Angie and John discuss the crucial importance of niching in building a successful coaching business. They share personal experiences and explain how even though the idea of niching may seem limiting, it is critical to target specific audiences with well-defined problems for focused problem-solving. They also discuss common mistakes made by coaches, emphasize the importance of aligning the niche with personal passion and expertise, and provide reassurances that choosing a niche does not restrict the potential growth of a coaching business.

00:00 Introduction to Niching in Coaching

01:02 The Struggles of Niching

02:13 The Importance of Specialization

03:54 The Pitfalls of Being a Generalist Coach

04:14 The Power of Focusing and Niching

04:54 The Role of Branding in Niching

08:10 The Impact of Niching on Business Growth

09:13 The Importance of Knowing Your Niche

10:48 The Role of Passion and Business Structure in Niching

17:59 The Evolution of Niching in a Coaching Business

20:14 Final Thoughts on Niching

21:05 Conclusion and Farewell

John!

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John: Angie, what would you say to

professional coaches about niching?

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Could you be more specific?

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That's perfect.

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Angie: Since we're going to be talking

about niching today, few points

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that we want to discuss about it.

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Why it's so important to our businesses.

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why do it?

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of the things that I noticed as a coach

is that it's really hard to niche.

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It was almost like getting

a root canal for me.

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Right.

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I had a really hard time wrapping

my head around the idea of niching.

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It didn't make logical

sense to me at the time.

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I know you're laughing at

me, John, but it's my truth.

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John: I'm laughing because I feel very

similarly, niching is how hard it is hard.

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it is just all about getting

that bit more specific about the

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problem you're going to solve and

who you're going to solve it for.

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And yet it could be really tough.

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Part of my initial challenge with

it was just recognizing that it was

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probably going to be very helpful to do.

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And now I know it's really important,

but we'll talk about why, I recognized

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it was going to be helpful, but I had

all this coaching knowledge and I didn't

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really have any specialized areas, when

you train up as a coach It's not like

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training up as a doctor where you're maybe

encouraged to go into a specialized area

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And so I didn't have that quite generalist

coaching, want to help everyone you come

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out with that right sort of Attitude of

wanting to make a difference and things.

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However very hard to get clients if

you are out there being a generalist.

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Just think about it from the

perspective of, we've been using a

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few medical metaphors already, that

if you have a medical condition,

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would you rather go to a specialist or

would you rather go to a generalist?

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If it's a quick check up, you'd

probably go to a generalist.

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But if But if it is something quite

specific, you're going to feel much more

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confident going to a specialist who deals

with that and probably pretty much only

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deals with that and will give you what

you need probably a lot more, quickly

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and specifically than generalist would.

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Angie: Yeah, I think that's

a really great analogy.

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And it's why we're doing this, right?

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When you and I started our coaching

practices, there really wasn't

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anybody standing there saying,

Hey, you should do this, right?

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This is the way there's no,

there's no handbook to this.

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So I love that we're talking about this.

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What I want to share is that Not

all coaches are created equal.

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We all have different

super powers, if you will.

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Although I don't love to use that phrase.

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We all have different areas that we really

are just great at, and then maybe some

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areas where we're not and that's okay,

if we think about a fast food restaurant

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they start out with one item, right?

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That's their mainframe and

that's what they're known for.

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If I say golden arches, most people

are going to think McDonald's,

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even if you don't eat it, right?

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Even if it's not your thing.

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And wouldn't it be great if

that's when somebody said.

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Well, let you know leadership coaching

or talent development that if that's your

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jam, if that's what you do, that you're

the person that they would go to for that.

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And I think the idea

behind, but I'm a coach.

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I can be all things to all people.

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No, no, no, no, I think that's probably

one of the biggest mistakes . Most

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coaches make when they start a practice.

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is thinking that they're going to

just be all things to all people.

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And so I'm kind of beating the dead

horse here a little bit, but it's, well,

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because once I realized that I needed

to focus, just put the blinders on.

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And that was temporary because guess what?

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Once I got known, people started

asking and The business grew.

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So how did it work for you?

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John: You ever remember or come across

these sort of people selling miracle

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potions and the likes that will cure

all your ills and things like that.

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Sometimes it can feel a bit like

that being a generalist well,

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what could you help with anything?

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I can help you with anything.

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What about this?

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What about that?

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It's like, well, yeah, I

can help you with all of it.

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It just feels a bit too good to be true.

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And I'm not saying you couldn't as

a coach, you possibly could, but we

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were chatting before we even recorded

today, a little bit about branding.

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This comes into it here what is

your brand and who is it speaking

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to in terms of what you do?

