. I don’t know how the two get so intertwined, but it happens. You also have more to lose if you’re not “edgy” enough or if you don’t come up with enough (seemingly) new ideas. When you don’t follow your own advice, you have thousands of people to tell you exactly when you failed and at what time and how it interrupted their breakfast. So…it’s good to have a secret-ish hang-out. Some business models don’t need a herd of followers to make them work.

Those types of business models (ahem…mine) also require a lot of personal investment. They require you to give a lot of yourself in return for your livelihood and work-life satisfaction. So sometimes they’re difficult to sustain past a certain growth point. There’s just not enough “you” to go around.

(Aside: I know some of you are thinking, that would be a DREAM COME TRUE! And you will get there. Publish awesomely and steadily. Make friends. Charge enough. Tweet. Stand out. Look the part. Do every single thing with the utmost of professionalism — which is not at all the same thing as being bland and boring.)

And when you get there…

Once you get to the “wowza-this-thing-has-exploded” point, you start getting pickier about who you work with. You don’t accept every project on legs. You raise your prices as your work (and demand for it) improves and increases. You learn to say no. You learn to say NOT ON YOUR LIFE.

But the problem is, if you’re not growing, you’re shrinking. You want to continue to grow but in a way that is physically and mentally sustainable.

The answer is not to skip straight to world domination and then try to turn your whole venture into an e-book selling business. There are two problems with that scenario:

1. You have a slim chance of going from being a peanut to being Mr. Peanut fast enough to transition instantly to a successful product- or subscription-based business model.
2. If your immediate goal is to work less, forget it…at least for the short-term. Most people think information product sales is a type of “passive” income, but it certainly is not. It’s just a different type of work. Writing sellable content, amassing an audience large enough to sell to, mastering the art of the launch…it’s a different (and maybe one day bigger) pile of beans, but it’s still beans.

But don’t throw out the beans with the bean water just yet.

A better approach is to figure out who your audience is made up of. Develop some character-types of the types of people that represent your fans, and then figure out which of those people you are currently serving as clients — and more importantly, which you are not. In a nutshell, it’s time to brainstorm how to serve the un-served.

One-on-one you-time is not for everyone. But there are people who can’t schlep the cost who will love you for the rest of your life if you offer group sessions.

Some people can’t do time-constrained stuff because of their day job or kids. A workbook and video course might change the course of their life.

Crowds of people live with their iPods/iPhones surgically-attached. A telecourse might be just the thing to get them moving toward their dreams.

And yes, the delightful e-book also has its place. Just make sure that it’s awesome, or I will personally give you the most piercing glare of your life (my vengefulness against crappy e-books is only matched by my abhorrence of violence and confrontation).

PLEASE don’t stop there

Those are all ideas that have been done. I am a cheerleader of new. And with the internet, everything old is new again. Take something that works brilliantly in person (in or outside of your industry), and do it online. With the right technology and implementation, odds are it will work even better than its real-life counterpart.

I am not without awareness that I’m preaching to myself here, too. And it is happening, though not as fast as I would like. Killing myself is pretty low on the priority list. But making you happy and sharing life-changing, work-changing flow is extremely high on it.

So where are you at with this? Are you working on serving your people better? How do you adjust your old workflow to make it work?

If you’re not at this stage yet, are you offering the kind of help that your audience is looking for? Sometimes a gentle switch in the direction your audience is in will cause a chain reaction that will make your business take off like a rocket.

This is the first part of a series on rocking your audience at whatever stage you’re at. As we go through each stage, I’d love to discuss it like crazy and do some q&a before moving on to the next one. So got comments? Leave ‘em. I’ll be adding everyone who participates to the Twitter list so that we can keep up with each other.

Everyone wants a community to be built right into their website. Because what’s a stage without an audience? Community = more content and more usefulness to your users. It also means credibility, which leads to more sales and/or opportunities to work with really cool people. Community also makes your site stickier so that your audience will grow even faster. In a nutshell, yay community!

But building a community takes a lot of work. And t-i-m-e. It doesn’t hurt to have a good dose of luck thrown in either.

We all want this growth to happen super-fast. Some of us don’t have the time, money, or patience to burn while we wait for our audience to gather strength. But every healthy site goes through growth stages of community, so we might as well be prepared for them.

The Peanut Stage: My site looks more like a ghost town than a party

If your site is strategically well-developed, it will only be a matter of time before this stage is a thing of the past. But while you’re in it, it seems like forever. When will people start leaving comments? When will I get past 25 subscribers? Le sigh.

Stuff to do while you’re in this stage

• Make the most of the credibility that you do have. While you may not have a force of people proving to others that you are awesome, you ARE awesome. Let that awesomeness shine through your amazing content, packages, and samples of work that you’ve done in the past. (Haven’t done any work yet? Kelly Parkinson’s got some ideas for rocking out case studies when you don’t have results yet.)

