The Untethered Lifestyle

If you do wish to be more broad, there is a way to do it right.

In his book Book Yourself Solid, Michael Port states that broadening your niche is fine… (and here’s the catch) AFTER you’ve established yourself in your more narrow field.

I’ll use again my previous example of jazz musician Harry Connick, Jr.

Connick delved into acting in film, creating Broadway musicals and doing voices of cartoon characters AFTER he had established himself as a credible and popular jazz performer.

When Connick moved to New York as an 18-year-old, he didn’t go there to act or even to get on Broadway (though later he would do both), he went there to play jazz on the piano and get a record with a major label. After he whipped that dog, he was soon established when director Rob Reiner discovered him and hired him to do the music for When Harry Met Sally. He was now on the map.

Not long after that, his repertoire expanded.

First auditions. Then editions. Then additions. Get it?

Connick even went through a four-years-or-so period where he recorded and performed relatively unpopular New Orleans-style Funk music, producing two albums in the genre during the mid-90′s.

I saw him during that period and the audiences were small. But he didn’t care. He was still selling Big Band albums by the thousands and knew he could go back to that and pack a Convention center any time.

And that’s exactly what he did… for crowds starving for the old stuff.

The point is this: you CAN broaden your niche, but do it later rather than sooner. Don’t go wide until after you get good at going narrow.