Even You Can Choose a Perfect Niche

Choosing the right niche is essential to business success, yet for some business owners choosing a niche feels like the kiss of death. Why?

People who dig in their heels against   choosing a niche are often independent professionals (accountants, body workers, coaches, etc.) and artists (visual or performing). Typically, these folks believe that choosing a niche equals limiting the nature and scope of their work.

Given that belief, it's easy to see why they resist. Anyone who brings their heart and soul to their work will resist a niche that tells them they must restrict the ways in which they offer value to the world.

The solution is to think about niche in terms of the LOCATION in which you reach your ideal client rather than the CONTENT of your unique offer.

I propose that your perfect niche is that location or domain in which you are most accessible to the people who will most benefit from the offer that you are and in which you are simultaneously most free to exercise your brilliance.

Here's how I differentiate my niche (LOCATION) from my offer (CONTENT).

My niche is working with independent professionals and artists to craft prosperous businesses/careers that fully align with their values, aspirations, and desired way of life.

The offer that I am in this niche distinguishes me from hundreds of other small business coaches. As an offer I am a gifted somatic coach, helping my clients embody success. I am an artist and a business owner myself, and my coaching springs from a deep personal engagement with the concerns that my clients bring to our work.

The offer that I am also includes my spiritual beliefs and practices, my training as a singer, my skills as a writer and editor, my passion for learning, and much more. The offer that I am, in short, encompasses a lifetime of experience, past, present, and future.

When I tried to discern a niche based on the offer that I am, I was stymied. Every niche seemed to be a too-small box, a dead-end that limited me as an offer. Once I conceived of niche as a location relative to the people I can best serve, niche became a refined point- of-focus for my unlimited and unique offer.

Having chosen a niche (or, more accurately, having acknowledged and accepted the niche that chose me) I am now committed to honoring standards and boundaries that support that niche. I refer prospective clients who do not fit my niche to other coaches. I am careful to clarify my niche whenever I write or talk about my work.

By focusing my niche in this way, I can make a very strong impression.

I used to see people's eyes glaze when I tried to tell them what I did. I knew I was losing them, but I didn't know how. Now that I name my niche before I describe my services, it is easy for people to connect with what I am saying.

What's more, referrals have increased substantially. Every time I say, "No, thank you," to a client who wants career coaching or some other service that I could easily do but that does not fit this niche, I create a source of referrals. The client I turn away knows where my offer is of maximum value. He or she won't hesitate to send independent professionals and artists my way.

Are you getting this distinction between location and content, niche and offer? To help you discern your own niche, try using "where" questions like the following:

Where do you consistently find kindred spirits? Where are you most credible? Where is the greatest need coupled with the greatest appreciation for your work? Where do the people who need your work most often have breakdowns that would cause them to hire you?