Life Has Three Modes: Primary Niche, Secondary Niche, and Nicheless

What is a primary niche?

If you build a product that succeeds and can be sold globally, that’s a primary niche. If you invest and generate consistent, stable profits from the market over time, that’s also a primary niche. What about a secondary niche?

If you’ve succeeded with your product or achieved stable investment profits, the person you can’t do without occupies the secondary niche.

They may not be the founder of your product or the creator of your investment venture, but they are an indispensable resource—making them the secondary niche of your endeavor.

Think of a getaway driver for a robber. Without a fast driver, who would help him escape after a heist?

The defining feature of a secondary niche is that it cannot be bypassed, regardless of whether the primary niche approves of it.

So what’s an “outside” niche?

When your position or income depends on the judgment of only a few people rather than a broad support system, that’s an outside niche. The hallmark of this state is that you’re replaceable—if you don’t do it, someone else will, or you could even outsource it yourself.

At first glance, a secondary niche also seems to rely on just a few people, but there’s a web of mutual interests holding it together.

You need to let go of the myriad survival strategies that merely aim to please others. That path leads only to small, temporary gains. Instead, you should strive to occupy both primary and secondary niches.