Rebecca’s Reinvention (r)Evolution ~ A Story of the Nicheless Name

I am speaking at Niche Parent Conference in a few weeks. My workshop is about The Art of Storytelling with Brad Lawless. So I have a story for you. I find my life and my brand in a holding pattern…an evolutionary process or, perhaps, a revolution of sorts. Reinvention, done well, requires a long and deep look at what is working and what is not working…what I do well and not so much!

Facing The Harsh Truths of Failure

The ‘Rebecca’ is an opportunity that never quite uncorked properly. Almost, but not quite. My blessing, creativity (or idea generation), is also my curse. If left unchecked or unedited, my imagination runs amuck from one great idea to the next without the deep focus required to make it in the online game of success.

I feel like I am stuck in the ‘Cheers’ bar, where everybody knows my name…but nobody really knows what I do. A name is great if you are a celebrity or born with a trust fund. Online, a name without a clearly discernible focus is just a name. Hmmmmmmm….

Focus, for those who have found online success, means one thing – they have found their niche, are living comfortably within it and are making a living doing what they love. Life’s painful irony: Isn’t that what I have been helping others do for years?

I have heard the word niche and even profess to understand it. I just lost sight of mine, if I ever had one. It would seem I just aimed my goals much broader without the funding to do it right. Ahhhhh, that nastiest of stumbling blocks…funding. I actually lived through one of those ultra sobering moments of self truth this week. I fell short with a name (brand) that no one knows how to hire and worse yet, no one understand what to hire me to do. (Insert much weeping and self-loathing.)

I am standing here today a self-made name without a niche, looking for ways to attach a niche to my name.

All this mega creativity and visionary thinking seems to have failed me. And I am bottom line…exhausted. Working too hard, for too long, for too little has taken its toll on my spirit, my mind and my health. On the edge of complete burnout! Yes, I have just outed myself…failure is staring me boldly in the face…laughing loudly while whispering, “I told you so.”

Rebecca’s Reinvention (r)Evolution

Total failure is not an option. Momentary failure is a life lesson.

Subsequently, all the wailing and self flogging is gently giving way to renewed optimism, tempered with cautionary economic sensitivity. The other bloggers I have met recently seem to exude confidence. I move cautiously forward having not forgotten what 2008 brought with it. I choose to believe that this collective hoping will envelope me and take me along for the ride upward.

 “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” ~Winston Churchill

Are there holes in this thesis? Perhaps. However, I am too focused on my Reinvention (r)Evolution to bother with pessimism. Revolutionary times call for revolutionary measures – cost cutting and the search for more income and incremental revenue. I am also working on me…simply directing all my energy into doing what matters most to me….finding that sweet spot called my niche.

While I continue to maintain my glass is half full outlook, every stone must be turned in search of a richer, more permanent, bottom line as I continue to narrow my self, and my name, into a niche. One side effect of my revolution is I have begun to experience slight feelings of being set free. Why? My greatest fear has been realized…and I am still alive! And I still have all my visionary big ideas, which wait patiently in my journals for another day, while I rebuilt my life and my brand.

“…failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.” ~JK Rowling

In the future I will talk about the benefits of failure.

I would love to hear you thoughts and perspectives on niches. Please share them below.