Shownotes
Niche Down to Stand Out
As an entrepreneur with ADHD, deciding on a niche for your business can feel like you're trying to do the impossible.
You’re juggling countless interests and ideas, and the fear of missing out on potential clients can paralyze you from making any decision.
Welcome to the Weeniecast! I'm Katie McManus, a business strategist and money mindset coach, here to help you conquer those fears and take the leap into niche picking with confidence.
In this bonus episode, we tackle why weenies - AKA those too scared to make bold business decisions - need to niche down hard to succeed.
I cut through the crap and dive into the real reason behind your fear of picking a niche: the scarcity mindset.
We cover the numbers game, emphasizing that with 7.88 billion people on Earth, finding your 600 clients is more than doable.
Ever worried that niching will limit your client base? Think again.
We'll explore how niching actually makes it easier for the right clients to find and choose you. Plus, I share the difference between running a hobby and operating a business that makes serious money—hint: it involves niching down.
By the end of this bonus episode, you'll understand how to leverage your niche to become a specialist, thus allowing you to charge more and stand out in a crowded market.
We'll cover how to identify your ideal client by talking directly to them and understanding their pain points and dreams. You'll leave better equipped to create marketing strategies that resonate deeply with your audience and close sales with confidence. Ready to stop being a weenie and step into your power as an entrepreneur? Tune in and transform your approach to business.
Takeaways:
- Niching down allows you to attract the right clients and stand out in a crowded market.
- With 7.88 billion people on Earth, finding your 600 ideal clients is entirely feasible.
- Being a generalist limits your marketing potential; specificity enhances your referrals and visibility.
- Specializing in a niche enables you to charge higher rates and reduce competition.
- Understanding your ideal client's pain points is crucial for effective marketing strategies.
- Don't let the fear of missing out on clients paralyze your decision-making process.
"Niche Down Now" timestamps
00:00 Fear niche limits clients; many potential exist.
03:39 Pick a niche or you won't get clients.
07:36 Narrow focus allows specialization, enabling higher charges.
11:40 Knowing your niche attracts diverse clients.
14:16 Identify your audience to reach your goal.
17:41 Choose coaching topics matching your skills, experience.
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Transcripts
Squirrel.
Katie McManus:I want to talk about the thing that all weenies.
Katie McManus:People who are afraid of doing the brave ass shit that's going to get them where they want to go have in common, especially when it comes to starting a business.
Katie McManus:Squirrel.
Katie McManus:Hi, I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach.
Katie McManus:And welcome to the Weenie cast.
Katie McManus:Squirrel.
Katie McManus:I want to go into what the stereotypical weenie is afraid of when it comes to picking a niche.
Katie McManus:What they're worried will happen and the mindset crap that gets in the way.
Katie McManus:We're gonna be talking about the shift that needs to happen.
Katie McManus:We're also going to be talking about the major difference it makes in your business when you actually pick a niche that you feel aligned to and that exists out there in the world, that will pay for it.
Katie McManus:Right?
Katie McManus:Because you can start a business and not get any clients.
Katie McManus:That's not a business.
Katie McManus:That's a fucking hobby.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:We're not starting hobbies here.
Katie McManus:We are starting businesses, right?
Katie McManus:Let's talk about the things that the stereotypical weenie in their business is scared shitless to do when it comes to starting their business and picking a niche.
Katie McManus:Number one is they're afraid that if they pick a niche, they're going to scare away potential clients and that there aren't going to be enough clients out there in the world for them.
Katie McManus:So let's talk about how many human beings actually live on planet Earth right now.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:I looked up this number recently.
Katie McManus:I talked about this in my life yesterday.
Katie McManus:There are 7.88 billion billion people on planet Earth right now.
Katie McManus:If you think that out of 7.88 billion people, you're not going to be able to find, like, 600 humans who will pay you for your thing, then, babes, you need to do something else.
Katie McManus:Starting a business is not it for you.
Katie McManus:And let's just talk about the scarcity mindset that just lives in this fear, right?
Katie McManus:Because I don't know about you guys, but, like, literally, I can't take on more than between nine to twelve clients, one on one at a time.
Katie McManus:Nine to twelve, one on one clients.
Katie McManus:I make a fair amount of money doing that.
Katie McManus:I can live a very comfortable, happy life just working one on one with clients.
Katie McManus:Of course I want to work with more people.
