Nichez Get Switchez ya know what I’m sayin?? Like… cars with hydraulic suspension. Because artists with Niches are successful. And can afford hydrolic suspension cars, also popularly known as cars with ‘switches’. Obviously they could buy other nice cars as well, but, there’s no high end car company that rhymes with Niches.

I hope that was clear. Say it with me if you will: Niches Get Switches.

Niche. With the fancy french accent on the E. How about that. In the animal kingdom, which we are haplessly a part of in all its terrible glory, Niche is what defines survival, success from a biological standpoint, and posterity. I’m sure you all know what a niche is but here’s some definitions, as it transcends humanity and animal nature, plugging right into the dominance hierarchy of our animal nervous system

Niche: noun

A recess in a wall, as for holding a statue or urn
A cranny, hollow, or crevice, as in a rock.
A situation or activity specially suited to a person’s interests, abilities, or nature
a distinct segment of a market
the position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals

Not to sound too much like my fake troll instagram handle ‘ChangedByTravel69’ aka ‘the_real_chad’, but I finally went snorkelling for the first time and… I feel stupid saying it changed my life.. but… it kinda did. See, looking down at the coral reef there are these little nooks and crannies, not unlike those english muffins from the 90’s, wherein each little cubbyhole was inhabited by its own gorgeous, enchanting, and distinct, tropical fish. These little places were the niches for fishes to inhabitate and propagate, as well as weather the storms and avoid predators.

I should’ve called it niches get fishes.

How does this relate to voice acting? Welllll…. the ‘market’ is a brutal tsunami of pain and suffering, basically. Not unlike the waters around these coral reefs. Sharks, tornadoes, Sharknadoes, disgruntled baby baloogas, treacherous eels and jellies, pordly, hungry walruses probably…

"I'll do it for less, Client! I gotta feed the Sharknado!!"

Go on the website fiverr and type in ‘North American Male’ and see what comes up. Ten thousand people from around the globe with rates starting at $5 for maybe 50 words of finished voiceover work. Bottomless as the ninth circle of hell if you ask me, in this global marketplace. I live in New York; some of these folks live in their mom’s basements, or Costa Rica, or anywhere cheaper than New York which is everywhere.

How do you escape the relentless grind of the market? By finding, creating, stealing, or dominating your niche of course!

I imagine myself as a giant predator fish. One with red dots on my body, as is natures way of signifying dominance. Now I don’t imagine myself as the apex predator fish because that’s Don Lafontaine (the Action movie trailer “In-A-World Guy”, may he rest in peace). Gotta show respect to the Don. Don Don, the 7th Dan.

The Apex Predator of the VO world may he rest in peace. If he didn't tell you what world you were in, you would have no idea.

But I ain’t no Krill neither. Krill is the money, floating around the ocean to be caught in my giant mouth, in fact.

Imagine this thing with unparalleled customer service. and a sennehiser 416 in its mouth. That's me.

You can think of your niche not as the type of work you do necessarily (cartoon, commercial, promo, audiobook, etc) but more like… what are the two to five adjectives that best describe the vibe that you bring to the table. What sort of ‘Mind-Share’, if you will, that you will begin to occupy in that space. I guess this is synonymous with reputation.

My mentor’s niche as he proclaims it on his website jonathanlockwood.com is warmth and Gravitas, and he brings them full bore. And he has transcended this beast known as ‘the market’ not necessarily by outcompeting it with raw output (although he does a great job with that), but creating a distinct flavor and vibe that nobody else can really replicate, and then having fantastic customer service, turnaround and professionalism.

I’m still figuring mine out- I would say ‘Fun’ for sure, but that’s not a great word. But you know, you want to develop a sort of a…. (busting out another french word…) an Imprimateur.

Imprimateur is a deliciously pretensious phrase for a signature style that’s distinctly your own, that can’t be priced rudely by the baseline of the market, because it can’t be replicated anywhere else. I was introduced to this phrase by the odd review of an early film of Steven Seagal, adding a dimension of wrist-breaking deliciousness to the concept.

Is it Steven Seagal, or me, sizing up new copy? Vote in the comments or something

I think my niche is going to be occupying the space between ‘authority’ and ‘fanboy’. I can kind of ride the wave between both of those things; bring the depth and intensity, but then also bring a sense of fun, novelty, adrenaline and excitement.

But how do you express your niche to the world? Because that’s what we can do now in this digital age! It’s cool, and it’s terrifying. To market yourself is essentially infinite. 7.5 some-odd billion people. Such a market-facing strategy also makes a person less subject to the opinions of the ultra-powerful few, which brings what Nassim Taleb, my favorite living philosopher, calls the property of 'Antifragility'. Enjoy. And check out that book!

One of my favorite non-fiction books of all time.

Blog Post 4: Niches Get Switches