I went on a mini-crusade earlier this month throwing stones. Mostly at experts and specialists. I made an article comprised of two emails I sent two days in a row. I also added a few great questions that come in as replies and responses. The whole thing can be found here.

Niching down is often a faster path to cash. Below is the excerpt about niching and why I prefer not to.

EMAIL 2: TO NICHE OR NOT TO NICHE? FINAL VERDICT

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a million times: “The riches are in the niches”. And while it’s not wrong, it’s incomplete and misleading.

Coaches want you to niche down because you will likely find success much faster if you do. Remember the “teacher” problem? They want you to have quick wins because they get credit for being good coaches. Here’s what they don’t tell you (mostly because they don’t know better):

Niching down early is one of the biggest handicaps to long-term success.

Why? Because when people niche down they think in domains instead of causal structures. For example, let’s look at some real-world phenomena:

The act of sweating
the steps necessary for neurotransmission (the brain sending signals)
Melting polar ice caps
Economic bubbles
Actions of the federal reserve
Increased gas prices lead to an increase in grocery prices
Etc, etc

Less effective problem solvers will group them by domain like this:

Biology Problems:

The act of sweating
The steps necessary for neurotransmission (the brain sending signals)

Economic Problems:

Actions of the federal reserve
Economic bubbles
Increased gas prices led to an increase in grocery prices

This is “niched down” thinking. It's the byproduct of labeling real-world phenomena with superficial features like the domain.

More effective problem solvers do not solve problems by domain or niche. Instead, they reason from core concepts and causal structures like this:

Positive Feedback Loops:

Melting polar ice caps. When ice caps melt they reflect less sunlight back into space, which warms the planet causing more ice to melt.
Economic Bubbles. Investors buy more believing the value will increase. As a result the value increases which leads to more buying.

Negative Feedback Loops:

The act of sweating. Sweating cools the body so sweating is no longer necessary.
Actions of the federal reserve. The Fed lowers interest rates to stimulate the economy. If the economy grows too quickly it raises rates to slow down growth.

Causal Chains:

Gas prices leading to grocery price changes
The steps necessary for effective neurotransmission

Successful problem solvers are more able to determine the deep structure.

In other words:

Niched-down thinkers are poorer problem solvers.

World-class problem solvers have a much broader understanding of many domains. More importantly, they recognize and understand the core concepts that drive them.

If you want to get ahead in the short term and fall behind later: niche down hard.

If you want to get ahead later and are willing to go a little slower now, do not niche down.

The world is changing. The ability to solve the problems of tomorrow is the ultimate hedge. I am not a fan of niching down because I bias problem-solving ability over expedient wins. That's my personal preference. If you feel differently, that's okay. I still hope you win, win big and it's sustainable.

Again, you can see the whole email series and FAQ that followed here

Nic

PS. If you want to share, discuss, or whatever, the link to the convo is here.

#5 Niche? No thanks