This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
There is an interesting challenge. Interesting challenge today from one of our listeners. What if you set out to become an expert in a topic? You know, a lot of featured case studies, a lot of people that we've talked about here on the show that have ended up making a lot of money, being really successful, maybe even creating a transition from a day job to working on their thing full time. A lot of them have pursued this model of becoming an authority in a topic, you know, sharing content, eventually building out some products or services.
So it's a well-tested proven model, but what happens? Here's the problem. What happens if all of a sudden or perhaps over time, I guess it could be either way, whatever it is, at some point the topic becomes less and less relevant, maybe less popular or less pertinent. You know, I'm always encouraging our listeners to specialize and this is really important. You know, don't be a generalist.
You're gonna be much more successful if you choose a specialty or a niche or a niche, as they say. But I suppose there are situations in which choosing the wrong specialization can be dangerous, at least in terms of your economic stability. So our listener in this interesting challenge is finding themselves in that situation. Is there a way out? Well, I'm sure there's a way out.
Of course there's a way out, but let's explore it a bit in this question and answer episode. Detailed question coming right up. [Music]
Hi, Chris. This is Sarah and I've been trying to get started with a website and social media profiles where I established myself as an expert and develop a course for sale. I feel like I've made a big mistake, however.
The topic I chose to focus on was very relevant at the time I started. Without getting into details, however, it's now much less relevant. Not nearly as many people are searching for info on it, and I worry that the numbers will just continue to drop as time goes by. What should I do at this point? Change everything, change something, or just stay the course and hope it gets better?
I'm thinking the last option isn't the best answer, but I'm really not sure I want to completely start over. What do you think? Thanks. [Music]
All right, thanks for the question. Thanks for sharing this difficult challenge.
It is, in fact, let's say a difficult challenge, right? This actually happened to a friend of mine, or at least something similar. They really specialized in this particular legal aspect of real estate. They had really kind of gone to that and were like, "I'm gonna brand myself as the expert," and then a lot of the regulation in their market changed to where it was all of a sudden not super relevant. They had to figure out what do I do.
At the same time, they were also kind of losing interest a bit in that topic and hoping to do something very different. So it's like they were navigating two things at once. What can you do in this situation? Couple things. First, make sure that the change, the lack of relevance, isn't just a cyclical or a seasonal thing.
Sometimes that happens if you're, I don't know, what's an example, if you're writing about springtime gardening, for example. Well, in the late summer, the winter, nobody's searching for that. So you just gotta kind of wait for it to come around. There's another guy who sold bounce houses, like bouncy castles, and that is a very summertime or warm weather kind of business. Not much happening in the winter, at least where he lived.
So just make sure it's not a cyclical or seasonal thing, assuming that that's not the case here. Next step would be to adapt to an adjacent field or topic. And this might be your best bet for someone like my friend who was into the real estate thing. There's lots of other real estate stuff, right? So it's a very easy pivot, or at least it's a manageable, feasible pivot from one aspect of real estate to another.
So that might be your best bet. In his case, he was trying to make a bigger change, but if it's just a question of lack of relevance, you're still into it, that might be your best bet. But then option three, start all over, you know? And I just wanna encourage our listeners that it's okay to start over. I know it sometimes seems intimidating, but you gotta consider the cost of not starting.
You know, alternatively, ignore sunk costs. It doesn't matter what you've spent in terms of time, resources, whatever, to get to this point. What really matters is what you're doing from here. So sometimes, in fact, you know, as I said, it's a tough challenge, but if you get this far, if you've been able to start something and you've gotten a certain way down the road, then, you know, I doubt the journey is over. You might just have to make a change.
So I encourage you, consider those options, make sure it's not just seasonal, adapt to an adjacent field or topic. And then, you know, if that's not a good answer, consider starting over and be encouraged because lots of people start over and they end up doing much better than they did on the previous project. So I think that can happen to you. That's it for today. If you've got some feedback or a question of your own, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Thank you so much for tuning in. We've got a new episode coming out every single day, seven days a week. You can subscribe or follow wherever you like to listen. And I hope you'll tune in again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
We're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
