Did you know I started as a spiritual coach? It was the seed of a coaching niche idea that I never fully formed.
I put up a vague website that sat there collecting cyber dust. I had a few short-term clients but no consistent income.
Is that happening in your coaching business?
Many coaches get attached to being what I call a fill-in-the-blank coach. A transition coach, a confidence coach, a leadership coach, a burnout coach – that last one at least has some specificity in it but is still missing some vital pieces.
With a vague niche comes a flimsy feeling for you and potential coaching clients too.
Enough of that! Let’s shift your coaching niche from flimsy idea into a certainty that your ideal clients can wrap their arms and investment around.
Most Coaches Only Choose a Coaching Track
Most coaches who hire me have a niche idea that’s not fully formed. They try to make it work and it was only somewhat successful so they abandon it too soon.
They are dancing on the edge of success.
I can see in that seed something valuable. And I can clearly see the missing parts that would take this good idea into the concrete world so it sustains them.
Some mentors say that a coaching niche is the area you focus on, for example:
- Health and Wellness
- Relationship
- Career
- Business or entrepreneurship
- Executive or Corporate Leadership
- Spirituality
See, to me, these are not quite niches. They are coaching tracks — the direction not the destination. The territory but not the outcome desired by an audience.
You might have taken coach training in one of these tracks and that training will be very valuable to you and your clients. But by itself that track is not a strategic niche and so it won’t likely bring you a good income for 2 reasons:
1. Because the coaching track is selling fill-in-the-blank coaching, which people don’t already KNOW THEY WANT so the coach has the hard job of convincing people they want it. It’s like pushing a heavy boulder up a steep hill. You’ll get tired trying. Check out episode 7 called Why Coaching is a Hard Sell. It’s eye opening.
Look, it’s easy to make a poor, unsustainable living as a coach. So many do because they are pushing that boulder up that hill. But you need earn well from the get go so you can sustain your business and become an even more valuable asset to your clients.
2. Because a coaching track alone is missing the specific and compelling things that would attract clients who are inspired to invest well.
But specific groups of people will invest in intelligent support to overcome their specific urgent problems so they can reach their most desired specific goals. For a profitable coaching niche get specific!
Specialize Your Coaching Niche
To make one of those coaching tracks I mentioned work for you:
- Specialize in just one specific narrow audience.
- Specialize in a specific outcome that they struggle to achieve.
And don’t just leave it there. Do research. Find out exactly what their most acute challenges are on the way to that specific goal. Use their language to describe it.
When your website, your weekly content and daily posting all speak directly to those things then you’ll inspire that audience to invest highly in your support.
As you stay congruent, you leverage all your efforts and your income grows exponentially.
Let’s specialize some of these tracks:
- A career coach could specialize in emerging leaders to help them develop team leadership skills.
- An entrepreneur coach could specialize on founders of social enterprises to help them solidify their company mission, values and culture. It’s a big job!
- A wellness coach could focus on women executives to help them to shift out of burnout.
- A relationship coach could focus on business partners who want to dissolve their partnership.
Each of these speaks to a specific problem people in that audience face on the way to bigger goals. And the truth is, the skills needed for each of these are coaching skills. Would some experience help, sure. But it’s not critical.
If you are a relationship coach specializing in dating for single parents, can you see how, with that degree of strategic focus, it helps you stand out and help parents on the very unique set of challenges they have with dating?
They have to consider their kids in every aspect of dating and also as the relationship grows.
Want Help to Nail Your Coaching Niche?
Look, I know this whole niche thing can be a long-term aggravating problem for coaches. Few do it right the first time on their own. And that’s because it takes a mindset shift to approach this decision strategically with your unique genius in mind.
Simplifying this complex thing is my super power. Did you know that I offer a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session? It’s you and I brainstorming a more fully packed niche for y ou as a powerful attraction tool that you’ll thoroughly enjoy … and can easily coach around.
A powerful target audience and niche means you can put a stake in the ground for your business and proceed profitably.
Grab your Nail Your Niche Strategy Session.
I’d love to help you decide on your niche once and for all!
Think of it this way … creating a solid niche for your coaching business is like building a new house with a solid foundation.
If the foundation is good, the house is secure. It will last. If the foundation is non-existent or poor, the house is not long for this world. It’s flimsy.
A Profitable Coaching Niche is Fun
Moving past vague and flimsy is not only because it will make client attraction and earning well easier but also because it will be more fun for you!
Imagine attracting a following, becoming a well-known brand. You can have the size of business you want. And I’ll tell you, it’s wonderful to stand out and become a coach in high demand.
I know you can do it. You’ll be amazed how it will change your day to day as well as setting you up for long term success and incredible opportunities.
