You chose a niche > Yay! But, you still aren’t attracting clients > Boo!
Is it your niche? Or is it something else?!
Here is what I will tell you: Having a clear, effective, and concise niche is the most important part of any new business. It is literally the foundation from which you build your business from. If your niche sucks, you are going to struggle to sell your program, create social media content and to have any kind of real success.
I have identified one of the most common reasons why Health Coaches fail with choosing their niche! In today’s episode, I’m diving into that with 5 questions that you need to ask yourself to assess the profitability of your niche.
Connect with me on Instagram: @kendraperryinc
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RESOURCES:
Health Coach Accelerator Waitlist: go.kendraperry.net/hca-waitlist
Define Your Money-Making Niche Workbook: https://go.kendraperry.net/niche-workbook
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5 Questions To Assess The Profitability Of Your Niche
I’m glad you’re here. I hope you’ve had a good holiday season. I hope you are looking forward to 2021, New Year, fresh start. How are you going to do your business differently in 2021? What a great question. You guys know that I’m harsh when it comes to niching. The reason for this is not because I’m an asshole, but it’s because your niche is incredibly important. It is the most important thing that you can do right early on in your business because it does set the path for your future business success.
If the niche is off, a lot of things aren’t going to work. You’re not going to attract clients and your content is not going to be good. You’re not going to know even what content to create. You’re going to be confused and your audience is going to be confused. People aren’t going to understand what you do and they’re not going to know that you can help them. Typically, when I see people not seeing success in their business, I always ask them, “What is your niche?” I always want to know this because if the niche is off, the business is off.
To this day, I have helped hundreds of different health practitioners and coaches, and not one of them has come to me with what I consider a profitable, clear and concise niche. If people are struggling, usually I can find a deficiency in their niche. Just like we have nutritional deficiencies, we also have niche deficiencies. Sometimes, they’re close and sometimes they’re super far off. If you’re like, “Do I need a niche?” Number one, yes, you do need a niche. I have a workshop. It’s called Niche Like a Boss. It will tell you everything you need to know about niching and it will help you choose a profitable, aligned and clear niche. It is the last niche training you’ll ever need.
After this, you should be good but you definitely need a niche. If you are someone who’s thinking, “I have a niche,” then this is going to be a great episode for you because we’re going to put your niche to the test. We’re going to try to figure out, is your niche good? Is it profitable? Is it the kind of niche that attracts people and brings new clients into your business? I have five different questions that we’re going to go through. I pulled these from my Profitable Niche Self-assessment. This is one of the bonuses I give you inside my Niche Like a Boss training. I’m not giving you all of it but we’re going to go through five. I want this to be a quick and actionable episode.
Can You Say It In One Or Two Sentences?
Let’s dive into these five questions. Number one is can you say it in two sentences or less? Preferably it should just be one sentence. It should say, “I help this type of person solve this type of problem and get this type of outcome.” That’s it, one sentence. Maybe I’m going to say that as one sentence, but if you need an extra sentence, that’s okay. What a lot of people are doing is they have this run-on sentence or it takes two minutes to describe their niche and what they do. Someone’s like, “What do you do?” You’re like, “I do this and it’s like this and this happens but sometimes, it’s like this and occasionally, it’s like this.” People’s eyes are glazing over. At the end, they’re looking at you wide-eyed, totally confused being like, “Sorry, what? What do you do?” That’s not a good sign.
I want to discuss three aspects of a good niche statement. I already said this when I said the format of the niche statement. The three aspects are person, problem, outcome. Those have to be in your niche statement. When it comes to the person, you can’t just say people. The reason for this is because when you say people, you are going from ages 0 to 120. The way that you talk to someone who is elderly versus someone who is in their teens or twenties is different. They have different language types. They have different lifestyles. They’re in different phases of their life. Their day-to-day looks incredibly different. You are generally trying to pick a person who has something similar in common. If all you choose is women or men, that’s okay. That’s a good start. Maybe you don’t want to go for gender. That’s okay.
