Confused about Niche Selection

I’ve been following Lynn Terry of Clicknewz and Vera Raposo of  Your Creative Biz on Vera’s journey in choosing an affiliate niche that fits her passions.

I have to tell you, Lynn asks some very good questions of Vera that has really hit home with me as well.

This reply from Lynn is one that really gets you to thinking:

“If you were given 10 hours a week and a bottomless bank account to start a new hobby, with the condition that a television crew would follow you for those 10 hours every week, which hobby would you pick?”

I enjoy the blog here and love teaching others about my online journey, but I am at a point where I need to take my blog in a more passionate direction. Just not sure what that direction is just yet, though.

I am ready to jump in full time with affiliate marketing so that I can relax and enjoy more of the things I want to do.

My Many Hats

I’ve worn many hats in my adult life, both online and offline. Secretary, graphic designer, craft business owner,affiliate marketer, eBay product sales, Writer, author, ghostwriter, mom, wife, small farmer and many others.

In fact, as many of you know, I have been a caregiver for my mom for many years now, as well as a stay at home mom for many of the years of my kids’ lives (even when being a stay at home mom was uncool… in the 80’s and 90’s). Even though I love my mom, caregiving and nursing are not my passion.

I just happen to be one of those people who is always taking care of others.

But as my mom gets older and is needing more care and will probably have to go into a nursing care facility, I find myself at a loss. I am ready to re-direct my life, to make an impact on the world.

As with Vera, I do enjoy what I am doing now, but don’t feel fulfilled, that I am not inspiring and helping others, that what I am doing is not my life’s passion.

I enjoy writing for others and ghostwriting, but is it truly something I want to do the rest of my life? I get burned out on writing for clients. I  yearn for a passive income that lets me enjoy my life along with my work.

Affiliate marketing is something I have dabbled in but not really pushed hard in. I have Squidoo lenses, Amazon affiliate sites and do promote some affiliate things here on this blog that I have used.

I know I can change lives with my writing and I do enjoy that when I have a chance to write from the heart, but what niche do I do it from?

How do you know what your passions are, when you have spent the last 30 odd years just getting by and doing for others? 🙂

Here are some of my loves (passions?) and wants:

I am in my early 50’s and am just getting into healthy eating and changing my life to a healthy one.

I am rabid reader.

I love to travel especially in the mountains, camping and hiking, fishing in mountain streams.

I love dogs (even though I recently lost my beautiful Genni, an Alaskan Malamute 🙁 ). I’m passionate about all animals having a healthy, loving home to be in. As my hubby says, if we could adopt them all we would.

I enjoy teaching others and helping them grow.

I love to explore ways to make money, save money and get out of debt.

I enjoy learning about the cultures, history and foods of other places.

I enjoy cooking, decorating and crafts but maybe not as a full time lifestyle, I do have a decorating affiliate blog, but is it what I am truly passionate about. Probably not, since I don’t post regularly.

Life Experience or New Experience?

I have had a lot of life experiences that I could probably explore as an affiliate, but would they be profitable?

Who knows if others want to know about the loss of my grand children to a rare genetic disorder or the daily toll of being a caregiver or how to deal with the loss of a pet that was more like your child?

I grew up in the Midwest, on a small farm, in a large family with very little money. We lived off the land raising beef cattle and chickens, made most of our own clothes, grew a garden and canned the foods for winter. These are all great article or book topics but do I have a passion to share these with others every day, for many years? Is there even anyone who is interested in any of them?

I have thought about doing the comfort food niche or  the sewing niche but these are things I do but aren’t necessarily passionate about.

What I would do if money and time were not a problem:

Learn to scuba dive in the ocean and rock climb the mountain cliffs.

Explore caves and mountain caverns.

See the Northern lights.

Read every new mystery and sci-fi book that was released.

Ride a motorcycle across the country.

Take my family on friends on an extended vacation around the world.

Fly a small airplane.

Ride in a helicopter.

So I am off to the woods to do a little soul searching and talking to God for direction.

Sorry for the rambling thoughts. Sometimes you just have to put yourself out in public, no matter how private a person you are, to get to the bottom of your problems.

Are you following your passions in the niche you have chosen? Is it something that you enjoy doing even when the money isn’t there?  Share your thoughts below.