How Do I Choose A Coaching Niche For My Business?

‘How to choose a coaching niche’ is one of the most common questions I get asked. It’s because there’s an overwhelming sense of confusion on what a niche does — and doesn’t — do for your business.

We fear that choosing a niche is going to limit the clients we work with. That it’s going to reduce our income potential, because we’ve eliminated every other type of client from the potential of working with us. But funnily enough, that’s not really true.

You’re simply making a decision about the types of clients you’ll work with, and how you’ll help them.

A niche is simply a group of people who will be drawn to you and what you offer. That’s it.

To these people, you become a thought leader. You become the hero who can solve their problem. And there’s nothing better than that. That’s exactly what you want to be known for.

Choosing your coaching niche is really important and really powerful for exactly that reason — so you can become known as an expert on coaching around your specific focus area.

Sound like something you want to have in your coaching business? Awesome. Read on.

Inside this blog post you’ll learn:

✔️ How to choose your coaching niche like a pro.

✔️ How to create a niche statement for your business.

✔️ What to do once you’ve chosen your niche.

How To Choose Your Coaching Niche Like A Pro

Before we dive into the process of choosing your coaching niche, I’ll say this: if you don’t have the answers to the following questions, you have some research to do.

Get on Facebook, join some groups, and do a little research. Find the types of people you want to work with, and figure out what the answers to these questions are. Because you cannot formulate an effective niche without knowing the answers to these questions.

*Note: this process will go much smoother if you use our Niche Workbook alongside it. The workbook includes specific questions to answer for each step, which will guide you to the ultimate answer you’re looking for. You can download our Niche Workbook for free from within our Resource Library for Coaches here.

Step 1: Define The Problem You Solve

Why we’re doing this:

The first part of defining your niche is determining what you have to offer to your ideal client. Your main focus should be on serving people the best way you can, and you’ll be more effective at helping your niche when you know their problem and how you solve it.

What you’ll discover:

It’s not your job to change your offer + expertise so it fits the clients who find you…it’s your job to find the clients who will benefit from your offer + expertise the most. By knowing and believing what you’re an expert in, you’ll reach those ideal clients who need what you’ve got.

Step 2: Understanding Pain Points

Why we’re doing this:

Your client’s pain points are the number one aspect of their life you want to focus on. They’re the reason your client is going to hire you. Because you have the answers to the problem they’ve been struggling with.

You need to have an intimate understanding of them.

What you’ll discover:

When you speak to someone’s pain point — the thing that’s frustrating them or holding them back from getting the results they’re dreaming of — you’re speaking to their hearts.

And people buy with their hearts, not their heads.

Step 3: How Your Clients Define Themselves

Why we’re doing this:

We all define ourselves as something specific. We say I’m a single mom or I’m an entrepreneur or I’m a CEO. It’s how we think of ourselves. It’s how we identify ourselves. Whether we think it’s good or bad.

And that identification catches our attention.

What you’ll discover:

Knowing the way your clients define themselves is your secret weapon. When you’re speaking to someone and describe them in the same way they describe themselves, you’ll resonate that much harder.

That’s when people say, “She’s talking to me!”

Step 4: What Is Their Dream?

Why we’re doing this:

Everyone has dreams. We have so many of them. But chances are, what you’re an expert in will help lead your ideal client to reaching one of their dreams.

Whether that’s financial freedom, a healthier lifestyle, more confidence, less stress, or something else.

What you’ll discover:

People live for their dreams. They dream of one day traveling the world, losing weight, being happier, finding a better job, or providing for their kids.

Understanding + appealing to their dreams is what makes people buy with their hearts.

Step 5: Putting It All Together

I’m so proud of you!

You’ve gotten to the final step, and hopefully you have all the pieces you need to put your niche together into a cohesive statement about who you help and what you can offer them.

If you find something doesn’t make sense when you’re done with this stage, go back and re-evaluate your answers. Sometimes it only takes a tweaking of the words you’re using to explain something.

But sometimes, you might need to do a section or two over to really get into your ideal client’s mind.

The Makeup Of A Niche Statement:

I help [ Ideal Client’s Identity ] with [ Your Expertise ] so they can stop/start [ Primary Pain Point ] and live [ Their Dream ].

Your job here is to create your niche statement using that format. Then, if it feels stilted, rewrite it in your own words so it flows easily and makes sense.

Of course, that’s not the end. You still have to create a mind-blowing strategy for reaching your new niche. But I’ll get you started.

Now That You Have Your Coaching Niche, Create An Ideal Client Avatar

Along with defining your coaching niche, it’s a great idea to build an ideal client cheat sheet for you to keep on hand and refer back to whenever you’re writing copy, social captions, or creating content to reach them.

It’ll keep you focused on who you’re speaking to no matter what you’re doing.

There’s an ideal client avatar worksheet in our resource library (linked below), which will help you keep your niche + ideal client in focus. Just fill it out and print that page. Then you’ll have a constant reminder of who you’re trying to reach in front of your eyes at all times if you tape it to the wall behind your computer. Just sayin’.

Coaching the Coach: Final Thoughts

If you’re still debating whether you actually need a niche for your coaching business (which could absolutely still be happening, since our brains are wonderful, weird creatures), I want to share some insights into how having your coaching niche defined will help you create content for your brand so much quicker.

3 Ways Content is Easier Once You’ve Chosen Your Coaching Niche

1. Social media content becomes simpler to write. If you’ve been posting on social with no niche defined, you’ve probably been struggling to figure out what you should share. That’s because you’re not completely sure what will get a client’s attention — because if you coach on anything and everything, you can’t get specific.
2. Blog post or video ideas become MUCH easier to brainstorm and create. Once you know what your niche is struggling with the most, you can center your blog posts and videos around those topics. This way, you’re providing actual value to your future clients that they truly need!
3. You can actually create a content STRATEGY that makes sense. When you’re flying through the content creation process by the seat of your pants, without thinking about how that content will lead clients to know, like, and trust you (and therefore hire you), you’re wasting your time. A content strategy helps you not only create effective content, but also get that content in front of the eyes that need to see it (AKA your dream clients’ eyes).

Free templates from our resource library:

Inside our comprehensive resource library we have everything you need to start and build your coaching business – and it’s yours free, including:

• The Niche Workbook: A 10-page workbook to help you identify the perfect coaching niche for your business.
• Ideal Client Avatar Worksheet: Use this worksheet to outline your ideal client’s hopes and dreams so you know how to talk to them.
• Marketing Research Workbook: A step by step workbook to help you through the essential parts of market research for your coaching business.

Save yourself hours of stress and get the above templates for free here: https://lovelyimpact.com/free-resource-library-for-coaches >>

More blogs to read:

Our blog is a wealth of information! You can find more advice on your website written by Tee and I here:

• Understanding Your Coaching Clients’ Pain Points
• How To Write a Mission Statement For Your Coaching Business
• How To Create a Simple Business Plan For Your Coaching Business