Competing to be 'the best' is a crowded, zero-sum game. A superior strategy is to find a niche where you can be the 'only' one doing what you do. Pursue the ideas that only you appreciate, because that is where you will face no competition and can create your most authentic and valuable work.

In a crowded market, your unique advantage isn't a single niche, but the intersection of several. Combining passions like "jigsaw puzzles" and "microbrews" creates a new, defensible category where you are the expert. Your true niche is the unique combination that makes up you.

Niching down allows you to dominate a small pond with less competition, enabling higher prices and faster learning. Once you're the "biggest guy in a puddle," you use your acquired skills and resources to graduate to a pond, then a lake, and finally the ocean.

Covering multiple unrelated topics on a single YouTube channel—a "carnival channel"—fragments your audience and confuses the algorithm. Focusing on a single, clear niche is essential for building a loyal, engaged community around a core value proposition.

Instead of competing to be the best in a crowded field, find a unique niche or combination of skills where you have no substitutes. This is the key to long-term success, as demonstrated by the PayPal Mafia members who each carved out their own distinct paths.

Don't fear competitive "red oceans"; they signal huge demand. The winning strategy is to start in an artificially constrained niche (a puddle) where you can dominate. Once you're the biggest fish there, sequentially expand your market to a pond, then a lake, and finally the ocean.

Competing to be the 'best' places you on a crowded leaderboard defined by others. Instead, focus on creating a unique category, skill set, or niche where you are the 'only' one who does what you do. This strategic move sidesteps direct competition and creates a powerful, uncontested space.

Trying to appeal to everyone from the start creates a weak brand with no impact, like a small bush. Instead, focus intensely on one core promise for one clear demographic. This builds a strong foundational 'trunk,' allowing you to branch out with stability and greater reach later on.

The best strategy is to capture a large share of a small, specific market and then expand into adjacent ones. Jeff Bezos deliberately started with books for a niche customer base, proving the model before scaling to become 'the everything store.'