How to Overcome Your Fear of Choosing a Coaching Niche | by Cindy Schulson

Happy Coach Overcoming Fear of Choosing a niche

You've probably heard a lot of talk about the importance of having a coaching niche.

And if you're struggling to get traction with your marketing, then I'm willing to bet that the lack of a clear niche is part of the problem.

In this article, we'll first have a quick reality check to see if your niche (or lack of niche!) is the root cause of your problems. Then we'll explore the 4 fears that may be holding you back so that you can overcome your fear and feel inspired to find your niche!

So let's do this!

First, how many of these 10 questions describe you?

  1. You don't know what separates you from everyone else who does the same kind of thing.
  2. When you describe who you help, you can only describe them in broad demographic terms (eg. women, parents) or broad descriptions (e.g. people who are going through a transition, people who want to reduce their stress).
  3. You don't get referrals because people don't know who you help or what you help them with.
  4. You want to earn leveraged income through specific programs (eg. group coaching, membership program, etc) but because you help everyone with everything you don't have enough people to sell them to.
  5. You take on clients who aren't your favourite and this impacts your ability to do your best work.
  6. You don't know where your ideal clients hang out and how to reach them.
  7. Your list is small, not targeted and not very responsive. They don't buy your programs - or even sign up for your free stuff like webinars and strategy sessions.
  8. You struggle to write content for your website and blog.
  9. You can't clearly and easily explain what you do.
  10. You're investing a lot of time, energy and money but have little to show for it.

If you answered "yes" to 7 or more of these questions, then chances are your (lack of) niche is the root cause of your problems.

So now the question is, what are you going to do about it?

Are you ready to make a decision about your niche? If you're not, what's standing in your way?

The truth is there's a lot of fear around choosing a niche…

Let's tackle these one at a time. But before I do, let me just briefly define "niche".

An easy definition of a niche:

I like to think of your niche as your "Who" and "What".

Your "Who" is your target market and your "What" is the solution you provide.

You need to be clear about both pieces of the puzzle. Remember that people aren't looking for coaching, they're looking for solutions. This is true no matter what you're selling, but it's especially true for something intangible like coaching.

People aren't looking for coaching, they're looking for solutions. Cindy Schulson

So let's go back to these four fears.

Here are 4 Reasons People Fear Choosing a Niche:

1. Are you afraid of turning away business?

While it might seem that you're limiting yourself when you focus on a coaching niche, the opposite is true. Here's why. When you target a specific group of people with a particular solution that they want and are actively looking for, it makes marketing so much easier.

You can speak directly to them, using their language, touching their hearts and minds. All of your programs and services can be tailored to them. It's easier to become an expert in your area, which allows you to charge more. You do your best work because you're doing the work you love and working with the people you're most passionate about helping. You get more referrals because people know who you help and what you help them with. You attract valuable joint venture partners who serve the same target market but offer complementary solutions.

The bottom line is that when you have a clear coaching niche, you earn much more with less marketing effort.

2. Are you afraid of being boxed in?

Focusing on a niche doesn't mean that you can't help people who don't fall within your niche. It just means you have a clearer focus so you can target your marketing and programs.

Also, understand that you aren't stuck in your niche. Your niche will evolve and refine itself over time. There are two ways you can do that. One is to take your solution and bring it to other target markets. The other way is to find other solutions you can offer your target market. But the key is to start with one target market and one solution, and then grow from there.

3. Are you afraid of choosing the wrong niche?

Choosing a coaching niche isn't forever. You want to review your niche as you move forward with your business. And as I've explained above, you'll grow with your niche. Having said that, you don't want to just guess your niche and hope for the best. You have to put the time and effort into researching and evaluating your niche. Which leads us to #4.

4. Do you not know how to find our niche?

I can certainly understand this problem, because I had it myself. I knew the importance of finding my niche but I couldn't find anything that gave me clear, step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

Everything I read talked about choosing a target market. But I really believe that if you're going to build a profitable business you love, you have to start with you.

You see, you come to your business with unique strengths, experiences and passions. You owe it to yourself to leverage everything you bring to the table, so you can build your business from a place of strength and passion.

Get 3 of Cindy's Helpful Resources here: Cindy's Niche Kit

Liked this post about niching and marketing your coaching business? You may also like these:

Cindy Schulson Headshot 2021

Contributing Author:

Cindy Schulson is the Founder of Marketing from Within. She shows coaches how to stand out online and enroll more clients by Marketing with Heart vs. Hype. Cindy brings a decade of marketing experience working for such companies as Coca-Cola and Visa, combined with a decade of online marketing to create a paradigm shift in how marketing can be done with integrity and heart. Get Cindy's Free Brand Message Template or Free Signature Program Training at MarketingfromWithin.com.

Learn more about Cindy & see all their articles here >>

Image of Happy Coach Choosing a Niche by WAYHOME Studio via Shutterstock

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.