  Show your work to its best advantage. Write stuff that doesn’t need others vouching for it for people to realize that it’s golden. Stick to your publishing schedule. In other words, do your thang as if 10,000 people were watching.

• Offer your services. Surely you can do something for people, even if your long-term goal is to sell products. You need lots of bodies in the door before your products start to sell enough to support you, your family, and your three dogs. You need a much smaller audience to successfully make a living selling your services.
• Tweet it up. Even if you’re a local business and people in your scene haven’t caught onto Twitter yet, start now. You’ve got the time after all. And when you’re way too busy to worry about things like getting followers, you’ll thank your savvy self.

  Even if you’re not set up to offer products or services to the people on Twitter, their comments and sharing of your amazing stuff will be invaluable for your credibility and future reach. I do not care what industry you are in. Social proof is a powerful thing. Much of the time, it is the thing that makes the difference.

• If you ever plan on writing a book or developing products, start now. Once you’ve amassed your audience, it will be harder and harder to find time to work on long-term, non-urgent goals. Not just setting them, but putting the practical legwork in to reach them. Work a little on these goals each day in your gallons of free time.

What NOT to do in this stage

• Don’t advertise yourself as part of the lonely hearts club. If no one comments, stop mentioning the fact. It’s quite likely that people won’t even be looking at your comment numbers if you aren’t constantly saying “Please, PLEASE comment so that I don’t look like such a loser!” Or “To all of my wonderful readers (who, at last count, totaled 3)”. Self-deprecatingly funny, sure. But not worth mentioning. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)
• Don’t build a forum or social-networking functionality. Forums and social networking features work best when they naturally extend from the desires and goals of a thriving community. If you build it when your community is small, it will earn the reputation of sucking before it even has a chance to thrive.
• Don’t do giveaways or contests. Yes, the point of a giveaway is to attract more readers. But you need at least an inkling of a community before a giveaway or contest will be successful. The last thing you want to do is offer up a fantastic prize and only receive 10 entries. Don’t do this to yourself unless some A-list blogger has written a pact in blood to promote your contest for you.
• Don’t despair. If your goal is to work for yourself full time, you probably need less of an audience than you think. As I mentioned before, service-based businesses do not need an audience of thousands to thrive. If you’re selling products, start brainstorming how you could supplement them with a service until you’ve got a large enough audience to support your e-commerce endeavors.

If you’re in the peanut stage (or have…ahem…a “friend” who is), what are you struggling with right now? If you’re past that stage, what helped you get where you are? Questions? Comments? Pie? (Mmm…pie.)

I think my story about the ant who started a hat-dancing business might have thrown some of you off. Though I love a little shake-up now and again, that wasn’t my intention.

The point wasn’t that you should go into some obscure industry that no one’s ever heard of. Niches have their place, sure. But you have a built-in niche already. No one in the entire world is like you. No team is exactly like your team. You already have that market completely cornered.

On the outside, it may not look like I have a niche. I create websites and online strategy for all sorts of different groups and individuals — I serve everyone from software engineers to interior designers. But my style doesn’t appeal to everyone. Bland, corporate-entangled, traditional organizations undoubtedly need me, but they’re not in a place to know that (yet).

I work with people who have an inkling that the rules have changed. So no, I don’t work with everyone. My philosophy and story decide my niche for me.

If you figure out your story, you’ll figure out your niche

There are a lot of people shouting from the rooftops about the good news of being authentic. In other words, being completely, 100% true to your core values and letting that determine your brand, your methodology, and what projects you take on. But there are only a handful who actually do it. Often, marketers use the “authentic” angle just like they use the “expert” angle or the “fear” angle. It’s the flavor of the moment, so they’re willing to jump right in and play the game.

So instead of telling you to “be authentic”, let’s stick to figuring out what your values are. What kind of an organization do you want to lead? That’s your story. That’s your niche.

Questions to ask yourself when figuring out your story

• What’s the setting? Are you a coastal native who wants to bring that same level of serenity and relaxation to your work? Do you have big-city culture and style? If you don’t know, perhaps the setting is irrelevant to your story.
• Who are the characters? Is it just you? Do you collaborate with a team? What are the individual personalities that make up your workplace? What are your backgrounds and rockstar abilities?
• What’s the conflict? What problems do you face on a daily basis? What gets your emotions fired up?
• What’s the resolution? How do your characters save the day?
• What metaphors do you use to bring it all together for your audience? Metaphors are powerful tools for explaining something quickly. If my metaphor is a 50s milkman, that conveys kindness, twinkling eyes, stability, whimsy. Someone your wife might run off with (well, not *your* wife, but some other wife who was married to someone soul-sucking).

So your niche is not about being an interior designer for people who own pit bulls. You don’t have to start a hat-dancing company. Figure out your story, make it award-winning (aka: not full of cheap plot devices and horrible quality), and take it to the top from there.