Against "finding your niche"

"If you want to be successful, you need to find your niche."

If I had a quarter for every time I saw a freelancer of some kind giving that advice, I'd have enough cash to pay every writer in existence so that they would never use the quarter-giving cliche ever again.

Jokes about cliched phrases aside, over the last few years I've found the sentiment above to be increasingly (and annoyingly) prevalent. Almost everywhere I look, there's a blogger or "marketing guru"(?) telling me that the only path to success is by becoming so specific with my craft that I only offer one thing.

An example would be something along these lines: you're a photographer, you like shooting portraits. Cool, now get more specific. You should only shoot portraits in urban areas. Alright, now get even more specific. You should only shoot portraits in urban areas with neon lights. MORE SPECIFIC: You now shoot exclusively urban, nighttime, neon-lit portraits that feature people on bicycles.

There! You've found your niche! Prepare for business success and a six-figure salary.

Except…you're no longer a creative artist expressing yourself through your craft. Instead, you're a business person, capitalizing on trends and constraining yourself to only work that will bring in income and popularity.

In other words, you've killed your creative soul, the artistic side of you that wants to experiment, explore, and discover new, unique ways of expression.

You've sold out. (Also, beyond the whole "spirit of creativity" thing that I tend to focus in on, you absolutely won't make six figures taking random photos of people in neon lights no matter what your favorite Youtuber told you, so, if you're going to pick a niche, I beg you to pick a different one.)

Now, I have nothing personally against photographers and other artists who find a niche, because in all fairness it really is a valid business model. It works! And hey, good for them! I've got no issue with someone finding their niche, as long as it's what they actually want to do.

The problem is found when artists are boxed in as if this is the only way to create a viable artistic practice. Everyone's so focused on finding the six-figure freelancer gig that they forgot what it was that drew them to the craft in the first place: the creative freedom it allowed.

Everyone is giving the same advice (which is a little on-the-nose, considering the advice is to "make the same thing"), creating the same Instagram reels, the same tweets, the same blog posts. No one wants to risk doing something different than what they've done before, because it might not work for them. It might not bring the same success as previous work.