Becoming A Niche Of One (A Personal Story)
There is no other "secret shortcut" to success but allowing yourself to be YOU at all times. Which means all the struggle to get here was worth it.
I have recently been obsessed with house plants. (Bear with me, because this story is NOT about plants.)
Disclaimer: This is a completely “new Juliette”. While I always had some indestructible plants around me, this new special interest is like a new dimension.
I constantly check, mist, water, repot, propagate and, more importantly, BUY LOTS OF PLANTS. Even online.
I have a huge Trello board with each of my plant’s photos, a care guide and other resources. I think I have over 50 plants, and more are in the post…
Last month, after drooling over this massive Monstera at a sale price in a shop near where I do my air yoga for over a month, I finally organized transportation and bought it, only to find out a couple of weeks later it was all sick! I suspected it was ridden with thrips – the absolute nightmare of any plant mama.
With crocodile tears in my eyes, I chopped and threw it into the bin. I just had zero internal resources to be a “rescuer.” It is one of those things I learnt to be radically honest with myself.
You see, just a day before, I decided to share weird-looking leaves in a Monstera Facebook group, and the suggestion of thrips infestation came up; LIFE WAS PERFECT.
I was so happy and settled, surrounded by gorgeous happy plants, feeling happy in my new apartment, in a new marriage, in a completely new, fresh era of my life… Happily ever after was here…
And then, it fell apart in just one moment.
What followed was an overwhelming amount of investigating, spraying all my plants with various remedies. A horrible feeling of something crawling on my skin woke me up in the middle of the night.
All I could think of – even when I tried not to think – was plants. Foliage. Greenery. Feeling the overpowering sense of danger. Insecurity. Sadness that nothing good can even happen to me. Ever. Again.
The illusion of solid happiness cracking and shattering into pieces.
The grief of losing the stability of my past life came over me once again. Only this time, it came from such an unexpected direction, and I did not get a chance to prepare. To shield myself. To bottle it.
Not like when my husband Les started getting sick and declined when his Lymphoma returned, attacking his brain and nervous system. I had the whole three months to make sure I bottled all my feelings and survived that back in 2023.
It was actually a pretty shitty experience, but I suppose grief needed a way out, and this is how life gave me an opportunity to let it out.
But it was also a sign from above that, in spite of everything that happened in this new life, I am loved, supported and held. Even if my grief blinds me and I do not allow myself to feel that support.
My new love, my husband Jim, was there for me. With all my over-fixating on this “special interest” – and it is INTENSE – he never once said anything, making me feel bad about it.
Instead, he has been holding space for me in a way nobody ever did before:
“There can’t be too many plants, baby.”
“You want to buy more plants? Go nuts!”
” I have a budget, and I am taking you to the nursery now to get an even better Monstera!”
” I love all the plants you are buying; our place looks great!”
Slowly, I started feeling more and more at ease with the reality of having so many plants around.
Some plants will not survive; sometimes, it will be my own wrongdoing, and it is OK NOT to spend my limited energy on trying to rescue a dying plant. It is also OK to just go and buy another, bigger, more healthy one.
There will always be a risk of pests. All I can do is educate myself about what common pests look like and inspect my babies with a magnifying glass (which I bought specially).
In fact, I have NOT seen any signs of thrips. I did have one plant with mealybugs, though, but after several treatments, it seems to be under control.
Yesterday, I was in a supermarket that has a large selection of plants, and I actually saw what a thrips infestation looks like – so now I am educated for sure and not fighting imaginary enemies.
For a 3rd line person by Human Design, I only learn through my own experience (online research of my 1st line is never enough. I have to experience it with my body.
So what seemed to have ruined my perfect experience was, in fact, all in my head. And much more manageable than my suspicious mind suggested.
Yesterday, my first online order came in all the way from Denmark; two adult rare Alocasias look OK, but out of three baby ones, it looks like only one has a chance. They arrived perfect-looking but started shrivelling and drying out within two hours… My lesson from this – order more mature plants. They survive transportation better, and you get to enjoy more stunning plants right away.
On the flip side, I found “my plants” – I know what works; all my current plants, especially my Scindapsus Exotica and Monstera Peru, are looking LUSH! The stunning Tradescantia Pink Paradise is proudly adorning my office bookshelf alongside my two books (I just got some printed copies of the new one – “On Visibility that Sells” – in the mail. You will see it in my future videos.)
I seem to do very well with leafy climbers with unusual leaf patterns. They seem to love me right back, and I feel that love – it makes me so happy and grounded. It looks like through all those extreme experiences, I found what fits into my unique needs and desires.
