> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bramadams.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The PKM Niche is Crowded
- URL: https://www.bramadams.dev/202301071311/
- Published: 2023-01-28T09:07:58.000Z
- Updated: 2024-02-20T01:59:01.000Z
- Description: To be successful in the PKM niche, I argue that counterintuitively PKM should be used as a tool to become big in another realm of idea space.
- Author: Bram Adams
- Tags: pkm, programming, content-creation, marketing

> To be a successful small business marketer you need **laser-like focus on a narrow target market, sometimes called a niche**. ([Location 471](https://readwise.io/to%5Fkindle?action=open&asin=B01B35M3SM&location=471&ref=bramadams.dev))

> **if the ad just rolls out a broad laundry list of services, then it’s not speaking to either prospect, therefore it’s not relevant**, and it will likely be ignored by both market segments. ([Location 493](https://readwise.io/to%5Fkindle?action=open&asin=B01B35M3SM&location=493&ref=bramadams.dev))

> Targeting a tight niche allows you to become a big fish in a small pond. It allows you to dominate a category or geography in a way that is impossible by being general. **The type of niches that you want to go after are “an inch wide and a mile deep.” An inch wide meaning it is a very highly targeted subsection of a category. A mile deep meaning there’s a lot of people looking for a solution to that specific problem.** Once you dominate one niche, you can expand your business by finding another profitable and highly targeted niche, then dominate that one also. ([Location 497](https://readwise.io/to%5Fkindle?action=open&asin=B01B35M3SM&location=497&ref=bramadams.dev))

> How did price suddenly become irrelevant? That is the beauty of serving a niche. Whether you do heart surgery or offer cellulite treatment, you can now charge far more for your services than by being a generalist. You’re perceived differently by your prospects and customers. **A specialist is sought after rather than shopped on price.** A specialist is much more highly respected than a jack-of-all-trades. A specialist is paid handsomely to solve a specific problem for their target market. ([Location 506](https://readwise.io/to%5Fkindle?action=open&asin=B01B35M3SM&location=506&ref=bramadams.dev))

The PKM niche has become insanely busy lately. I've noticed a few things about this:

- devs are doing **great work** to move things forward, driven by "thorns in their side (check out the [dev section in the weekly Obsidian Roundup](https://www.eleanorkonik.com/?ref=bramadams.dev), the use cases are so broad reaching)"
- PKM is kind of "all or nothing", meaning most outsiders don't get involved because the buy-in is so steep  
  - conversely, there is an massive amount of groupthink as info gets passed around between heavy PKM users, and very little disseminated to non PKM users
- content is getting repetitive as multiple apps that do basically the same thing in a different coat of paint or minor ideology tweak cause fanatics to drop everything and start from scratch every n months[\[1\]](#fn1)

## Avoid Meta-Speak

As a very astute HN commenter put on BHOV-2023:

> Hypothesis: people who use these “second brain” knowledge systems spend more time writing about using them, then actually using them.

> ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34034826&ref=bramadams.dev))

Meta-PKM is the act of using PKM systems to think only about epistemology. This is a trap. It becomes too easy to spend time uncritically, and not testing if the tenants of PKM fit the broader idea-verse. **Putting other fields of study through the PKM filter helps improve PKM**.

> knowledge held immune from criticism never can be improved! ([Location 4052](https://readwise.io/to%5Fkindle?action=open&asin=B005DXR5ZC&location=4052&ref=bramadams.dev))

It's becoming more and more difficult to be a "big fish" in the PKM market, but I've noticed that few people are doing a simple, powerful tactic: **take the tenants of PKM back to your target market**. In other words, use PKM as a shortcut to become big in another realm of idea space.

## AI Generated Read Next

Similar: The Zero Sum Game of Niches - [202301051903](https://bram-adams.ghost.io/202301051903?ref=bramadams.dev)

Clever: Windfalls Aren't Always a Blessing - [202301110058](https://bram-adams.ghost.io/202301110058?ref=bramadams.dev)

Chaotic: (Processing) New Rules of Posture and Rich Dad, Poor Dad - [202301110221](https://bram-adams.ghost.io/202301110221?ref=bramadams.dev)

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1. this happens in the web dev space as well: jquery > angular > react > vue > nextjs > svelte > on and on until the heat death of the universe …