Last week I wrote about declaring your niche. “Better to be known for one thing strongly than many things weakly”. I’ve declared my “niche” of working with self-employed women in various client-based businesses. But this past week has been challenging. It feels like when you declare your niche, the universe steps in and tests you, to see if you are really serious about this. I launched The Women’s Earning Institute in January, to coincide with my niche. But I’ve been in practice for many years, working with many people on money issues. This week it felt like the world was trying to pull me back into being a generalist. One friend told me she wanted to refer in her neighbor- who is not self-employed. Another colleague wanted to refer in a couple for me to work with- neither of whom is self-employed. In each case I decided I might see these people, but I spent serious time explaining my new niche to these wonderful referral sources. I think they really got it. Instead of saying, “oh, think of all the people you won’t be able to help”, they immediately started thinking of self-employed women who need my help! It feels like declaring a niche is like steering a boat. It helps guide you and give your business direction, so you don’t get pulled by the currents. But if you don’t know your direction, and believe strongly in it, your boat will be carried wherever the currents are going.