Identifying Your Niche in a Post COVID Era

 “Never risk what you have and need for what we don’t have and don’t need.” ~ Warren Buffet

COVID has been one of the greatest levelers of our time, if not THE greatest. Apart from everyone being equally ignorant about this pandemic, the pandemic refuses to spare anyone — across race, religion, countries. If there was ever a silver lining, we can take solace in the fact that “IT” is not discriminatory.

Fear of dealing with the unknown is extremely difficult to overcome. Plans have been derailed and many of us are forced to reassess, recalibrate, reprioritize several things. We have come to realize the things that we often take for granted and are truly redefining “essentials v/s non-essentials, needs v/s wants”.

As we adjust to the new normal and new ways of working, some of us may also be using this time to introspect on a few things. This could be involuntary in case of being laid off, or voluntary as you re-skill for a post COVID era.

From my limited experience in various industries, these are some of the roles that could probably stand the test of time. I’ve always aspired to be a digital nomad and this list below is skewed towards filters that work for me — geographically independent roles, skills that can be acquired relatively easily (and mostly free of cost)!

• Content Writing — Good writing is always appreciated and welcome everywhere especially since there seems to be a shortage of quality content writers for every platform.
• Graphic Design — A good design is almost always proportional to the sale of a product or service. If you have a good aesthetic sense, this probably should be your first choice and a no brainer. Great designers command a premium in the market and have even greater flexibility with their schedules.

Content writing and Graphic design can open up a plethora of opportunities in the eLearning space. There seems to be an appetite that has developed across the world for learning solutions (schools, colleges — pre-university, graduation, post-graduation to name a few). No dearth of subjects or opportunities for sure.

• Business Continuity Planning — An easy domain to enter into with the right training and certifications. Businesses across sizes have been found wanting with contingency plans, not in place or ill-conceived plans. This could be because of a lackadaisical attitude with not enough emphasis laid on this all-important aspect of the organization.
• Business Operations — Although roles like a project assistant or a virtual assistant may not pay that much initially, there’s plenty on offer to get a steady income streaming in as a side hustle.
• Teach English as a Foreign Language — Take a TEFL or TESOL course if you are passionate about the English language and dream of living in SE Asia for a good part of the year.
• Cybersecurity — There’s no denying the fact about the scale and speed of everything in daily life going digital. While the jury is out on the rate of adoption across industries (Google v/s an oil rig in a remote part of the world), ignoring getting onto the digital bandwagon would be detrimental to one’s business and at one’s peril. Managing the security and privacy of humongous amounts of data is a known risk. This is where in-depth knowledge of cybersecurity policies and governance models that revolve around them becomes crucial and critical.

Customers and end consumers (sometimes both end up being the same) expect zero downtime and a glitch-free environment. This opens up opportunities for fraud and fraudsters are waiting to pounce on and cash in on any such opportunity — big or small. Fraud is bad for the entire system. It causes people to lose trust and encourages crime. It incentivizes nonethical behavior with immense monetary gain and/or imbalance of power in society. Pursuing a role in Cybersecurity ensures you are on the TEAM ETHICAL.

Cheers to acquiring new skills, non-stop LEARNING, and non-stop EARNING !!! I hope to provide specifics for each of these options in the coming weeks.

Nature will always be one up against humanity and the ever-growing greed of humans. We will have to look at this like any other earthquake, volcano, hurricane, tsunami. All we can do now is to be grateful for what we have. Events like this bring out the best or worst in humanity and all we can do is be hopeful.