[Transcript starts at 1:12]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. Today, we are talking about the fact that you are not your niche. If you're listening to this when it drops, it is Monday, December 4th. Welcome to, I almost said, welcome to Monday. Welcome to December.
We're going to hop right on in because I am quite fired up about this and I'm seeing a lot in the space and by a lot I mean I'm seeing things from Alex Hormozi and he has a big following and some of my people follow him and I'm like, let me actually say something. Actually, before I say something, because I'm looking at my little outline, I do have a little announcement, uh, because y'all know we batch the episodes.
I, we, I batch the episodes. I record them way before. And anyway, today when I'm recording it, it is November 27th and I just got back two days ago from the East Coast. Went there for Thanksgiving. It was so good. So good. Just such, it's my favorite holiday. But this year my aunt came and my, and her husband, Uncle Chuck.
But also Lex came this year, and her parents came, and it was just so fucking good. Just, it was the best. But, on Saturday, I was supposed to drive to Summit, where I'm originally from, and go to my 20 year high school reunion. Spoiler, didn't go because the goddamn reunion was actually on Friday. I missed my 20 year high school reunion.
Missed it. And here's how, right? Because I actually got some DMs. People were like, basically, kind of like, I do this too. And I was like, no, no, no. We are not the same. I don't do this. What happened was, I planned this last year with my girl, Jana and she actually is the one who was in charge. Um, she self appointed, like, you know, ran the, what's the word, organized, that's what I'm looking for, organized the reunion.
And we had decided it would be Saturday. She said, how is the Saturday, uh, after Thanksgiving? And I was like, perfect. So I put it on my calendar. I didn't think twice about it. There was a Facebook group that was made. And after we had decided on that date, she had to change the date to Friday. I never looked at the date.
Because we decided, and I was talking directly to the event planner, that it was on Saturday. And I had messaged her a few times and was just like, hey, I'm getting my ticket. I mean, not my ticket, excuse me, I'm booking the hotel, because it's not by where my sister lives anymore. Booking my hotel, like, it's definitely, we're definitely on, and she was like, yeah, we're definitely on.
And then… They had to change it to Friday. So I missed it. So, yes, she did actually, in Jana's defense, not that it's Jana's fault, but to Jana's credit, she did actually try to FaceTime me on Friday. I was watching movies with Lex and the family and I was like, oh, I saw the call later and I was like, oh, she probably just wanted to like, probably went into town early and was with people and was just FaceTiming me.
I did not think that she would be FaceTiming to be like, facetiming me to be like, where are you? The reunion is now. I wouldn't have been able to make it anyway because it was late when she called and it's two, like a two and a half hour drive. But I missed the reunion and it is what it is. But the trip was still great and I got to come home, or we got to come home a day early because I changed the tickets, came home a day early, which I fucking just loved because I love being here.
I love living here. And so that was kind of sucky, but also got to come home early. Have a day with Rupert without Moose, which was nice for like an evening and, and the end of the next day with Rupert without Moose, which is nice, really nice for Rupert. So it was great. And I continue to love living here.
And yeah, that's the update on the 20 year high school union. I can't even, but anyway, today's episode, we're talking about the fact that you are not your niche. And like I said, earlier, this is inspired by posts that I've been seeing from Alex Hormozi. Perhaps you have no idea who he is. That's fine. Yes. I also realize that for those that don't know who he is, I'm bringing attention to this, but.
The attention is already there anyway. I think a good number of people in my audience do know who he is. I've spoken about him in the past. Massive platform and I'm seeing posts and I'm seeing people share posts. I'm seeing people like posts because you know on Instagram you can see who likes what and I'm seeing people like these posts and I was just like, I disagree and quite frankly I'm fucking annoyed because yes part in part it makes my job harder because I have to kind of like de educate but also I'm like I want people to fucking succeed and what he's saying if you follow it you will not succeed. So figured I'd make an episode and share my two pennies.
Of note, my guy Tom from Bonus Footage, he's a dope guy, dope account, we'll link that. Thank you, Courtney. He shared a post, I don't know, a few months ago that said, the best way to complain is to make something. And I was like, fuck yeah.
