Find Your Niche [part 2]
I recently shared my #1 tip to finding your niche and why it’s so important to do this in order to create the success you dream about in your biz.
I resisted the idea of niching down when I first started my health consulting business. I thought…“But I can help everyone”
Niching felt limiting.
I had the knowledge and the tools to change lives, so why would I deny anyone the opportunity to have better health? Plus my scarcity and lack-money mindset at the time totally backed up my aversion to niching.
And as a result…
I attracted all of the wrong clients. The ones who didn’t show for consultations or appointments, who weren’t committed to the work, who wanted meal planning when that wasn’t a service I provided, and who ultimately sucked time and energy out of me.
After failing at first, I decided it was time to try this niching thing to see if it really worked, but I was going to do it my way. My niche wasn’t going to be a condition, age range, gender, or socioeconomic status. My niche was going to be a real person, one that felt authentic to me.
What I came up with was a non-traditional approach to niching that has brought me more clarity and income than ever before, and it has helped other functional health practitioners do the same.
In this week’s video and blog, I share niche tip #2 which brought me more clarity and income than ever before, so it can do the same for you!
Although I initially did things the hard way, by not niching down, working with the wrong people did help me get super clear on who I didn’t want to work with which helped me understand who I did want to work with.
From this experience, I was able to develop clear boundaries about what I do and what I don’t do as a functional health practitioner, and this paved the path to clarity about who I wanted to work with.
I realized I didn’t want to work with people who didn’t have basic nutrition knowledge. I was more inspired to work with people who had already tried more advanced dietary approaches such as Paleo, Whole30, and Keto but weren’t getting the desired results from them. This was also a part of my personal story – I was “eating healthy” but not getting the expected results from it.
I also noticed that working with moms wasn’t my forte because I didn’t have kids and so we couldn’t relate as well to each other. However, working with super A-Type, career-oriented individuals who were hitting the gym regularly and eating healthy but not losing weight was lighting me up.
Whether you’ve worked with clients or not, examining your experiences as I have will give you great insights about who your ideal client aka niche is.
Here’s my non-traditional approach to niching tried-and-true tip #2 to help you generate more clarity and income than ever before…
Tip #2 – Compare and Contrast
Clues about your niche can also be found within the clientele you’re currently working with or the people you surround yourself with. Think about it, who do you get excited to see and who do you sigh about when you see them on your schedule?
Typically we are drawn to the people who match our energy, who inspire us and leave us feeling good after an interaction – even with clients. These are the clients you want MORE OF!
To figure out who these people are, here’s what you’re going to do…
- Get a blank piece of paper or document
- Create two columns – Ideal and NOT Ideal
- In the Ideal column list all of the clients you’ve enjoyed working with and want 10 more exactly like them, or the people you enjoy spending time with the most
- Review the Ideal list of people and now list all of the personality traits, characteristics, and themes they have in common
- In the NOT Ideal column list all of the clients you haven’t enjoyed working with as much and likely wouldn’t take back, or the people you don’t enjoy spending as much time with
- Review the NOT Ideal list of people and now list all of the personality traits, characteristics, and themes they have in common
Can you see who your niche is more clearly now? Your niche is the culmination of your Ideal list!
This exercise will help you define WHO your niche as a person; what personality traits, characteristics, and themes they hold to help you define what I call your niche pitch (aka elevator pitch).
Here’s the niche pitch formula I previously shared in finding your niche part 1…
I help/guide/support (list 2-3 personality traits or characteristics of yourself/client) who are feeling/dealing with (list your/their everyday struggle or pain point in their everyday words) so they can have/do/feel (summarize what they wake up wishing you/they had every day)
You can also review your list of Ideal people to discover what the common pain point was and the transformation they were looking for that led them to you.
It’s time to ditch the distractions and nail down your niche!
By using these exercises I’ve shared, you will have a clear core marketing message to easily attract and enroll your ideal clients leading to more income than you’ve ever had before.
If you want more tips like this for how to build a successful business as a functional health professional, join my Holistic Hustler’s club on Clubhouse and hang out with us every Wednesday at 3 pm PST!
P.S. Click here to get my #1 tip for finding your niche
P.P.S. Want to get organized and grow your confidence to get your business going or growing? Join my Practitioners’ Business Essentials program and community to get the guidance and support you need to create a wildly successful business that helps you help hundreds of people while working less and taking better care of yourself.