Last week I was listening to Trey’s interview with Luke Berry.

In case you missed it, Luke wrote $1M in 2025. Yes, revenue. Go listen if you haven’t yet.

Anyways, I was listening and Luke said something I’d never heard before. I’m paraphrasing but it went something like this:

"My niche is personality type. I’ll write any class of business, but they have to be a good persoanlity fit or else I’m out.”

I’ve heard producers talk about all kinds of niches over the years.

But, personality type? That was new.

So I started thinking about all the niches I’ve seen producers carve out.

They all basically fall into one of four buckets.

I’ll lay them out below, along with the upside and downside of each.

Here we go.

1. Geography: Own Your Backyard

This is the "I'm the insurance guy for Springfield" approach.

You focus on a specific city, county, or region and become the go-to person there.

There's a guy, we'll call Ted, who works just north of me here in Austin. He's got his market on lockdown. The local school, drugstore, Lion’s Club, and everything in between.

If you try to write business in his town, good luck. He might as well be the mayor.

The upside: Easy to start. You already live there. You know the business owners. You sponsor the little league team. People trust locals.

The downside: You're competing on proximity, not expertise. Market access can be an issue. And if your town is small, your income has a ceiling.

2. Industry: Become The Expert

Pick a vertical.

Restaurants. Construction. Manufacturing. Medical practices.

Then learn everything about that industry's risks. This is the most common niche strategy.

I write contractors. Tony Bernini just came on the podcast and talked about dominating real estate. Trey used to write tow trucks.

When people say "find your niche," this is usually what they mean.

The upside: Your messaging gets way easier. "I only write restaurants" is a much clearer message than "I write business insurance." Prospects trust specialists. Other producers refer you business.

The downside: If your industry tanks, so does your book. Carrier access is a must too, especially the more niche it is. Specialty programs can be super difficult to get appointed.

3. Coverage: Master One Line

This is the "I'm the cyber insurance person" or "I specialize in D&O" approach.

You become the expert in a specific coverage instead of an industry. Brandon Schuh, who we just interviewed does a ton in product liability.

But my favorite example? Work Comp Willie. The dude built a $17 million book writing only workers comp out of a small city in the Florida Panhandle. Only. Workers. Comp.

(Go back and read here if you missed it.)

The upside: You're valuable to other producers in your office who don't understand that coverage and they’ll bring you in on deals. You can work across industries. And right now, emerging coverages like cyber are hot.

The downside: Many insureds don’t like to parse out lines with multiple brokers, so you’ll need access to markets to write the whole package. Other than that, there’s not much downside.

4. Personality: Find Your People

This is Luke's approach.

And one I had never thought about as a niche.

Maybe you work with faith-based business owners. Or ex-military. Or entrepreneurs who hate corporate nonsense.

The connection isn't about what industry they're in. It's about shared values or experiences.

You're technically a generalist, but you're choosing who you want to work with based on something deeper than industry or geography.

The upside: These are the stickiest relationships. People don't just buy insurance from you. They trust you because you get them. This niche is really hard to steal.

The downside: It's tough to explain in an elevator pitch. "I work with people like me" doesn't sound as concrete as "I write construction." Your messaging is harder. But once it clicks, it really clicks.

So Which One Should You Pick?

Look, I don't think one is inherently better than the other.

I’ve seen people dominate across all four.

And I don’t think more is necessarily better either.

Layering three niches sounds great in theory, but most of us don't have that luxury.

Bottom line is, you do the best you can with what you've got.

One thing that is for certain:

Spraying and praying ain't a strategy.

Take inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. Pick a path. Then give it hell.

• Are you a people person who knows everyone in town? Go geographic.

• Are you a technical wizard with a specific coverage? Go coverage.

• Do you connect with a certain type of person? Go personality.

• Do you geek out on one industry? Go industry.

Just pick one and commit. You can always expand later.

That’s enough for now.

Kick ass take names,

Micah

P.S. Trey’s in town and we’re reshooting and revamping The Producer Playbook, as I write this. As soon as 2.0 is ready, we’re launching at a premium price. This is probably your last shot to grab it at $195.

Here’s the link if interested.