A NICHE-FREE NEW YEAR
WHY I will not BE embracing “FINDING A NICHE” IN MY creative PRACTICE IN 2024
2024 feels different. In a good way.
As an artist entering 2024, like me, you are likely looking to expand your craft and business to make more of a name for yourself this year. Make more, sell more, do more. Dive deeper.
Of course, this requires a fair amount of planning: reading, brainstorming, and perhaps even mimicking other successful creatives so that your craft or business may begin flourish as we enter into this brand-new January.
One item I keep finding over and over again in seeking creative advice is the well-loved sentiment of “finding your niche” (and thus finding your unique audience). I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense, I’m not saying it doesn’t work…
I’m simply saying I’m just not that into it.
I spent the entirety of my 2023 trying to do just that: defining who I was a creative and what distinguishes me from all the other creatives out there and sets me apart. In this pursuit, I hired and collaborated with a very trusted design mentor of mine, and after weeks of deliberation and back and forth, we landed on this description for me:
“…a versatile and passionate multi-media artist and designer with a bold + distinct style."
Not wrong, but a little bit of mouthful. Not to mention, it still requires you take a looksee at my work to understand exactly what that means. SO WHAT’S THE POINT?
Many Q’s where considered, including but not limited to: Am I more of an artist or a graphic designer? Should I lean into just one of my passions, perhaps the one I am “best” at? Who am I? Not just as an artist, but as a person?
These questions consumed my year, and after a full and dedicated portfolio redesign that included a thoughtful bio, I was still not happy.
As I worked to figure out my ongoing creative identity crisis, I realized something: much of my struggle was WANTING IT ALL and WANTING IT FOR ME. Not for audiences like me, or clients who want projects done in my style (I know now that if I trust the CRAFT - the PROCESS -the rest will follow).
Niches hold us back. They kill valuable time trying to put interesting + different people people into boxes that we don’t fit. Niches try to define what we do into single artist statements and biographies. And I can finally say that’s not going to work for me. Because, frankly, half the time I’m not sure what I’m doing either, and this shit is ever-evolving.
So this year I am simply Meg Jenson, ARTIST + GRAPHIC DESIGNER.
I invite fellow creatives who do not find themselves fitting into a box to embrace the KISS method: Keep It Simple, Stupid!
________
AFFIRMATIONS: I WILL DEVOTE MYSELF AND MY SOUL TO MY CRAFT. I WILL LET MY INNER GUIDE TAKE OVER, I WILL CREATE MORE AND THINK LESS. I WILL LET THINGS FALL INTO PLACE. I WILL TRUST THE PROCESS. I WILL BE MESSY.
________
If we find ourselves in a place we I can’t seem to define who we are, that’s okay. The solution does not lie in finding a niche, the solution lies within.
How does that all sound?
Meg
