Everyone tells you to "find your niche."

Nobody tells you how.

So you sit there, staring at a blank page, wondering if you should build a community around productivity, or maybe fitness, or marketing, or maybe something super specific like "productivity for freelance designers who also do CrossFit."

And then you do nothing. Because choosing feels permanent. And what if you choose wrong?

Here is the thing: you probably already know your niche. You just don't see it yet.

The Three-Circle Framework

Your niche lives at the intersection of three things:

  1. What you genuinely care about. Not what you think will make money. What you would talk about for free, forever, even if nobody was listening.

  2. What you actually know. Not expertise from a weekend course. Real knowledge from doing the work, making mistakes, and learning the hard way.

  3. What people need help with. A gap in existing communities. Something that is not being served well, or at all.

Most people skip circle three. They build communities around their interests without checking if anyone actually wants it.

How to Find the Gap

Here is a quick test. Go to Reddit, Twitter, or any forum in your rough interest area. Search for questions.

What are people asking that nobody answers well?

What complaints keep coming up?

Where do you see bad advice getting upvoted?

That is your gap. The place where you can actually help.

Validate Before You Build

Before you spend three months building a community nobody joins, do this:

Talk to 10 people. Find people who match your target audience. Have real conversations. Ask about their problems, what they have tried, what they wish existed.

You are not selling anything. You are listening.

If 7 out of 10 say something like "I would absolutely join that," you have something. If they shrug, go back to the drawing board.

Look for existing activity. Are there subreddits, Facebook groups, Discord servers, or newsletters in your space? Good. It means demand exists. You are not creating a market from scratch.

Empty space is not opportunity. It is usually a warning sign.

Start Small and Specific

"Marketing" is not a niche. Neither is "fitness" or "productivity."

But "content marketing for B2B SaaS startups" is. "Strength training for people over 40" is. "Productivity systems for ADHD freelancers" is.

The tighter your niche, the faster you can become the go-to person.

You can always expand later. You cannot un-dilute a vague community.

Your Niche Will Evolve

Here is the part nobody mentions: your first niche probably will not be your forever niche.

And that is fine.

You learn what resonates by shipping. By posting content. By seeing what gets engagement and what gets silence. The feedback is the data.

The goal is not to pick the perfect niche on day one. The goal is to pick a specific niche, commit for 90 days, and then adjust based on what you learn.

The Real Test

Ask yourself: "Would I still show up for this community if it never made me a dollar?"

If the answer is no, that is a business idea, not a community. Those are different things with different playbooks.

Communities are built by people who care enough to keep going when growth is slow. When the first 50 members take six months to find. When nobody shares your posts.

Pick something you can sustain.

What to Do Right Now

  1. Write down 5 topics you could talk about for an hour without notes
  2. For each one, spend 10 minutes searching Reddit or Twitter for pain points
  3. Pick the one where you see real frustration and bad advice
  4. Talk to 5 people in that space this week

That is it. No fancy branding. No logo. Just conversations with real humans who might become your first members.

The community you are meant to build is probably hiding in plain sight. You just need to look.