What is something that they’d have in common? Are they teachers? Are they yoga instructors? Are they professionals or CEOs? Are they entrepreneurs? They don’t necessarily need to be male or female, but they do need to have something in common because you need to be able to relate to them. If you are trying to relate and connect with people of all ages, it’s not going to connect. Your brain is probably going to explode. You do need to define the person and it’s totally okay if it’s loosely at first, if you’re like, “I’m going to start with women and we’ll go from there.” As you work with people over time, you’re like, “I attract women in their 40s. That’s the majority of my clientele, so maybe I’m going to define that further and say I help women in their 40s.” It’s totally possible.
The next thing is the problem. You have to solve a problem. People are not on Google searching for, “How to optimize my health?” They’re not searching for, “How to take my health to the next level?” They’re not searching for, “How to heal my body?” Maybe the odd person is, but most people are searching, “How to clear my acne? How to get rid of my joint pain? How to lose weight?” They are looking for specific solutions to specific problems, which are typically symptoms. This is where coaches get a little bit tripped up because we are typically taught in school that symptoms don’t matter. They’re just a presentation of something going on deeper in the body. People out there in the world who exist inside this conventional medical paradigm where everything is separate don’t know that. They just know, “I have acne and I want to solve it.” If you come at them because you’re like, “I know that acne is rooted in the gut. I can help you heal your gut,” trying to attract people who have skin problems, they’re going to be like, “My gut’s fine. I’m looking to heal my acne.” There needs to be a legitimate problem that people have, and then the outcome, what do they truly want?
This is something you’re probably not going to know right away because you only know this as you get to know your people more intimately. If you have struggled with the problem in which you are niching in, then you might be able to figure this out a little bit quicker, but you’re trying to figure out like, “What do they want?” Typically, I’ll see things like, “I help women lose weight so they can have energy and be calm.” Do people who want to lose weight want energy and to be calm? Maybe their energy is fine, maybe they’re not anxious. That doesn’t connect.
We know that when you put things in place that help people lose weight, they’re going to have all these other side effects that are positive like getting more energy, being calmer, having more clarity, clearing their skin, and all these things, but they’re hyper-focused on their weight loss. What do they want? Try to think of what the weight loss is preventing them from doing. It’s probably preventing them from feeling confident and feeling comfortable in their clothes. Maybe everything is super tight and they are uncomfortable. Maybe it is affecting their sex life and their ability to go out and date.
You’ve got to think about how is it truly affecting them because ultimately, that is going to be what they want, the opposite of that. If you help women lose weight, what do they want? Maybe they want to fit into their skinny jeans. Maybe they want to feel confident in their dating life. Maybe they want to feel sexy in the bedroom. You’ve got to think about how is that problem interfering with their life because what they truly want is the opposite. Once you figure that out, you can put it all together and suddenly, you are saying your niche statement in one sentence, which is what I want you to do. That’s question number one. Can you say it in two sentences or less? If you are endlessly explaining it or people look confused, that’s not a good thing.
Is It A Legit Worry For Your Person?
Question number two, is it a legit worry for your person? I see a lot of people niching in things that are minor problems. Yes, people will pay for you to solve minor problems but they will not pay the big bucks. Yes, people will pay to get help from the nutritionist to get a better diet, but they’re not going to pay much for that. They might pay a couple of hundred bucks. We’re trying to build a business. We want to be selling packages that we can charge at least $1,000 for but eventually, $4,000 or $5,000 for.
It has to be a legit problem because people are only going to pay to get themselves out of pain and suffering. They will pay small amounts of money for small problems but we are going for the big bucks because what we are trying to do is build a sustainable business. One that does not burn you out, one that gives you freedom. If you can only charge low ticket prices for what you’re offering, you’re going to have to work like a terrorist. It needs to be a legit worry for your person. It has to be a real problem.
You want to imagine your person lying in bed at night losing sleep over this because if they’re not losing sleep over it, then they’re not going to pay you money for it. It can’t be something like eat healthier. It can’t be something like optimize health. No one is lying awake in bed at night being like, “I need to optimize my health. I can’t sleep.” No one said that ever. If they did, I’d like to meet this person. It needs to be a real problem. It needs to be interfering with their life. It needs to be preventing the quality of life that they want. It’s not allowing them to do things that they truly want to be doing.