One thing this whole saga reminds me of – and this is genuinely not a strategic segway to pivot into my area of expertise – is the journey of creating an online business.
This exact thing, the same themes, the same shattered expectations, the same radical honesty to let go of what is not surviving, and allowing me to do more of what brings me joy and adds abundance to my environment, surrounding me with support and teaching me to be open to receive.
I started in 2017, by when I was desperately exhausted from working for people who did not value me (or at least did not show me that they recognized me for my gifts).
In April 2017, I was pushed into finding ways out by my husband’s sudden cancer diagnosis; I knew I must be prepared for unexpected changes in circumstances, which could include losing my home. I started looking to make my living without being stuck with local brick-and-mortar clients.
I was so obsessed with building my business. Les was admitted for lengthy periods for chemo, and I spent every minute of my spare time trying to figure out how I could make my own business work.
I did not know what I could offer. It is like I completely forgot that I already could bring so much to the table when it came to digital marketing, branding, positioning, and creating relationships with audiences. All the stuff I have been so into for the previous two decades, with a level of success, too.
But at the start, there was no clarity at all.
How to promote my business? My Facebook business page was like a deserted Western town with tumbleweeds rolling around occasionally. Do they even need what I am selling? Maybe I need to change it?
Maybe I need to sell an online course? Surely that is something that will make money in my sleep. Without actually having to work too much? Others seem to do it; it must be easy!
(And off I went buying lots of trainings on how to do it, only to have VERY inconsistent and frankly non-existent sales to support making a living out of it)
Maybe I should do a membership where I pack various pieces of training and resources? Also, they just help themselves while I show up occasionally on group Zoom calls. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!
(I created a membership that requires much more “upkeeping” because it made me feel I am “not giving enough” to justify them paying 97 bucks every month.
How do others have the audacity to charge more, and people seem to stick around forever? Plus, after three months, a lot of people reached out to me saying they wanted to “pause,” which meant I could not rely on each client long-term and needed to constantly grow the membership, which was exhausting for me.)
Finally, after several years, things started getting clearer. Just like discovering what plants work for me after having some around, some activities seemed to generate a strong pull towards me, especially when some one-on-one calls were involved.
The insight about those activities was quite surprising. It was always what felt super easy, like chat show conversations (my lives and podcasts), writing long articles on topics I myself was very engrossed in, and sharing what I believe does not work because I am experiencing the shattering of my illusions so vividly.
I think my best insight was that if a strategy says money-making will be effortless, passive or in any way implies you will easily attract clients doing it, it is not true.
There is always effort involved. But what brings the abundance (and money) is when effort comes from what is natural and enjoyable, as well as what channels your absolute TRUTH. Professionally and personally.
Now, this is huge to unpack because this involves slaying several dragons, like fear of visibility, fear of rejection, need for validation and more than anything, allowing yourself to be YOU in every circumstance.
For me, the process of allowing myself to be ME in my business took around 5 years. Here is the timeline:
2020 – feeling burnt out, doubting my direction, feeling exhausted from everything I have done before. Losing “my religion”. Discovering Human Design. Finding out that there is nothing “wrong” with me. Beginning to understand what it is like to be a Projector.
2021 – starting to live my Design, feeling the pull towards studying more, discovering so many more practical applications for marketing in Human Design Profiles. Starting to pass on what I discovered to my clients. Still burnt out, so barely keeping afloat with the clients inside my 12-month visibility container. Each one of my clients is renewing their access to me for another 12 months BECAUSE I am bringing my unique Human Design insights into the conversation. Even those who I thought would be put off by it want more.
11th November 2021 (11/11): I am announcing my official pivot into Marketing & Human Design.
January 2022: My article Human Design Is Your Key To Better Marketing is published in Entrepreneur, becoming the first ever article on this niche topic published in a large online publication.
2022: Writing multiple blog pieces for my website about very specific Human Design aspects that energized me at the time, regardless of whether they were directly relevant to my offerings to clients or not.
Starting to ask clients where they have found me brought a shock to realize most of my clients find me through Google search and not on Facebook as I previously assumed. Two specific articles get mentioned – both of them written in moments of being fully “in the zone” Both have nothing to do with strategic marketing advice, and both are very aligned with my brand voice as a 1/3 Projector. Starting to write my first book, “On Marketing & Human Design.”
