Finding My Niche -- Part 1

They say authors should write what they know and investors should stick to businesses they understand. I suppose entrepreneurs should offer products and services they'd buy themselves, or at least target a market segment they belong to or understand.

I left IBM close to 20 years ago with a plan to start my own business. No more being subject to the whims and missteps of a large corporation for me!

The local branch of AAUW had started a project in 1985 to bring women's history alive in local schools. Each year, a committee researched and wrote profiles of historic women. Then, during Women's History Month, they went into local schools dressed as these historic women and delivered monologues about their lives. By the time I got involved, the project had expanded throughout California and beyond, dozens of scripts had been written, and a book committee had published Profiles of Women Past & Present, an illustrated collection of 15 scripts and instructions for introducing a women's history program into the reader's school system.

I worked on the book publishing committee for several years, helping to produce and market three more volumes. I was surrounded by women interested in women's history and we were successfully selling our books nationwide. 

I had found my niche.