I just launched a maternity and infant wear business with funny clothes as I am also a cartoonist. The manufacturer puts the cartoon images on the clothes. I've loved all the learning. It is one of my many "niche web sites". I enjoy launching them and see which products people like the most. Maternity is definitely in as are matching gifts and kids tees and hoodies. Though I sell more volume in my big non-niche stores, per visitor, the small stores like MirthGirthBirth fare much better. And they are much more fun.

Of course anyone can open a maternity shop, put cartoons on the fabric and call it niche. If it were just that, I wouldn't bother to even call it a "speciality store". I take it even a step further, one that has yet to be done. And it works and people really seem to enjoy it.

Whenever there is a new baby coming, or has arrived, there is another item in the house that is always there. A camera full of film, as well there should be. There are a lot of wonderful photographic memories that can be experienced from the gestation period all the way through childhood. Often times more siblings came ahead of the one being born (hence the kids matching clothes, and they want to be a part of the photographic memories as well). A traditional living room scene is baby in crib and parent or parents drinking coffee, chatting and being shutterbugs....hence the matching coffee mugs and teddy bears. Getting the "zen of it all"? Also, with all wearing "matching funny outfits", we automatically create good cheer, hence reducing chances of sibling rivalry right off the bat. It becomes a team effort. Same game suits. Same team.

And if its a matching set of twins, you double the action, using a matching set of zens. Just twice as many babysuits, and twice as much film. Isn't zen niche shopping wondeful?

But wait, there's more. Rather than just putting any cartoons on the clothing and gifts, I added cartoons that are in professional categories, such as "future scientist", "future anthropologist", "future law enforcement officer", future plumber", or "future veterinarian" and many others So now you more than just a"Kodak Moment", you can somewhat predict the career path this loveable baby may one day take! What is so "zen" about this? Is it really much ado about nothing? Let's say mom or dad or both are dentists, and they'd love it if their child grew up to be a dentist and take over the practice. A great deal of energy happens in happy moments caught in photography. And when it is done in good cheer, the first words or thoughts, say, "of dentistry", according to many scholars, "stick in the mind of the child in a positive way". Again zen at work.

How much evidence is there to the art of zen when it comes to niche business? Not a lot, yet. But it is being studied. And one would be hard-pressed to disprove it simply because much of it requires common sense. What we learn in infancy, and many medical experts believe even in the womb, has a great impact on us until our final days. If so, why not use the yin and yang of zen to help create, or at leaste start, a healthy path? I am not saying dressing everyone up in matching dentistry cartoons, taking a pic, and showing it often in the family album will create a future dentist. I haf no proof of that, but I'm not saying it is not either. And even if it doesn't do that, it creates memories that will last a lifetime, in fact many lifetimes. So MirthGirthBirth was born. Part of my Zen Of Niche Part Two. It is beginning to get a good deal of media and Internet blogging attention. I am proud of it. I love the items that we sell and moms and moms-to-be seem to appreciate that there truly is a niche shop in the maternity and infant arena that is based on mirth and good will.

There is no more intense reason to celebrate than childbirth. And it gives parents the opportunity to help mold this new being into something positive by utilizing joy, laughter, togetherness, and celebration in a wonderful way. Zen the best is yet to come.