When getting started in business, it's helpful to ask yourself some questions to find your niche.

1. Why do you want to start your own business rather than work for someone else?
2. What are your interests?
3. Do you have a particular passion for any one thing?
4. Do you have special talents for any of the interests on the list?
5. Of your interests, which are the most marketable?

Based on your answers, make a list of the interests that would be your favorites. Evaluate the list. Look at whether you can predict that you will earn enough money from each idea to make a go of it. Rank the list from the ones that are the most financially viable to those that are not as financially viable.

Next, take a look at the list in terms of your passion quotient. How passionate are you about each idea? Again, list the ideas from the ones that you are the most passionate about to the ones that you are the least passionate about.

Then, look at whether each idea is one that you could see yourself enjoying while working 12-hours a day to get started. List the sustainable ideas at the top of the list on down to the least sustainable.

Compare these lists. Does the same item keep coming up at the top of the list? If it does, you probably have identified the idea for your business. If it doesn't, you'll have to do some evaluation of your list to determine which of the parameters is the most important to you.

Once you have identified the idea for your business, it's time to carve out a niche. In order to ensure success, you'll want to present your product or service in a unique way. Unique doesn't necessarily mean strange. Instead, it means that you find a way to set your product or service apart from the others. For example, think of wedding photographers. If they all do pretty much the same thing, the price they charge will often make the difference in how many customers they have.

The wedding photographer who provides something different and goes above and beyond the others to present a unique product will not be judged on price but on the unique quality of his/her product. That photographer has essentially carved out a niche in a market that is flooded. The customers who want that uniqueness will use that photographer even if he charges more.

One of the most important things to remember when getting started in business and attempting to find your niche is to be flexible. You'll have to revise your ideas several times before you hit on the niche that will bring you the success you want. If you go into it ready to make these revisions, you'll get out of your own way and find your niche that much quicker.