I was a party recently and a friend’s college-aged daughter was telling me what she’d been doing since graduating from high school. She started with telling me that she had completed French pastry school in California, which I thought was pretty cool. Then, just as I asked her what she planned to do with that “degree,” she continues to tell me now she is learning pastry photography.

Pastry photography.

I was awestruck. Not only have I never heard of such a profession, but my mind was swimming with questions:

• How many pastry photographers are there in the world?
  
• Are the baguettes ever moody or hard to work with?
  
• Do the models make a lot of dough? (Sorry, I can’t help it)

The question I chose to verbalize, though, was a simple one: “Wow! So what are you going to do with this experience in pastry photography?”

At this time, her step-mom stepped in and said “Oh, she’s 20 years old. She doesn’t know.” And the daughter nodded in agreement. And that was that.

But what I wanted to tell this girl was that she’s extremely smart, and she’s already got at least a 15-year head start on probably all of her competition. That she’s doing the right thing by chasing her passion, and figuring the rest out as she goes.

I wanted to tell her about the power of a niche.

The Courage to Chase Your Niche

There are countless blog posts on how the Internet is giving any niche its space, and that those who can really “niche down” can rise to the top relatively easily. That’s not the point here.

My observation is the courage to chase your niche once you know it. To boldly follow your passion into uncharted waters, figuring out the next step just after making your last step. Doing it all with the mindset of a college student who really has no concept of responsibility yet, but they do know what makes them happy. So they just keep doing it.

The advantage is that, if you stay with it, you’ll build an amazing reputation in a specific area. If you don’t stick with it, you’ll still have the attitude and experience of knowing that chasing your dreams is nowhere near as daunting as adulthood likes to make you think it is.

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