Katie McManus:I want to be able to empower more and more folks to be able to start their businesses.
Katie McManus:I have group programs, but still through my group programs, like, I anticipate, like, I hope at some point to be able to have 500 people going through my programs every year.
Katie McManus:Okay.
Katie McManus:And assume I work for another 30 years.
Katie McManus:500 times 30.
Katie McManus:Not that many, especially when we're considering that amount comes out of 7.888 billion humans, some of which may not even be alive yet.
Katie McManus:There could be someone born today who I will be coaching in 29 years.
Katie McManus:And you have no idea.
Katie McManus:You have to believe that your people are out there.
Katie McManus:And believe me, they are.
Katie McManus:They are.
Katie McManus:And they are waiting for you.
Katie McManus:And honestly, you're just being a selfish asshole for not niching down and making it easier, easy for them to find you.
Katie McManus:So you need to pick a niche.
Katie McManus:The numbers are in your favor.
Katie McManus:There are billions of people out there in the world.
Katie McManus:You're likely to be able to get, you know, enough of them to make a good living doing this work.
Katie McManus:But here's the key.
Katie McManus:They're not going to be able to work with you and give you their money and have impact from your work experience.
Katie McManus:It if they don't know that you existed, it's just never going to happen.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:So if you continue to be a weenie about not picking a niche, then guess what's going to happen?
Katie McManus:You're not going to get any clients because how are they going to know that you're useful to them?
Katie McManus:And the example that I like to use, like, you know, I'm a trained life coach.
Katie McManus:I went to life coach school.
Katie McManus:I'm certified.
Katie McManus:All this stuff, I use it, you know, in conjunction with a lot of the other stuff that I do.
Katie McManus:Okay.
Katie McManus:But there's always that joke of the life coach.
Katie McManus:Like, the life coach goes out to get clients and people ask, cool, like, who's your ideal client?
Katie McManus:And the life coach says, well, people who suck at life, I help them get better at being at life, you know, or in life or whatever.
Katie McManus:How do you sort through, like, the list of friends and loved ones that, you know, for the people who are shitty at life?
Katie McManus:I mean, I know we all have some people that were like, they could really use some help.
Katie McManus:But then, like, even if you can think of one to five people, how do you make that introduction?
Katie McManus:Do you go, hey, George, you really suck at life, dude.
Katie McManus:Like, you out of one out of ten.
Katie McManus:Like ten being the best one.
Katie McManus:You're a negative two.
Katie McManus:And I think you could use some help.
Katie McManus:I heard about this life coach who helps people who are shit at life.
Katie McManus:I think you need to talk to them and let me introduce you.
Katie McManus:No, no one's doing that.
Katie McManus:No one's referring people like that.
Katie McManus:Okay.
Katie McManus:Okay.
Katie McManus:Versus.
Katie McManus:You have a coach, let's call her Jane.
Katie McManus:This is the example that I put in my email today.
Katie McManus:Jane, who is a dating coach for lesbian moms who are recently divorced and who want to find their next partner, who will also be a great co parent for the children that they share custody of.
Katie McManus:Like, that's very, very specific.
Katie McManus:Right?
Katie McManus:So you may not know someone who is a lesbian, who's a mom who's just gotten divorced and is ready to start dating right off the bat.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:You.
Katie McManus:If you do, you're like, oh, my God, this is so exciting.
Katie McManus:And, like, I have someone who needs to work with you, and you need to work with her because it's tough.
Katie McManus:Like, it's tough to find a partner, especially when you're a mom and especially when you're sharing, casting, all this stuff.
Katie McManus:Like, you, you need to be able to really strategize how you're finding that next love of your life.
Katie McManus:Like, how excited would you be to be able to turn to your friend and be like, I found someone who can help you in this, like, major life project that you're working on right now.
Katie McManus:Like, let me make this introduction.
Katie McManus:Okay, that that could happen if you know that person.
Katie McManus:But here's the other thing you're more likely to remember, Jane.
Katie McManus:You are far more likely to remember this person who niched down so specifically than you are to remember, you know, someone who's just a life coach.
Katie McManus:Life coaches are a dime a dozen.
Katie McManus:Let's be real.
Katie McManus:I was in a pilates class once.
Katie McManus:I was, you know, in my business, and, you know, someone asked me what I did, and I said, you know, I didn't really want to talk about it.
Katie McManus:So I was just like, I'm a life coach.
