Choose a niche you can test, not a label you have to keep.

Your first niche is a working hypothesis

You do not need to pick the perfect specialty before you can start. You need a specific audience whose problem you understand well enough to discuss, demonstrate, and solve. A niche helps you focus your first experiment. It does not have to become a permanent identity.

“AI consultant for everyone” is difficult to evaluate. “I help small education teams turn their existing teaching materials into an organized internal knowledge guide” is more concrete. The second statement identifies a buyer, a starting point, and a deliverable. You still need to verify that someone wants it.

Look for three kinds of evidence

1. Competence: Can you explain good work in this area, recognize mistakes, and demonstrate an example?
2. Access: Can you speak with people who experience the problem without buying a large audience first?
3. Consequences: Does the problem create enough inconvenience, cost, or delay for someone to consider paying for a solution?

Score each from one to three for two possible audiences. Use the scores to identify what you need to learn, not to manufacture certainty. A low access score suggests starting with relationships. A low competence score suggests a smaller practice task or additional training.

Have five problem conversations

Ask what happened the last time the buyer encountered the problem. What did they try? Who owns the task? How much effort does it take? What made a previous solution disappointing? Avoid asking only whether they like your idea. People can be encouraging without intending to purchase.

Take notes with permission. Separate direct observations from your interpretations. AI can help organize anonymized notes, but it should not convert a few conversations into an invented market-size claim or a guarantee of demand.

Test a small offer

Write a fixed scope that solves one part of the problem. Name the inputs, deliverable, acceptance criteria, and exclusions. Create a sample using material you are allowed to use. Then ask suitable prospects whether that defined engagement would be useful and what would prevent them from buying.

A helpful objection tells you what to change. If the work matters but your proof is weak, improve the sample. If the output is useful but the buyer cannot act on it, change the handoff or audience. If the problem is not a priority, do not solve that by adding exaggerated urgency.

Make a decision date

Set a reasonable limit for the first experiment: a handful of conversations, a sample, and a small number of relevant proposals. Review what you learned. Keep the audience, revise the offer, or choose another problem. The goal is evidence you can act on.

Choose a practice service and turn the sample into a case study.