If you didn't know, I was in the Film/TV industry for 20+ years, so I still catch up on the news every once in a while. This is the season when a lot of TV shows are cancelled, renewed, or picked up for a series.

It's always interesting to see what shows the TV networks think will be profitable enough to go into production with. TV shows make the majority of their revenues from ads (or at least they used to). As the landscape changes, there are many revenue streams like online platform memberships, foreign markets, syndication, etc.

It got me thinking again about the necessary background and experience to be successful when building niche sites. The answer is that there aren't any "necessary" skills needed. It's more about desire and just starting.

As I was going through the lists of shows, I started thinking about niche sites and how related they are when it comes to managing and building our own sites - stopping work on a site, putting more effort into a site, or starting a new site.

You may have skills from your own background that translate over to success on your niche site journey.

TV shows are cancelled when they lose viewership.

Isn't that what happens when you decide to stop working on a niche site? You have fewer and fewer viewers every month, so you stop putting money into it. But that doesn't mean you can't still generate revenue. TV show rights can be sold, the past seasons sold, etc. When I stop working on a site, I just leave it there because there's still occasional traffic and revenue. It's just that i stopped putting more work into it.

TV shows are renewed when it's working.

When you see that one of your niche sites is working well, you put more time and money into it. Whether it's publishing more content, improving current content, or expanding revenue streams, you're actively working on it.

New TV shows are picked up.

Networks will shoot a TV pilot (episode 1) of a potential show as a test, before deciding whether to pick it up for a full season of episodes or not. That's similar to what many of us do. We put up 20-40 articles on a new site as a test. If it gets traction, then we put more time and money into it to build out the site.

TV shows are sold.

Yup, TV shows can be sold from one network to another. Isn't that just like what we do when our sites are sold? We sell our sites to other niche site builders who think there's something valuable there and willing to put time and money into it.

The moral of all this is that you can come from any background and build a successful niche site!

Think about your past and how it relates to managing and publishing content. Even if it doesn't directly translate over, it will still make the process feel less overwhelming.

Your strong skills of analysis, writing reports, communication, team management, and more from your background can all translate over.

Your weak skills will transfer over as well, so now you know what you can work on or outsource.

The most important thing is to not feel overwhelmed and to take it one step at a time. Just take that first step, then 2nd step, then 3rd step, and so on.

Yoyao - Niche Surfer