Katie McManus:Cause, you know, no one usually knows what to say when you say you're a life coach.
Katie McManus:The lady that was asking was like, oh, I have a life coach.
Katie McManus:She communes with my dead animals for me.
Katie McManus:And I did not know how to respond to that because that is not life coaching.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:So there are a lot of people out there calling whatever it is they do, life coaching.
Katie McManus:All right?
Katie McManus:If you're just going out and say, I'm a life coach, no one knows what you're doing.
Katie McManus:No one knows how you can help.
Katie McManus:No one knows who you are useful to.
Katie McManus:All right?
Katie McManus:You need to tell people exactly who you are useful to.
Katie McManus:Now, there's this other woman who I came across on Facebook.
Katie McManus:I just read this post that she did, and she is a health coach for people in the party industry.
Katie McManus:So bartenders, DJ's, and managers of nightclubs.
Katie McManus:Okay.
Katie McManus:She helps them design more healthy lives and healthy habits around their extremely unhealthy lifestyle without compromising the work that they love.
Katie McManus:Now, that's incredible.
Katie McManus:And that's also really easy to refer to.
Katie McManus:Okay, so you can pick a niche that, you know, has a bunch of people, or you can pick a niche that has a narrow slice of humans.
Katie McManus:But I want to remind you, the more niche down you are, the more specialized you are, which means you can charge more.
Katie McManus:Your general doctor, your general practitioner, probably makes, you know, $200,000 a year cardiologist who works on babies probably makes closer to a million, if not more, because they specialize.
Katie McManus:A neurosurgeon is going to make more because they specialize.
Katie McManus:All right?
Katie McManus:You get to specialize in your business, and you're going to get to charge more because who are you competing against?
Katie McManus:Competing against other people who just say that they're life coaches?
Katie McManus:No one wants to hire.
Katie McManus:No offense, guys.
Katie McManus:You really need a niche, though.
Katie McManus:There's also this belief that, you know, like, but I can help everyone.
Katie McManus:I can help everyone.
Katie McManus:What I do is so easily applied to so many different scenarios.
Katie McManus:Like, there are people out there who need my help, and they're not gonna.
Katie McManus:They're not gonna be able to get help from me if I niche down.
Katie McManus:They're not gonna get help from you anyway if they don't know what you're doing.
Katie McManus:And it's really hard for people to understand what you do if you're not telling them who you're useful to.
Katie McManus:Okay.
Katie McManus:I teach this in my build your own business beginner group program because it is such a critical part of building your business.
Katie McManus:Like, if you do not have a niche, you can't go and market.
Katie McManus:If you don't have a niche, running sales calls is going to be so incredibly painful.
Katie McManus:If you don't have a niche, like, you can't.
Katie McManus:You can't design a website, it's going to be really hard to show up on social media.
Katie McManus:Like, you might get some people who just like what you have to say, but they're never going to buy from you.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:That is freebie chaser central when you're just out there giving value and spewing out all your beliefs about stuff.
Katie McManus:Stuff.
Katie McManus:Yes.
Katie McManus:The gazelle.
Katie McManus:Find your niche 100%.
Katie McManus:So, so, so, so here are the three areas that I have my clients in my build your own business beginner program, and in my one on one coaching, like, everywhere, I have them ask themselves, okay, so, number one, everyone thinks that when you pick a niche, you're describing what you do.
Katie McManus:No, no.
Katie McManus:Your niche is not that you're a facilitator.
Katie McManus:Your niche is not that you're a leadership coach.
Katie McManus:Your niche is not that you are a stylist.
Katie McManus:That is not your niche, okay?
Katie McManus:What you do, it informs how you describe your niche because, you know, if you're a builder, you're not going to say that you empower people to live in the best home of their lives.
Katie McManus:Like, that is missing a part.
Katie McManus:You know?
Katie McManus:Like, you also help build the house that they want to live in.
Katie McManus:Your niche is a combination of two things, okay?
Katie McManus:It's who you help, the descriptor of that person and the problems they have and the solution they want or the outcomes that they want.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:You need both.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:But here's where, if you do this well, you're actually going to get more people that are outside your niche.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:So let me explain.
Katie McManus:So when I started doing business coaching and showing people how to start their businesses, I was very much in the coaching space, okay?
Katie McManus:I still am.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:I'm a trained and certified coach.