Like he heard on a podcast, he shared it and I heard it from that clip and I'm like, yeah. So I am making something and here's a soft suggestion for you to do the same. Something bothers you? Don't just complain about it. Go make something. Go and actually create something. Spread your two pennies. Share your two pennies on the, on the matter.
So in Hormozi's posts, or rather, lemme just read his, his post that it was a tweet that he or screenshot turned into a reel. And the, the tweet read: Rogan talks about aliens, comedy, fighting, politics, biohacking. The Rock has WWE movies, football, fitness, tequila. I like business, fitness, comedy util utilitarianism.
You don't pick your niche, you are your niche. Wrong. That is. Wrong. He is confusing and conflating niche, niche, and knowables. They are different things. There's some overlap, but they're different things, right? Knowables are the things that people find memorable and interesting about you. Oftentimes things that you are simply interested in.
These things can help people to like you and they can also make you a bit more relatable as well. Your niche is the problem you solve, how you solve it, and who you solve it for. This is what people pay you for. And this, tying into what I was saying earlier, is what frustrates me. Because if you're trying to actually build a profitable brand, you're trying to run a business, people are paying you to solve problems.
They're not paying you for your goddamn interests. Ideally, you're interested in the problem that you're solving for them, but they're not paying you for your hobbies. No, one's paying me to be a barista. Y'all have seen my latte art, you know, side note here, the latte art is still a whole latte of nothing, but the foam is thicker.
And so like, it does look nice, but there's no art, but it does look nice. So I will say that, but either way, knowables, niche, different. Yes, we can see some overlap, some minor overlap, which is why I use the term conflating, which conflating means combining two or more ideas into one. And so he is conflating niche and knowables.
Um, so this conflation, this conflating happens, namely in that there is a good chance that you look like your niche, right? Which is, remember, your niche is the group you solve the problem for. The problem you solve, how you solve it, and who you solve it for, right? So there's a good chance for many people that you look like your niche or your niche looks like you.
Why? Because we attract what we are. White men love Joe Rogan. White men love Alex Hormozi. Both of these groups, both of these people, rather, are white men. The Rock does have a bit more universal appeal. And I do love The Rock. We're gonna stay away from whatever is happening, like, politically around this now, but like, I do enjoy The Rock.
In terms of this overlap, we also see that know, like, and trust contributes to someone's willingness to pay you. Thus, knowables do help in terms of people ultimately paying you and you creating this, uh, profitable business. But it is not the same as niche, right? Niche, the problem you solve, how you solve it, and who you solve it for.
Knowables, the things that make you memorable and interesting to people. So yes, overlap, but not the same. If you're not solving a problem, if you don't have a niche, a niche, these knowables don't mean anything. You have hobbies. Great. And you put them on Instagram. No one's going to pay you for anything.
The post that he shared, it was absolutely going to do well because it gives people permission to not do the hard thing, which is focus and go all in on one thing, which is infuriating to me because niching down is exactly how he, Hormozi, and all the other people that are in the space saying you don't have to niche down, found their success.
Hormozi even says it in his content, right? He says that when he went all in on filling gyms, that's when his shit took off because before that he had like a dental business he was involved with and like a chiropractic office, I don't know. But he talks about how he was spread too thin and how you have to have focus and niche down and go all in.
Now he's saying that you are your niche and that doesn't make sense because he's saying how he has these varied interests. It doesn't matter. Those are knowables, not your niche. Rogan's niche, right? If you break this down, right? The problem you solve, how you solve it, and who you solve it for. For Rogan, Joe Rogan, the problem he solves is entertainment and trending information acquisition or acquisition of trending information.
