Getting Started Finding Your First Niches

You Can’t Work With Everyone

Have you ever met a business owner who says their business is for everyone? Are you that business owner?  
I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but it’s for your own good. There are so many options out there in the world today that not finding a specific niche for your business is hurting your bottom line more than you could ever imagine.

When you cast a wide net you can definitely catch a wide variety of fish. Sure, there will be some good catches, but the majority will not be who you actually want to work with. That wide net will always include the broke ones, the lazy ones, the whiners, the excuse makers and more energy suckers that will ultimately take time and focus away from those you would rather work with.

However, when you drill down to a specific audience then you can actually hone in and craft a message that speaks directly to them and you are more likely to catch more of what you want. I’ve used this strategy to work with different industries and it’s been great for my business.

Picking niches works, because it positions you as the person who is specifically geared to work with that group. That makes it an easy choice for them to pick you over a non-specific competitor.

If you were an gym owner, would you rather work with any old accountant or the accountant who bills themselves as the “accountant for the fitness industry.” It’s an obvious choice.  
Here’s how you can develop niches for your business and replicate the strategies I’ve used.

 

Bring Your Passion But Don’t Force It

When you are getting started in business, people are often directed to go into a business involving something they are passionate about and then try to monetize it. If you are highly skilled in your passion then perhaps you can go this route, but for many people it’s actually going to prove difficult in the beginning.

What I like to advise is to have your passion in mind and consider how you can infuse it into the work you do. Think about what problem you want to solve or what area you want to work in. For me, I was passionate about relationships and I wanted to help people have great long term relationships and marriages. That was the problem I wanted to tackle , but I wouldn’t call that my niche.
 

Think Outside The Box

My niche was who my customers were. You have to look for who’s dealing with the problem you’re solving. In other words, who’s craving your benefit.

For me, I found that orthodontists as an industry were struggling to balance their relationships with their demanding work lives. It is a little outside the box, but that’s what it takes to find a market with tons of untapped potential.

There are lots of industries out there that are being ignored and if you can speak to them on their level then you have a much better shot at winning their business.

Another strategy to finding your first niche is to look at which clients are already coming to you and who do you get the best results from. If you have a client who is a good referral source for you among their industry then that may form the basis of your first niche.

It’s a good practice to have a primary niche in the beginning that becomes your focus, but don’t turn away business from any secondary niches you develop either. For instance, one of my secondary niches is chiropractors, I’m not out actively looking for them as clients, but since I’ve worked with a couple in the past I am delighted when one comes in looking to work with me. Usually they are coming in from one of my past clients who loved their results and made the referral.

In these cases of your periphery niches, you can actually charge a premium and earn more per client since you already have your baseline costs covered from your regular stable of primary niche clients.

 

Action Steps

1. Bring your passion into your work whether you’re earning money from it directly or you’re infusing your passion into your work. Connect to a problem in the world that people need solving.
2. Search for audiences who have the problem you solve and study how to speak directly to them as an industry.
3. Look at the clients who are already reaching out to work with you and ask them to make referrals to their peers if they’re happy with their results.
4. Adopt a primary niche that you actively cultivate with your sales and marketing but also nurture secondary niches as you grow your business.

 

Result You Will Get

A strategy to develop your first niche for your business to quickly grow a larger client base.
 

 
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.