The 'Global Niche' Story-Creating Unexpected Twist for the Creative Entrepreneur
I have always believed that we are all world class in some
area (which I call as deepest passion) and Anastasia calls it our Global
Niche. In any case, the bigger the
market we decide to target, the more focused we need to be in terms of target
segment (or niche). Fundamentally I liked the idea of discovering our global
niche, though I was already in the area of global personal branding for nearly
two years. I had been running an interesting interview series on my Blog,
“Vasudhaiv Kutumkam” or The World is one family. In the series I interviewed
wide range of people who were contributing to globalization in real sense of
the term-development of global mindset, cross cultural exposure (and respect
for other cultures) and making honest attempts to become Global citizens.
Nobody is foreign in the Global Village
Long back I had come to know about CNN’s policy of not using the ‘foreign’ word on its
international channels. In fact Ted Turner, the founder of CNN had sent a memo to
his staff that anyone using the word “foreign” would face a $100 fine. His
preferred substitute is “international.” Ted Turner (also called the World
Citizen) significantly changed the world with CNN and truly created the global
village through CNN's 24 X 7 TV news.
Global Niche-Next step towards the Global Village
When I came to know about Global Niche, it sounded as the
perfect next step in the journey towards a global village (in real sense of the term). People who discover their global niche are
also encouraged to develop a global mindset, becoming role models for the
others.
I began to research about 'Global Niche' and then later
decided to write a story by stitching the patches of information I had
discovered about Global Niche and its Co-Founders Anastasia Ashman and Tara Agacayak. (In fact,
I first wrote a
story about Anastasia Ashman as I find stories of people more exciting and full
of life than stories of products and organisations)
What exactly is Global Niche?
The first thing which caught my attention was the use of the
term ‘creative entrepreneurs’ Since social media game is all about great
content, the winners are definitely creators (and curators) of great content. Creative
people generally get so absorbed and emotionally involved in their passion and
work, that they forget to market and brand themselves. That is why many
creative people live the life of paupers. Many of them (highly
creative) are often hardly interested in selling themselves and suffer
financially because of this nature. (Read
more about ‘Why
Personal Branding is a Must for Creative Professionals?’)
Global Niche is a complete support system, which not only
gives you knowledge and skills, but also gives you a peer group to co-learn
and collaborate. Anastasia and Tara make an honest attempt to guide you to
build an online presence using a holistic approach and aligning it with your
vision and goals. As you can see in the diagram below, external visibility is
combined with internal meaning to help you develop the ‘Digital Global You’.
As a result you can live Life 3.0 with the help of Web 3.0. As the co-founders point out, “We show you how to connect to who and what you love using small steps, the social web, and a worldwide empowerment network. Our on-demand multimedia program (SUM-it UP, delivered at Udemy) includes downloadable digital lectures, guides and video coaching, which we supplement with live web video workshops (delivered at Linqto), study groups (delivered at G+) and a private work group (delivered at Facebook). Our diverse community of designers, academics, executives, authors and entrepreneurs are all interested in achieving their goals wherever they are.”
In simple words, Global Niche helps you become truly independent using your power of self agency. You use what you have to get where you want to go.
About the Co-Founders
Fellow expat founder and COO Tara Agacayak (right, in the picture) combines her background
in psychology and information technology with skills in e-commerce, global
community building, content marketing, micro-entrepreneurship. At Global Niche
she applies data mining/database design to psychological principles of
identity, self-concept, behavior and motivation to understand our true self
from our content and data.
Anastasia and Tara have spent more than two
decades figuring out how to make our personal and professional lives work in
situations that do not support who we are (and we need to work against the odds). As they point out, “What inspired us
to start Global Niche was our years spent at odds with our surroundings living
abroad; we were the outsider, the unseen, the invisible and the forgotten. We
knew we were capable of success despite these circumstances and expatriatism
taught us to transform our perception of our circumstances to create an
advantage.”
Are you sitting on a mountain of content and zapped about
what to do?