That's the problem he's solving for people. How does he solve it? Long form guest interview podcast. Who does he solve it for? Bro Chachos. Right. And folks who want to feel in the know, but what still want to be like counterculture. I'm like, I'm cool. And I like listen to podcasts while I smoke pot, whatever folks who like understanding things, thinking they understand things, simply by associating themselves with the group. They associate themselves with people who listen to Joe Rogan, it's like, oh yeah, we know stuff. Alright, they're outsourcing their understanding. That's who is solving the problem. Similar demographic here, or similar, two people that are similar and have a very shared niche, Lex Friedman, he has a more gentle approach, so the, the, the how he solves it is a little bit different.
Like, he still has a long form guess, long form guest interviews, but the discussions I think are probably a little different and thus who it's for is a little bit different. Huberman, Andrew Huberman, same, same. Same problem being solved, right? Entertainment value and largely acquisition of trending information.
How he solves it, long form podcast, not necessarily guest interviews, but long form podcast, has more of that science y feel. And so who is it for? People who still want to outsource the acquisition of this information, the understanding of this information. Same same and a lot of people look like him, right?
As it relates to running a business, people, consumers want solutions and certainty. This is why niching down is important. Think about your own purchasing habits, right? Niching down saying the problem you solve, who you solve it for, how you solve it, provides this sense of certainty and solutions for the potential customer.
So think again, or rather I say think again, cause I just said think that again, but think about your own purchasing habits. Would you sign up for a gym that was also a furniture store? Would you get dental work from your barista? You're probably sitting there and be like, no, but that's what it sounds like when people are coming out here being like you don't have to niche down.
That's exactly what it sounds like. And that's exactly what it is. So another example here that I'm going to tease out for you that I'm excited about here is Costco. Would you buy a car from Costco? Some people might say, yes. This makes sense, because if you think about the niche, right, which is the problem you solve, how you solve it, who you solve it for, ultimately, they are solving this problem for people who are looking for a good deal, right?
That's the number one thing, people looking for things in bulk, people for people who are looking for things at a better price, a cheaper price. So, for some, people will be like, yeah, I'll buy it. People buy gas from there. They buy all these different things because they don't, they're not like, I need you to be an expert at this one thing.
I need you to be an expert at getting the best deals. All right. So people may. But would that same demographic buy a car that Costco made? The Costco car. The Kirkland car. I don't know. I think that's something, a lot of people in that same niche would say no. They want a good deal, but they want certainty of an outcome.
They want certainty of that solution. You can't be sure that the car is going to be good because it's not Costco's expertise. And at the price point that it would be, it may not be a good deal. Right, yeah, you're more likely to buy like Kirkland sweats because it's clothes and from a absolute like monetary value, it's way less than what you'd pay for a car.
So you're like even if it doesn't do what it's supposed to, even if it doesn't do what it says it's supposed to do, like you're not out that much money. But it's probably gonna do what it says that it's going to do because it's just pants and you just have to wear them, right? A car? Very different. So we see the importance of niching.
down.
As it relates to Hormozi's post, I will agree with the last part, which is that he says that you don't pick your niche. For many people, most people, you don't actually pick it. He says, however, that you are it. I will say, no, you learn it, right? Again, here we can see overlap between expertise and experience. They're still different things. They're still different things as it relates to running a business.
And that's where he's conflating and confusing things and being like, Oh, I'm interested in this, this X, Y, and Z. That's my niche. No, it's not. Cause you don't have expertise in that. People are not actually paying him for philosophy. I think we said one of the things he's interested in. People are paying him to teach them how to make money.
That's his niche. It's helping people make money. That's the, as it relates to the problem that he solves. So when thinking about running a business, this is rooted in your expertise. Why? Because you cannot be one step ahead of your potential client and customer. You need to be 100 steps ahead of them.
Personal experience does not allow for that. Work experience that can allow for it because that's when we start to develop expertise because it increases the sample size to dozens and to hundreds. All right, so if it's like, okay, I rehabbed my own knee. Cool sample size of one. I have experience, but not true expertise.
I'm a physical therapist. I've treated hundreds of knees. Suddenly you're like, yeah, the sample size is hundreds and I can say this thing works. I can provide that certainty of an outcome, that certainty of a solution. We see the difference. A single experience does not make you an expert. Remember, from a business perspective, people want solutions and certainty.
