This question popped up on Twitter this week — and it’s a great one! I wish more people would ask me questions about niches. They really are the key to building a freelance career that actually improves your life.

 

Still, I’ll be the first one to admit that it can be hard understand how they work or what can actually be a niche. Here’s my absolute favorite clue though.

 

If you know people who work in a field, it probably qualifies as a niche.

 

So you know how a lot of us work in government? Well, companies need support selling into and working with federal, state, and local agencies. They need help from people who get the processes and who can provide insight they don’t have — and they’ll pay for it.

 

How do I know? I wrote for a B2G (business to government) trade publication for a split second. They were talking about software for police departments, fire, water, military, libraries, public schools…anything you can think of.

 

I also write for companies that specialize by industry. Government is almost always on the list (here’s an example from Samsung, check the top navigation bar).

 

So yes! Government can be a niche, but so can almost any field that people are already employed in…and they tend to be pretty safe and established. (You know because there are already a bunch of people employed in that field.)

 

So if you’re interested in government yourself, check out the Government, Legal & Policy section here and start reading up on the field so you can get a feel for where your skill might fit. And as always, if you have any niche questions, shoot them over!

 

 

 

 

Megan