Katie McManus:I, like, accidentally fell into doing this because I come from a background in sales and marketing.
Katie McManus:And when I started, a lot of my friends were like, wait a minute.
Katie McManus:How did you get clients so fast?
Katie McManus:Because they didn't know a lot of my early clients were coaches.
Katie McManus:And to this day, I have a lot of coaches in my client list.
Katie McManus:So when you have a niche, when you know who you serve, you get to be very specific about the problems that they experience.
Katie McManus:So when I started marketing, that I was helping coaches start their businesses, I'm a big believer in empathetic marketing.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:So I would go and I would just say, hey, listen, you know, you're probably struggling with, you know, figuring out what to post online, and this comes up for you.
Katie McManus:You have this fear that you're gonna look stupid.
Katie McManus:You have this fear that people are like, oh, my God, what are they trying now?
Katie McManus:And I just go through, like, you know, listing off exactly what's going on in their minds right now.
Katie McManus:And what was funny is I'm describing all these problems that coaches had in starting their businesses.
Katie McManus:And I was very specific that I helped coaches move through all these blocks.
Katie McManus:And you know what?
Katie McManus:I got photographers and lawyers and copywriters and social media marketers popping through and asking me, hey, I know you work with coaches, but all the problems you're listing are things I struggle with.
Katie McManus:And I don't know, but I really like your vibe, and I would really like to work with you.
Katie McManus:If you take non coaches as clients, that is the power of knowing your niche, inside and outside, frontward, backward, sideways, all the ways.
Katie McManus:Right?
Katie McManus:So your niche is a combination of the problems that your ideal client has that you help solve.
Katie McManus:The things that they wake up in the morning so stressed out about, the things that keep them awake at night, the stuff they fight with their spouse about.
Katie McManus:Okay?
Katie McManus:The things that, like, they play over and over and over in their mind.
Katie McManus:You know, I like to describe it to my clients.
Katie McManus:Like, imagine your ideal client is out.
Katie McManus:You know, they're meeting up with a girlfriend or guy friend.
Katie McManus:You know, after work.
Katie McManus:They got there early.
Katie McManus:They already had a glass of wine.
Katie McManus:They're halfway through their second one.
Katie McManus:Their friend shows up.
Katie McManus:What are they bitching about?
Katie McManus:Well, it's like the torrent of complaints that they have about their day in their life to this friend.
Katie McManus:Okay, that is exactly what you should be posting out on social media.
Katie McManus:On the flip side, what is it they want for their life?
Katie McManus:You know, what is it that they just wish that they could have that they don't think is available to them?
Katie McManus:You know, what's something that they've always wanted but haven't really had the courage to go for it?
Katie McManus:What's the thing that, like, the goal that they have been working towards and working towards and working towards and can never just quite get there?
Katie McManus:I used to work for a fitness company, and there would always be that, you know, stereotypical person who would come in.
Katie McManus:You know, they had lost a lot of weight.
Katie McManus:You know, they went from being really, really heavy and unhealthy.
Katie McManus:They lost weight.
Katie McManus:They're in the healthy range, and they just wanted to lose the last ten pounds.
Katie McManus:The last ten pounds to get down to, like, a certain weight that their doctor recommended or whatever.
Katie McManus:Like, that problem.
Katie McManus:Like, it's just.
Katie McManus:That's just a sticking point, right?
Katie McManus:If you can identify, like, what is that final stretch of your goal?
Katie McManus:And I want to help you get there, that is really powerful.
Katie McManus:But here's the thing.
Katie McManus:To know those problems, to know what they want, you have to figure out who you want to serve.
Katie McManus:Who do you want to work with?
Katie McManus:Because let me tell you, let's stick with the fitness analogy, right?
Katie McManus:So imagine you have, like, this ex wrestler, meathead, personal trainer, really nice guy, really nice guy, maybe a dad of two, you know, really passionate about personal training, and he decides that he wants to work with postpartum moms, women who just gave birth maybe in the last year.
Katie McManus:And he is like, yeah, I'm gonna be a postpartum personal trainer.
Katie McManus:Is he gonna fare as well as the woman who's also had children, who's a personal trainer who's been through it?
Katie McManus:No, no, no.
Katie McManus:Also, a regular personal trainer is not gonna be able to market to, say, the meatheads who want to, like, build muscle mass and the postpartum moms who want to recover and get their bodies back to what they're comfortable with.
Katie McManus:You need a niche.
