The Quick Niche Fix Exercise
This exercise is for coaches who have had some years of experience with paying clients and want to grow faster, reach clients more easily, and earn more.
Getting specific about your best/ideal clients makes post topics easier, websites more attractive, and your strategy more effective.
Here’s how it goes …
Step 1. Look at your past clients.
Make a list of 20 past clients. If you’ve only had 10, then do 10. Make a document called Ideal Client Profile & Top Pains so you can refer back to this in the future to keep your content and messaging on target.
For each client, recall:
- Their name.
- Their situation, struggle, challenge and goals.
- What you loved about working with them
- Their career, industry, role, title, income
- Their age, sex, marital status, city
- How they discovered you
This might take an hour or so.
Step 2. Find the best ones.
From your list, ask who …
- Got the most out of working with you.
- You enjoyed the most.
- lasted the longest.
- were the easiest to sign up.
- were drawn to working with you.
- would you love having more of.
Then, notice who were most ideal.
Step 3. Look for commonalities.
Among the best ones, look for …
- Common struggles (see big four below)
- Industries, job titles
- Dreams goals and wishes
- Cities, organizations, or special interests
The four big pains people hire coaches to help solve …
- Relationships – This includes love, dating, marriage, parenting, family, communication, divorce, men’s issues, women’s issues, and relationship patterns.
- Money and Business – This includes making money, business growth, entrepreneurship, sales, productivity, marketing, finances, and confidence around earning.
- Career and Leadership
This includes job search, career transition, finding meaningful work, leadership, executive presence, management, confidence, and workplace success. - Health and Wellbeing
This includes health, wellness, energy, fitness, weight loss, exercise, stress, anxiety, burnout, and work-life balance.
A few quick examples …
From past clients of mine …
- Mid career, 50-something professionals wanting to reinvent their work and life to be more meaningful and rewarding.
- Busy working mom’s with kids and who are gaining weight and losing energy and struggling to meet life’s demands.
- A business coach who works with solo/small sized renovators and home builders who want to own a business and not be stuck on the tools.
And there you go!
You’ve looked at your past work and found the best clients. Now focus on those folks, their fears, worries and struggles — their dreams, desires, and goals and center your content and marketing around this new niche.
SIDE NOTE
I wrote a lot more about coaching niches, with tips for new coaches, ideal industries, and fun ways to figure out your ideal client focus in The Coaching Website Guide, my strategy guide for coaches’ websites. Worth having alongside as you create or redesign your website.
STILL STUCK, HUH?
LET’S TALK.
Dealing with niche woes is tough. Sometimes we just need to talk about it out loud, and work through it with a patient ear. If you’d like that, then let’s set aside some quality time — contact me here and we’ll set a time.
QUICK QUESTION …
What’s your current niche? Got more than one? Got ideas for where you might get more focus? Or is there some thought coming up that you’d like to share? Just post below and I promise to respond.