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Part of your marketing message needs to

be Speaking very clearly to the audience

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that you want to connect with and if you

don't have a clear brand if you don't

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have a clear Problem to solve for people

it's not gonna get through especially

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with the amount of other messaging that

is out there from other people Right

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now so if you are saying I could help

anyone with everything who's gonna

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really tune into that message whereas

if you say I help people in the tech

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industry deal with the enormous amounts

of stress that they are often under.

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Or people who are in leadership, be

able to communicate more effectively

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with their teams and with each other.

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You are, you're talking to a much more

specific audience, so that's going

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to prick people's ears up and say,

Alright, yeah, that's me, I actually

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have that problem, I recognize that.

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I should maybe check out a bit more

about this and find out what it would

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be like working with this person.

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Some coaching now is more in the realms

of helping people with their performance

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as a speaker and as someone who's

delivering content and information,

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whether that's from In podcasts online or

in person, you know, then that's pretty

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much what you're going to get with me.

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We're going to work on your presence.

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We're going to work on your charisma.

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We're going to work on the things

that help you to be better at

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getting your information across.

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How about you, Angie?

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Like what when you did make that

decision to niche, what happened for

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you and what difference did it make?

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Angie: Oh, well, again, I resisted it.

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I was very anti because I had

had some experience, right?

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I just had a little bit of

experience and it felt really good.

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And finally, the light bulb went off

because I knew I had a great product.

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But there was something in my head

saying, this doesn't feel right.

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Like I should be doing so much more.

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And then actually this was

funny how this happened.

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I had a conversation with

somebody and his name was John,

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and he was a business coach.

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I met him at an event, we

just got to talking and he

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said, well, so what do you do?

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And I was like, Oh, I'm a coach.

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And he was like, really?

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So what's your focus?

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And I was like, Oh, I do it all.

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And he looked at me, I'll never

forget the look on his face.

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Like, really?

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You do everything so this is what he

said to me and I guess he was trying to

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pitch me and I did end up working with

him and he changed everything but he said

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so I am a career coach is what he said

if I'm looking for somebody to come do

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some career coaching I'm gonna hire you

and you're also gonna talk to me about

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my relationships at home and the way he

presented it I remember thinking somebody

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just splashed ice cold water on me Because

I was unable to articulate what I did.

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And then I thought, oh, geez.

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If I don't know what I do, how in the

world is anybody else going to know?

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So how can I sell myself, my

brand, my intellectual property,

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if I don't know who to send it to?

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John: Yeah.

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Angie: So I did end up hiring him

and he made a huge difference.

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What was the outcome?

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The outcome was that

the phone was ringing.

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That was what was happening.

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It wasn't me.

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Grinding and grinding and grinding

and getting very little return for

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my investment of time, energy, money.

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All of a sudden the phone rang

and then the phone rang and he

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was like, wow, look at this.

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Like who knew?

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Who knew?

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That all we had to do was say,

I, and at the time my focus was

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all levels of sales training.

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And once I learned how to sell myself.

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Then I had this extra piece and

this extra value to bring to

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the people that I was coaching.

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So it was a pretty funny moment.

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I actually wish somebody had a picture

of a look on my face when, you know,

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when John asked me, so what do you do?

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And I was all like, Oh, and all my

energy and the arms were flailing.

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Like I was excited.

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He was like, Ew.

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I can't believe it was like,

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John: I can, I can just, yeah, I can

just well imagine that there's going

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to be at least one person listening to

this thinking yeah, I don't know how

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I would answer that question either.

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And I can certainly, it's an important

question to be able to answer.

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This is why this matters so much.

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I can remember thinking how unfair

it was when I was starting off as

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a coach.

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I was very big on fairness that some

coaches who were really excellent coaches.

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Didn't seem to be very successful,

and some of them weren't even able to

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stay in coaching long term, some of

them, gone within several years, that's

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just the reality of the business.

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And I felt like some people who

weren't very good coaches somehow

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were sticking around and raking it in.

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And I felt that it was really more to

do with who was better at marketing.

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And to some degree that's true.

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And I think, oh, wouldn't it be,

wouldn't it be a beautiful world if the

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people who were really good at coaching

were also really good at marketing?

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But I don't think you can be good at

marketing your coaching unless you

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niche down to who you're going to help

and have that niche that's as they say

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an inch wide and a mile deep is get

as specific as you can without being

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too restrictive about who you can

help and how so that you can actually.

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Get out there and solve a problem.

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Solve a problem for people who can

afford to pay you for solving it.