Katie McManus:You need to know exactly who your clients are, and in doing so, you'll understand on a very cellular level what they're struggling with and what they want instead.
Katie McManus:That is your niche.
Katie McManus:Now, this is hard to get into.
Katie McManus:This is hard to understand because oftentimes when we think niche, we think, okay, cool, well, I'm going to work with women who, who are between the ages of 30 and 45, who have professional jobs and who are stressed out.
Katie McManus:And you know what I'm going to tell you, right?
Katie McManus:That's not a niche.
Katie McManus:That's not a niche that.
Katie McManus:No, no, no.
Katie McManus:A niche is also not.
Katie McManus:I help people going through transitions.
Katie McManus:I don't know a single person in my life who isn't going through a transition of some kind or other.
Katie McManus:Everyone goes through transitions.
Katie McManus:That's what life is all about.
Katie McManus:We're just all.
Katie McManus:That's.
Katie McManus:That's just, like, a cuter way of saying that you're a life coach and no one knows what a life coach does.
Katie McManus:No one knows who a life coach is helpful to.
Katie McManus:If you want to say that, you help, say, parents whose children are getting sent off to boarding school because they are problematic.
Katie McManus:Like, that's a big transition.
Katie McManus:That's a big thing.
Katie McManus:You can absolutely niche down in that.
Katie McManus:Anyway, so here are the things that I do with my clients when they join build your own business, beginner, and all of my programs, we get really deep into what are the conversations that you want to have all the time?
Katie McManus:Like, what are you interested in?
Katie McManus:Because especially if you're not even sure, like, really what your business is going to look like, it's really important to start at least there, because how miserable would it be to start a business that you're bored of?
Katie McManus:Six months in, like, this happened to me.
Katie McManus:I went through this.
Katie McManus:I picked the wrong niche.
Katie McManus:When I first started, I was going to be a dating coach for men, and I went out and I announced I'm a dating coach for men.
Katie McManus:And I got mostly female clients, and only one of my clients, one woman, stuck with the dating coaching topic, and I got so bored talking about her dating life all the time.
Katie McManus:I loved her to death.
Katie McManus:She was an incredible client.
Katie McManus:She did the work.
Katie McManus:I was so thrilled for her, but I was so bored of it.
Katie McManus:I just.
Katie McManus:I didn't want to do it anymore.
Katie McManus:And that's one of the reasons I switched to leadership coaching.
Katie McManus:You know, it was also where my clients naturally needed support.
Katie McManus:But you need to figure out what topics you're interested in, right?
Katie McManus:What can you stick with for a good chunk of time?
Katie McManus:It doesn't mean you can't change it.
Katie McManus:I've changed multiple times in my career.
Katie McManus:But you need to start there.
Katie McManus:You then need to look at what are your skills, what are your strengths?
Katie McManus:What's your life experience?
Katie McManus:Are you a recovering alcoholic and you've had this, like, road to redemption in your life and you are really claiming your new identity and you are establishing yourself and wanting to turn around and help people who have also gone through a twelve step program of some sort.
Katie McManus:That life experience is so valuable because people who've gone through that want someone who really gets them.
Katie McManus:All right?
Katie McManus:And are you willing to go there?
Katie McManus:You know, for a lot of people, if they want to coach on stuff that is related to the trauma that they actually have, it can take a while for them to get into it.
Katie McManus:And there's nothing wrong with that if that's really the impact you want to have.
Katie McManus:You just have to plan like a bigger gap of time for you to work on this.
Katie McManus:Right.
Katie McManus:You also need to go out there and you need to talk to your ideal clients.
Katie McManus:One of the things that I stress in all of my programs, and let me tell you, this is the number one indicator of success, okay?
Katie McManus:The only clients that I've had who didn't get any results with me are the only ones who didn't do this step.
Katie McManus:And that is you have to go and interview your ideal clients.
Katie McManus:You have to find out what they're afraid of, what they're struggling with, what they want, all this stuff.
Katie McManus:Squirrel, squirrel.
Katie McManus:If you're ready to stop being a weenie and actually run a business that makes money, then go ahead and book a generate income strategy.
Katie McManus:Call with me by going to weeniecast.com strategycall.
Katie McManus:On this call, we will talk about your goals, your dreams, and your frustrations in getting there.
Katie McManus:And if it's a fit for both of us, then we can talk about different ways to work together.
