Your Portable Empire: How to Make Money Anywhere While Doing What You Love

Chapter 1. Your Playground—Choosing Your Niche

If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down.

—–Ray Bradbury

We're making this up, you know?

All of it.

Whatever life you're living is the product of your beliefs, conditioning, and imagination. You're choosing it.

If it's not deliriously wonderful, you've got some choices.

You could accept it.

You could blame someone else for it.

You could choose something else.

As far as I can tell, we only get one spin on this mortal coil. One life.

The good news is that we're given a life to live in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities. We're free to visualize our perfect life and then live it. I think we might as well make it fun.

To quote Willie Nelson (The Tao of Willie): "If you've made your own hell, then only you have the power to escape it."

STEP ONE IS TO CHOOSE YOUR NICHE

A niche, according to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, is a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted, or a specialized market. After you've decided that you want to create your own Portable Empire, your first decision is to choose your niche.

How do you do that?

Fun. That's the big secret. Your niche is your playground.

Later, in the chapter on list building you learn how to gather people onto your playground. It's important to choose one ...