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That's another thing I see

coaches go wrong with on this.

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If people you want to help can't

pay for your services, you are

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not going to have a business.

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And we are talking about having a business

at the end, not a charity that means

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you end up just as broke as your clients.

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So, uh, we really, we really must

consider these things, right?

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Angie: definitely needs to

be a business structure.

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I think most people come into coaching

and have some type of a passion toward it.

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I don't think coaching, if you're a

great coach, is something that can

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necessarily be taught, although there

are best practices and all of that.

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That's a later podcast, but I do think

that, if you're clear on yourself, your

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message and your mission as a coach,

and you're able to then articulate

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that you are creating a business,

there is that there's two sides to it.

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There's that passion piece and

then there's that, what does my

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business structure look like?

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And I did that.

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I was the coach that.

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If my fee at the time was 125 an

hour and somebody came to me and

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said, Oh, I can only do it for 65.

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I did it because I needed to keep the

lights on and the food in my belly.

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But I realized that was really unfair.

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How do I then have the nerve

to charge somebody else my fee,

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whatever your regular fee is, right?

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How do you?

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But then discount it or reduce it,

if you will, for somebody else.

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So that created a little bit of a quandary

for me because then I didn't feel like

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I was being of the people who could.

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John: Yeah, that's an important thing

to consider and certainly , we'll

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discuss that in another episode.

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I feel that there is a, there is a place

for generalist coaching, there is, and

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there's even a demand for it right now.

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With some of the coaching companies

that have sprung up, they want

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generalist coaches to come in and be

even then you still have to compete

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for clients within that company, you

still have to have a profile that's

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going to attract people towards you.

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So if you don't have specific

problems that you're helping with,

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you may be able to go a little more

generally, but you still can't go

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and help anyone with everything.

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You still need to get a bit more specific.

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Are you working?

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Do you prefer working

with people in business?

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Do you prefer to work with

them on relationships?

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Do you prefer to work with them?

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Oh gosh, what other areas do

people get coached for these days?

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But pick your areas that you actually

enjoy and can help working, help people

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to by working with even in those sectors.

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But also consider.

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You are always going to be

somewhat limited in what you can

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earn as a coach in those sectors.

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You're going to have an hourly rate.

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You don't get to set that for yourself.

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You can go to some of the

increases within that.

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But it's only by specializing and

perhaps even then starting to offer

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your own services that you start to

get much more into the sort of elite

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levels when you know that there are

coaches earning a million and more a

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month and making those kinds of sales.

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That's out there.

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That is realistic.

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But only if you get clarity on your

message and who you're helping and how

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and start working towards that and you

know This is this stuff we're going

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to cover Yeah in a lot more detail

in more Sessions in the future, but I

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think it's important to just have that

distinction of yes, there is still some

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some need for a generalism in coaching,

but it's also going to restrict you.

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It might help you be a

springboard to where you do want

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to go, at least at the moment.

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Angie: Yeah,

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John: so don't think we just crapping

all over the idea of being a generalist.

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But how much more you can grow and develop

and make and be successful as a coach.

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By being more specific

about who you help and how.

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Angie: I think too, so once we get the

idea across that niching is so important.

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And once that, once the, that

reconciliation happens mentally and we

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go, okay, I think the next big question

becomes, well, then how do I know, how

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do I know what I'm supposed to be doing?

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And I answer that most times for

people, like it's multi pronged

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answer where you feel passionate.

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Right.

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Like we're really like, we don't

necessarily want to drag you

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away from what it is that made

you decide to get into coaching.

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The other piece I think that's important

is most people don't come into the world

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at the age of 18 or 17 and they graduate

high school and say, I want to be a coach.

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Most coaches, so everybody

hear me, don't come at me.

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Most coaches come from some other industry

and they have experience in that industry

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and that's probably what prompted them.

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To do something different and I always

say start with what you know, right?

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Because you will you're it's not

that we need the validation, but

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we can better relate to People

that are maybe in that arena.

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So, you know Multitudes of my own clients

have left super high level high paying

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corporate jobs because of a varying of

reasons And they've taken bits and pieces

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and said, I'm going to train people on

how to do this or I'm going to coach

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people on how to do this or not do this.

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So there is a natural segue, and I think

that it's really up to the individual

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to decide and it may take a minute

to decide, but that doesn't mean let

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me just go back to doing everything

because I don't know the answer yet.

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Give yourself a minute.

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To really think about what

impact you want to have and how

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you're best able to do that.

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John: I wonder if there are

people listening to this who

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ask themselves how do I do this?

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And I think you do have to think

about things like, do I fit with

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the industry that I'm looking at?