Many creative professionals have created a mountain of content
and are unaware how to sell and market it. Many of us are beginning to
realize that we are living in the golden age for content creators with the
phenomenal growth of social media and personal/online branding. Don’t let the
gold stay buried, it’s time to monetize.
What is a web platform? Global Niche answers.
Global Niche Programs
In an email exchange with Anastasia, she informed me about the 'Sum It Up' program to discover our global niche. As she says, “Ultimately, this is for people who need more opportunities in their lives and are interested in tapping into them with the help of the social web. At Global Niche we know everyone needs to get serious about the time they spend online and make it pay off. These are future work skills, today. They're actually future life skills, too. SUM-it UP is a *deep* social media course for all levels to solve what boils down to professional obscurity (and its lack of opportunity) and solve it through digital literacy, which in the Global Niche world amounts to a holistic online presence built with intention.”
The reviews of the program have been fascinating ( For more details, refer testimonials page and the Facebook album.) Besides Sum It Up, there is also a “10 Tools for your Global Niche web platform” program for beginners.
Wisdom seekers are getting together
Many of us are seeking deeper meaning to our lives and are seeking wisdom to find the life purpose. Such wisdom seekers are coming together on platforms like Global Niche and Wisdom 2.0. I have found Global Niche to be a great place for connecting with like-minded people (need I say across the globe again. Oh God I said it)
I could never have thought that we have an annual international conference on wisdom also (so lacking in our world). During one of our interactions, Anastasia told me that she was leaving to attend Wisdom 2.0 Summit (an event that brings together thousands of people to ask and answer this question: How can we live with greater presence, meaning, and mindfulness in the technology age?). The events are live-streamed here: http://wisdom2summit.com. I have always been a wisdom seeker and it is a blessing to have wonderful companions in the journey.
WOW features of Global Niche
Monthly video chats-Through Global Niche’s live monthly video chats, you can keep your finger on the pulse of where your world is headed. There was an interesting chat recently with culturally curious writing coach Kristin Bair O'Keeffe about how to stay on top of your personal and professional pursuits no matter where you are. Such interactions help you realize, what exactly you want to be known for, the missing piece in most people’s online efforts.
Play from the home pitch-In cricket, we talk of the advantage of the home pitch. Global Niche helps you realize, how to operate from home/home based office and interact with the globe. So you get the best, by being based in the home pitch, which is customized to both your strengths -- and your disadvantages. Here is a free (pay-with-a-tweet or facebook share) 45 minute video tutorial by Tara about the tools you can use to build your online presence. perfect for beginners and intermediates.
Practical Approach-Here is a diagram, which explains the basic approach used in the programs:-
Esp. useful for women and geographically/culturally-disadvantaged people -Global Niche’s programs are especially useful for women and geographically/culturally-disadvantaged people as co-founders help the participants with their interesting backgrounds and knowledge of culture, media, psychology and info tech. As the co-founders Anastasia and Tara point out, “We have international survival skills for fundamental challenges like language, culture, legal issues, geography, timezones and tap core strengths, envision/create worlds different than our surroundings, embrace networked reality to erase personal/pro limits. “
An Unexpected Twist
''Dreamers should learn to do,
Doers should learn to dream,
Together they can write a touching story''
Take the help of doers like Anastasia and Tara. Do not
assume your story is over. Just remember there is an unexpected twist, in many
a story. So are you ready to “Empower the Global You”?
-------------------------------
Here are some useful links, for those who are thirsty for
more:-
More interviews with Anastasia and Tara http://pinterest.com/globalniche/globalniche-net-press/ and http://www.yesilist.com/what-is-your-globalniche--cms
About page: http://www.globalniche.net/about/
Program introduction video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nwKEGwVXkA
Content strategy/branding roots of SUM-it UP program: http://www.kristinbairokeeffe.com/2012/09/07/sum-it-up-a-guest-post-by-anastasia-ashman-cofounder-of-globalniche-net/
Comments
Post a Comment