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mgsanity · 10-05-2009, 06:32 PM

Hello, I'm new here.

I was just wondering if there is a term for the phenomena of the "self-perpetuating niche", or "Those who can't, teach"... I've tried googling those words along with many others like "inbred markets" and have not come up with anything.

For example, say someone invests time learning how to write music then learned there was greater market in teaching how to write music than actually writing music.

Or say someone goes to a trade school to learn digital photography, then discovers there's more money to be made teaching what they learned (digital photography) than being a photographer. Maybe a student of this teacher realized the same thing and instead of pursuing a career in being a photographer, decides to teach digital photography. And on and on and on.

Or for example, someone want to start an online business selling items in a certain niche. One day this person realizes there is more money to be made selling information on starting an online business, search engine optimization, etc..than actually selling goods in their originally intended niche.

They are basically teaching what they learned on the way. They have made their journey the destination. They have made their original destination someone else's (their students') destination.

I'm basically just asking if there is a term for this phenomena. Steve says in this blog that this a perfectly acceptable business niche (and I'm inclined to agree), but I'm wondering what the big picture is. I'm basically just researching this phenomena and what's it's ultimate impact on a niche is. What it can say about a market when most of the money being made in it is through teaching it.

I hope no one took any of this the wrong way..I'm just searching for information.

10-05-2009, 06:32 PM	#26 (permalink)
mgsanity Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 2	Hello, I'm new here. I was just wondering if there is a term for the phenomena of the "self-perpetuating niche", or "Those who can't, teach"... I've tried googling those words along with many others like "inbred markets" and have not come up with anything. For example, say someone invests time learning how to write music then learned there was greater market in teaching how to write music than actually writing music. Or say someone goes to a trade school to learn digital photography, then discovers there's more money to be made teaching what they learned (digital photography) than being a photographer. Maybe a student of this teacher realized the same thing and instead of pursuing a career in being a photographer, decides to teach digital photography. And on and on and on. Or for example, someone want to start an online business selling items in a certain niche. One day this person realizes there is more money to be made selling information on starting an online business, search engine optimization, etc..than actually selling goods in their originally intended niche. They are basically teaching what they learned on the way. They have made their journey the destination. They have made their original destination someone else's (their students') destination. I'm basically just asking if there is a term for this phenomena. Steve says in this blog that this a perfectly acceptable business niche (and I'm inclined to agree), but I'm wondering what the big picture is. I'm basically just researching this phenomena and what's it's ultimate impact on a niche is. What it can say about a market when most of the money being made in it is through teaching it. I hope no one took any of this the wrong way..I'm just searching for information.