{"id":29045,"date":"2022-01-19T13:30:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T18:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/blog\/creating-a-coaching-niche\/"},"modified":"2022-01-19T13:30:33","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T18:30:33","slug":"creating-a-coaching-niche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/blog\/creating-a-coaching-niche\/","title":{"rendered":"To Niche or Not to Niche"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can you\u00a0describe\u00a0exactly\u00a0who\u00a0you\u00a0serve\u00a0in less than\u00a010\u00a0seconds?\u00a0Unfortunately, most coaches can\u2019t!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most common\u00a0questions I get from other\u00a0coaches is related to\u00a0who\u00a0they\u00a0should\u00a0be serving\u00a0and how narrow their focus\u00a0should\u00a0be.\u00a0This is\u00a0also known as\u00a0selecting a niche for their business.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is a niche?<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n

A\u00a0niche market is a more specific, and narrowly defined group of\u00a0customers\u00a0based on certain characteristics, such as their demographics and psychographics. Demographics\u00a0refer to\u00a0characteristics like age, gender, marital status, parental status, education, income, and so on.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Psychographics refer to their interests, hobbies, values, emotions, and\u00a0other similar characteristics.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the time, a niche will be selected or created based on some overlap of demographics and psychographics. But more importantly,\u00a0your niche is defined by\u00a0the\u00a0obstacles, pains, fears and frustrations\u00a0this population has that you can help work through with professional coaching.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many coaches struggle with the idea that\u00a0\u201cniching down\u201d will reduce the number of potential clients available in their market, which\u00a0is\u00a0completely understandable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first started coaching business owners, I was lost and confused\u00a0about\u00a0who I should be serving.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So,\u00a0like most,\u00a0I started\u00a0out\u00a0broad.\u00a0I knew I could help\u00a0just about\u00a0any small business owner, but\u00a0I didn\u2019t know who\u00a0I could\u00a0serve\u00a0best, or how.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>But\u00a0deep down, I knew I had to select a niche to narrow my focus at some point,\u00a0or else I would never be able to target the right clients effectively or create something truly special just for them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until I started\u00a0conducting research and interacting with\u00a0prospective clients\u00a0that I\u00a0found out what was best for me.<\/span> It became obvious as certain prospects began to gravitate to me because I was naturally and authentically able to connect with them and serve them better than anyone else.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So\u00a0now you might be wondering,\u00a0should\u00a0you select a niche for your\u00a0business?\u00a0And if so, when?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, you should\u00a0absolutely\u00a0focus on a\u00a0specific\u00a0niche for your business. However,\u00a0when\u00a0to do so\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0quite\u00a0as straight forward.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>When I think about niching, there is a typical journey\u00a0for your business when it comes time to \u201cniche down.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Niching Journey<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n

Stage 1:\u00a0No niche, no problem<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

When you\u2019re just starting\u00a0your business, before you really have any clients\u00a0or much\u00a0experience as a coach, staying broad with your target audience can\u00a0have its perks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since you are just starting\u00a0out, you may not\u00a0yet\u00a0know enough about your market, or even about yourself\u00a0to identify and establish a niche.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Things like\u00a0who you like to\u00a0work with, what problems you\u2019re best at\u00a0addressing, and everything else that goes into selecting a successful\u00a0and profitable\u00a0niche.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By staying general, you\u00a0can\u00a0start working with clients however you can,\u00a0gaining as much\u00a0experience and\u00a0feedback as possible.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is\u00a0important\u00a0so you can\u00a0start\u00a0taking action\u00a0immediately, instead of sitting around trying to\u00a0build your entire process\u00a0before you even know anything about your target audience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stage 2:\u00a0Select a niche to grow your business<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Once you\u2019ve had the opportunity to\u00a0learn more about your\u00a0target market and\u00a0work\u00a0closely with a few clients,\u00a0you should start to gain a better understanding of how you can narrow the focus of your business.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This stage is\u00a0crucial if you want to make things easier\u00a0for\u00a0yourself\u00a0and\u00a0grow your business more effectively.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stage 2 is\u00a0the\u00a0time to select a niche!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stage 3: More resources mean more options<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

The final stage is one\u00a0that many may not reach\u00a0\u2013 considering a broader audience or multiple niches at the same time.\u00a0You could consider\u00a0this if\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0dominated\u00a0your specific niche\u00a0and are set\u00a0up for massive growth,\u00a0meaning you have\u00a0large\u00a0amounts of\u00a0money and resources,\u00a0systems in place,\u00a0and a well-known brand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So,\u00a0depending\u00a0on\u00a0where you are in your business, your decision to niche, or not to niche,\u00a0could be very different.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However,\u00a0the majority of\u00a0coaches\u00a0should\u00a0fall under the stage\u00a0where they MUST select a niche\u00a0in order to\u00a0effectively grow their business and remove the overwhelming\u00a0feeling\u00a0of trying to be everything to everyone.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So\u00a0\u2013 where\u00a0are you\u00a0on\u00a0your coaching journey?\u00a0\u00a0Are you still learning what niche you can best serve?\u00a0Ready to grow\u00a0your business by focusing on a very specific niche?\u00a0Or,\u00a0do you have a full team ready to expand into additional\u00a0niches?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to learn more about identifying and selecting your niche, download my\u00a0Free Niche Market Cheat Sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can you\u00a0describe\u00a0exactly\u00a0who\u00a0you\u00a0serve\u00a0in less than\u00a010\u00a0seconds?\u00a0Unfortunately, most coaches can\u2019t!\u00a0 One of the most common\u00a0questions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Finding Your Coaching Niche","_seopress_titles_desc":"To niche or not to niche? Explore the benefits and challenges of defining your coaching niche. Get insights and tips on finding your market in our blog.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"audience-type":[118,121,124,120,125,117,113,114],"display-option":[],"post-type":[128],"topic":[64,101],"_person-tax":[1903],"class_list":{"0":"post-29045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"audience-type-experienced-coaches","8":"audience-type-external-coaches","9":"audience-type-icf-chapter-leaders","10":"audience-type-internal-coaches","11":"audience-type-mentor-coaches","12":"audience-type-new-coaches","13":"audience-type-professional-coaches","14":"audience-type-team-and-group-coaches","15":"post-type-blog","16":"topic-business-development","17":"topic-coaching-niches","18":"_person-tax-1903","19":"not-partnership-post","31":"_person-tax-27807","32":"has-featured-image"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"audience-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience-type?post=29045"},{"taxonomy":"display-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display-option?post=29045"},{"taxonomy":"post-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-type?post=29045"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=29045"},{"taxonomy":"_person-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_person-tax?post=29045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}