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Because it's not just about where

there's the most money, right?

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You might be an ideal person for

working in corporate, and that's one

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of the reasons why it helps so much

to come into coaching from having The

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experience before I don't think it's

generally a good idea to be very green

281

and just, just out of uni or whatever,

and becoming a coach right away, and

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it's going to be very challenging.

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It's very hard to get the

respect as a young coach.

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I certainly found that in

my earlier days of coaching.

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Like I was in my mid to late

twenties when I first started

286

coaching and and it was very hard

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Angie: That long

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John: especially here.

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Yeah, it's a long ago.

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It was very hard to

get respect from those.

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Thank you, Angie.

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Very hard to get respect from those

older clients And I really felt like

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I had to earn my colors, but also I

did have to at some point recognize

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There was a lot I didn't know there

was a lot that I was quite naive about

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and that does come along with age, but

the professional experience I did have

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was actually a really good grounding.

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My background had mostly

been in customer service.

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It made sense for me to focus a lot of

my coaching work around either towards

299

the industry that I'd worked in or

towards coaching around particularly

300

customer service issues and the likes.

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But if you have a sales background, great.

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There's loads of opportunity in sales.

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If you don't have a particular industry

background, but you're very spiritual

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or people come to you for advice about

their relationships and stuff, these

305

could all be good indicators that this

could be a good place for you to focus.

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But just think this is

going to be something you're

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going to be doing regularly.

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This is what my coaching mentor says.

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You do not have to marry your niche.

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You only need to date them.

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You're not locking yourself into anything.

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You can just date this for a

while, see if it works for you.

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And if it doesn't, you can select another

niche and focus on a different area.

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I've done it.

315

I've worked in several

different niches of coaching.

316

How about you?

317

Angie: Absolutely, for me,

my business grew organically.

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So even though I finally saw the

light and started focusing on sales.

319

Then I started to expand

my offering, right?

320

that was the thing.

321

The only space that I don't speak into

right now is like nutrition or exercise.

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I have no pretty initials at

the end of my last name that

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say.

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I'm certified to even

talk about any of that.

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So I use myself as a resource.

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I've aligned myself with people that

can be an extension and a reference

327

and say, Hey, I've worked with this

person, I've, I recommend them.

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But in terms of how my business grew,

there were places that I did, like

329

I started in sales and then it went

into leadership and all these things.

330

It just grew.

331

And I started to recognize what I

really loved and what lit me up and

332

what drained me because being coach,

it can be really draining work.

333

We'll talk about that at a later time as

334

well,

335

John: need to, yeah,

336

Angie: yeah, and we definitely need

to because you don't want to be, if

337

you're, if you finish your work day,

like you've been on the treadmill

338

at full power for eight hours.

339

Then something's wrong and we may not

know what that is yet but anyway, so for

340

me it really it just it changed and it

grew organically and Then what I decided

341

was, you know what no treadmill for me.

342

I want treadmill.

343

I'll go back into corporate.

344

No, thank you so You know, I stick now

with what lights me up and honestly, you

345

know Why I feel like i'm worse and I think

one of the things I want to point out is

346

that If this is a just a best practice

mindset thing, just because it doesn't

347

work with one niche doesn't mean it can't.

348

Because I think a lot of

people go, Oh, that's it.

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I tried.

350

It didn't work.

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I'm a failure.

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It didn't work.

353

Let me go back and get a job.

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That's not always the case.

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Sometimes you just need to pivot

and twist and shift a little bit.

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To find that interlocking piece to

make that puzzle piece fit So you

357

may not know it right out of the gate

358

if you're

359

brand

360

new,

361

John: Yeah, you don't

know what you don't know.

362

Right.

363

And sometimes the puzzle pieces come

along, but yeah you're absolutely right.

364

I feel like we've probably covered

pretty much everything I would want to

365

cover about niching and hopefully, our

list and guess why this is important

366

and why we should definitely be

thinking about this, talking about it.

367

And working towards it as best you

can right now from whatever position

368

you're in, it's gonna make a huge

difference to your success and your

369

ability to create a successful business

and stay in business as a coach.

370

But any final words or

thoughts around nichsing Angie,

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Angie: just I think one small

reiteration is to Give it a minute

372

lead with your heart, right?

373

The money usually will follow and If it

doesn't work initially don't run away.

374

It does that's just let

it ride for a minute.

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John: I think that's a great

thought to end our episode on.

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We'll be back very soon with

another episode of the Coaching

377

Clinic, so we'll see you then.

378

Bye

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Angie: Bye for now