That's what you get when you go to the expert. That's why you don't want your barista doing dental work. No expertise. Maybe an interest. Maybe they like talking about canines and whatever, but there's no expertise there.
So, where do you as a person fit into all of this? Because I think he's trying to get at that, and this is why people like it.
Because they're like, yeah, I am multi passionate and now someone's giving me permission to like, be all these things and bring all these things to the table. Of course bring all these things to the table, because you are the brand. You're not the niche. You're not the niche, but you are the brand. So please bring your whole self, share your interests, but you look to monetize your expertise.
All right. And hopefully you are interested in your expertise. From an IG perspective or Instagram perspective, what this looks like tactically is use your stories for everything, all of your interests, all of your life, share everything, and then use your feed for teaching and solving problems, aka demonstrating and sharing your expertise.
All right, this is why my, in my stories, you'll see espresso now, garbage trucks, working out, mooper, volleyball, but I'm not trying to start an account and teach you how to play volleyball. I don't have expertise there. That makes sense. They're not going to pay me because I'm not 100 steps ahead of them. I cannot guarantee an outcome.
Of note, clever marketing can sell once, but only a good product can sell twice. That is from Seth Godin, I believe. Saying this because people can fake it and they can fake that they have expertise with something. Right? But then when they actually get clients and they actually, they can't get them a solution, those people are going to dip.
So in my stories, all those things, all the things in my feed, it's how to build a profitable online personal brand. Yes, I throw some life stuff in there, but it's not the majority of my content. I have a little bit of a, I don't know, wiggle room with this because part of my brand is teaching people how to live their best life, which is a good segue into this next part.
Changing or evolving your niche, your niche, is a product of breaking through the trust barrier. With this, the problem that you solve changes, but oftentimes how, excuse me, but oftentimes who you solve it for stays the same. So the segue being that for me, I started off with teaching people about movement, but it was largely health and fitness professionals.
Then I broke through the trust barrier and I went into teaching them online business, AKA how to make money online, but it was still to the same demographic. And yeah, I would really love to kind of push more into the life side. It's lifestyle side of things and that's what I'm doing, right? How to actually build your best life.
And the kind of, I'm not sure it's not fully formed kind of what I want to do with that, but like we see that that's already a big part of my brand and the reason that I can change this part of the niche and I can evolve it and I can change the problem that I'm solving is because I have broken through the trust barrier and that demographic is still, they're coming with me, right?
Staying the same and they're coming with me, Which is what we saw with, um, what is his name, Gary Vee, right? Started off in wine and now he's doing. Lifestyle stuff, right? We're sitting with Hermosa. He started off in this purely like the gym fitness space. And now he's doing online business and teaching online business.
And who knows what it'll go into after that, right? You break through the trust barrier and people, it's largely the same people that come with you, but you can go in these different directions.
All that to say, I'm like out of breath here. All that to say, you are not your niche. You are the brand for sure.
Your niche is the problem you solve, how you solve it and who you solve it for. Your knowables are the things that people find interesting and memorable about. You, if you actually want to make money, you got to niche down, right? Remember that you typically don't solve your, excuse me. You don't, uh, pick your niche.
You find it, it finds you, you learn your niche, right? And we learned that over time. And it's typically you start in one place and then you're like, okay, cool. Let me try this on up. Doesn't fit. And we kind of go through that, that method of exclusion of note though. Of note, it starts with your expertise, not your interests, but hopefully you are interested in your expertise.
All right, I'm looking at the time. I'm gonna cut it here. No new reviews or anything to read. I know some people have submitted. It just takes a little time for them to upload, but thank you for listening. I know you're listening. I had a call to action, call to interaction on our last episode, two episodes ago, and y'all took me up on it.
And you're in my DMs, and you're telling me that you've been linge lingeing. That's listening and binging. That's lingeing. Uh, you've been listening, you've been binging and, and I'm truly grateful. So all that to say, y'all are the real MVPs. All right. That's all I got for you. As always, endlessly, endlessly, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you.
Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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