2023: From the first day of the year, I am paralyzed creatively as Les is relapsing and rapidly declining, losing his fight with brain cancer. First memory, then the ability to write, then to read… He dies peacefully in my arms, just after noon on St. Patrick’s Day. I grieve, trying to make sense of my situation.
Meanwhile, new clients are consistently coming into my business through previously created articles and podcast episodes, and some become my mentees because I am somehow able to be fully present on those client calls and guide them in a way that creates a difference in their decision-making and direction they choose in their visibility. Financially, the first quarter of the year looks better than ever before.
I slowly get back onto my feet, knowing that the world did not stop and the earth keeps spinning; I create some epic connections through my Visibility by Design podcast and go back to finishing my book. In a shocking moment of courage, I asked one of my most “famous” guests, Mari Smith, if she would write a foreword for my book. Mari feels a whole body. YES.
Another client who owns “AMA Publishing,” Monique Alvarez, gifts me a strategy to follow for the book launch, as well as agreeing to promote it to her community.
On 15th July 2023, the book was published and received so much support from people on my list, sharing it and doing live interviews with me – the book jumped to #1 Amazon Bestseller in Marketing (as well as several more business-related categories) within a day.
For the rest of 2023, I am still taking more space for my personal life. I feel the pull to find more English-speaking friends here in Estonia, strangely facilitated by Tinder, of all things. Tinder brings in some fundamental quality people to help me revive who I am, as well as experience what is for me and what is NOT.
My blog articles from before 2023, podcast episodes and now new book keeps bringing clients into my world consistently. I spend very little time on social media – most of my content is automated, reusing and reposting all visibility pieces I created previously. Occasionally, I do a guest appearance here and there and add this to the automating to rotate.
I finally see social media for what it is – just an extra way to be discoverable and visible, but definitely not the main or only way. It can only be seen as a complementary channel for a business like mine.
Financially, 2023 beats all previous years in the history of my business.
2024: 11 months from the day Les dies, I unexpectedly bump into Jim’s profile on Tinder. He instantly feels safe, familiar, and consistent, so I swipe him right. He swipes back. We are both just looking for a friend, weary of time-wasters, and when he reaches out, we immediately connect. The amount of what we have in common is beyond unexpected. Synchronicities are everywhere. I come to visit his place, feeling absolutely safe, like coming home.
The moment I step out of the taxi, he feels, “This is IT.”
I feel “home.”
Arriving back at my apartment, know this will not be friendship. Not even a relationship. I know this is something much, much more significant than that. I hear Les’s slow clapping in the heavens above; I feel him smiling, approving, supporting me. At the end of the day, he, too, proposed to me on our first date. When you know, you KNOW.
By the way, all three of us mentioned in this story are Splenic Projectors. We really do just instantly KNOW, and everything else (logic, “what people say”, “it is too fast”, etc.) simply does not matter.
Jim & I get married on 8/8/2024.
While this is a significant event, it was a difficult year with a lot of ups and downs and unexpected events taking us off balance, so again, I felt I could give my business “very little”. Yet, new clients still poured in. The blog, the podcast, and the book still brought new people into my world.
I am not saying I did nothing at all. I wrote an occasional blog post and created some new series with my client and podcasting partner, Annita Keane – The Lighthouse Projector Series and a weekly Transits & Tactics video that we have been recording for a year.
One thing became very obvious. Everything that brought clients was me unapologetically channelling my truth. Writing and speaking while tuned within – on what I have discovered, observed, and believed in.
My understanding of the profile lines in Human Design deepened tenfold. I became OK with selectively approaching what I focus on in my work and what I blissfully ignore because it simply does not light me up!
My understanding translated into my own interpretation of Human Design definitions, and my BS barometer on everything that is being put out there under the Human Design hat became even more accurately tuned.
I clearly saw the need to redefine those definitions by pulling those whom I guide deeper into their personal understanding, experiencing and redefining everything their Design is about in a way that feels empowering, not limiting.
Financially, 2024 is even better than 2023, although I still did not feel like I was applying too much effort.
In April 2025, my second book, “On Visibility That Sells”, outlining my approach to running my business, is published, immediately becoming another bestseller in Marketing, Business & Sales and Women In Business.
I’ve become a niche of ONE within a niche of many.
Which means there is no competition.
There is no need to be validated as an expert.
There is power in slowing down to allow this truth and insights to come when the time is right, versus a desperate rush to be seen for the sake of it.
There is no other “secret shortcut” to success but allowing yourself to be YOU at all times.
Which means all the struggle to get here was worth it.
Which means it is possible for you, too… if you ALLOW it.