Victoria's blog yesterday, a wonderful talk I read this morning from one of my teachers, combined with my chaotic life that appears every time I move location (I am back in Australia now) has suggested that today I ponder focus, goals and your niche.

Some of you are writing about exploring multiple niches.

What you would love to study next?

Maybe you came to Alexander Technique already knowing a discipline – musicians being the obvious example. Maybe you have something you don't imagine as a "movement discipline" or "activity plan" such as working in an office for 20 years – but that could still work as a niche. I've been encouraging several of my students to blog and identify a market of discouraged salary workers looking for more meaning in their life…

Could you build an online business?

For a community that spat the dummy over teaching in groups, it's quite a move. Of course what is obvious is that kinaesthetic information can not be delivered down an optic fibre.

So how can it work without touch?

Building An Online Alexander Technique Business

"Oh" they say
(trying to look interested)…

"What is the Alexander Technique?"

Ever dreaded that question?

I know I have. These days, when people casually ask, I just say: "I run a health studio in Tokyo." People rarely go beyond that, which tells me they already got the information they wanted. If they keep asking, it does come out, and there's that question again…

When Isuzu first proposed that her niche was teaching English, I was befuddled. Really? I thought to myself… How do you make that work?

On our Pro Members' Skype call this morning, I finally got it. For Pro Members who missed the call today, you can listen to it in the Skype directory. Members had great questions, then Isuzu contributed. Her idea is truly ingenious, but let me tell you a little about Isuzu first…

Isuzu is an alien. She once told me:  "I come from another galaxy." Seriously.

On Sunday night we had our monthly meeting of CareerThinking participants in Tokyo. Many have found their niche, while some are still searching to find where they want to impact the world with Alexander's Discoveries.

Kyoko-san, who posted a guest blog recently, is one of our members still searching for her niche. From doing the worksheets, she came up with three areas of that qualified for her further consideration:

1. Past skills: Kyoko has been a mountain climber for 20+ years;

Bellydancers are a tight knit community in Japan, and one day BodyChance consciously decided to offer our services to them. Being tight knit, word could spread quickly, so we did not have to spend money to create buzz. Brant has asked me to write about how we did this, so here it is…

It was a project that ended with a flourish: 200+ belly dancers packed into a theatre venue - that BodyChance had hired for the night - to watch performers gyrating to a rhythm, while I tried to figure out what the heck was my job here…

Honestly? I made a complete mess of it.

Sleazy. That's the word my biz consultant Paul Lemberg offered up this morning when I explained the membership system of this website. He commented: "I know it works, but it doesn't build loyalty."

Then I explained to him why I designed it that way.

"That makes perfect sense to me" Paul concluded. "So tell them. Explain it – it will be much better if they know why you are doing it this way."

Why I Am Doing It This Way

First understand that you are a niche, just like any other niche.

About 18 months ago, I started getting Friend requests from Japanese people on my FaceBook page. For years I'd been urging people here to get involved, now finally – in their own time – it was happening. Hurray, at last! Up to then they had all been crazy about a thing called Mixi, an anonymously driven FaceBook-type service that was totally inaccessible to my challenged Japanese-language Self.

I turn up every day for my blog (well almost) and have done so since September 26th, 2012. Which is weird, because I've always had a "thing" for September 26th. It started in 1974 (I am not even sure why – maybe I was infatuated?) but for whatever reason, I came to feel there was something auspicious about September 26th. Every time I get conscious of it I'd think: "Oh, there's that September 26th thing again. Why do I feel this is such an important date?" I don't even like 2 or 6 that much. 3, 7 and 8 are my favourites. So is 23 and, well, September 26th…

In 2008, at the first Congress in Lugarno, I remember sitting on the grass with Pamela Blanc, wondrously sharing my recent discovery at BodyChance of creating a membership system. In fact, anyone who would listen faced a barrage of excited biz talk from me at that Congress: hastily convened meetings that many an odd passerby decided to join. I didn't care: "Pull over a chair!" I had a story to tell to anyone who would listen… (and I am still at it today!)

Some of you know your niche – you've been doing it all your life, and it led you to Alexander Technique. Musicians, performers of all kinds, hobbyists/enthusiasts already have a passion burning within to then leverage as part of an Alexander Technique biz development process. If you fall into that category, there is still a lot of work to be done, but a critical part is done.

What if you don't have such a passion?

What if it is not obvious to you at all what your niche is?