It needs to be something that is constantly on their mind where they’re like, “I need to figure this out. This is a big problem.” If we use the example of acne, that is a big problem. I struggled with acne. I used to have acne and it was debilitating. It totally ruined my life for the better part of 10 to 15 years. I was self-conscious and I hated looking in the mirror. I avoided bright lights and I was constantly aware of it. I was so anxious and I was afraid to leave the house sometimes. I feel terrible about myself. I cried all the time.
It legit affected my mental health and I paid thousands of dollars to fix that. Even today, I go get a facial. Every month, I get a bunch of weird treatments like laser and micro-needling. I do all these weird things with my aesthetician because it keeps my skin clear getting those regular facials. Even though they’re $100 to $150 every time I go, it’s 100% worth it because I don’t want to go back to when I had bad skin and I felt like crap. That is a legit worry. It’s a legit problem. It has to be a real problem.
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I want to take a quick break from this episode to tell you about my free Create Your Money-making Niche Workbook. If you’re struggling to determine your ideal client, and most people do, I want to help you. Did you know that your ability to choose a niche is one of the biggest things that is going to determine your success as an online coach? This is 100% true, I promise. Once you know who you’re talking to, everything’s going to get a lot easier. You will be clear on what type of content to create and what freebie to create. Plus, your ideal clients will know that you can help them and they will be excited to sign up for your paid offer. My workbook will give you my step-by-step formula for determining your money-making niche so that you can start attracting new clients online instead of repelling them. Who doesn’t want that? You can grab my free workbook at Go.KendraPerry.net/niche-workbook.
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Is It In Their Own Words?
Ask yourself, “Is my person lying awake at night losing sleep and stressing about having this problem and they need to fix it?” If you cannot picture them doing that, you don’t have a problem and you’re going to have to tweak your niche. That’s number two. Is it a legit worry for your person? Number three, is it in their own words? This is another place that coaches tend to get tripped up because we’re super nerdy and super geeky. We have all this education and we’re excited about what we know, but if it doesn’t meet them where they’re at and if it’s not in their own words that they would say, then it’s not going to connect.
This is where I see things like optimize your health, take your health to the next level, be the best version of yourself. I never say be the best version of myself. Have you ever said that? Most people don’t say that. It has to be something that they can relate with and has to be in their own words. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this on the podcast before, but one of the most powerful things that you can do as a new business owner is market research. Find people with the problem that you want to solve and interview them. Ask them to hop on a call for 20 to 30 minutes. You’re not pitching them. You’re not trying to sell to them or anything. You were legit just asking them questions.
See how they describe their problems and what they truly want. Ask them questions like how would you describe your problem in five words? What has been your experience? How is this preventing you from enjoying your life? What would you ultimately want? What would be the best-case scenario? These are great questions to ask people because you’ll find out what words they’re using. If you do that 5 to 10 times, you get super brownie points, but that’s going to be powerful because you’re going to know the words that they use to describe their problem. That is going to not only help you with your niching, but it’s going to help you with your messaging.
When I say messaging, it’s everything you do. It’s how you show up online, deliver content and support your people. That is your messaging and it needs to connect to them. Make sure you are not using what I call nutritionist language. Nutritionist language is this vague, non-specific language that we understand as health coaches or nutrition professionals or practitioners. The real-world people, the laypeople, the people who are trying to help are like, “Sorry, what? I don’t know what that is.” That’s number three. Is it in their words?
Does It Focus On The Problem/Outcome And Not The Method?
The fourth one, does it focus on the problem/outcome and not the method? Another one where people are getting tripped up a lot. Your niche is not your method. The method is not the niche. The method is the way in which you help people get from A to B, so from sick to healthy. That might look like essential oils, dietary changes, lifestyle changes, mindset, massage, Reiki and energy work. Those are all methods but they are not the niche. Yes, your method is important but from a niche perspective, you don’t want to put that in there because it confuses people. If you’re like, “I help women heal their acne by healing their guts,” healing the gut is the method by which you help women clear their skin.
Think of your niche like a billboard. It’s a billboard on the side of the highway, you’re driving by and you have five seconds to capture people’s attention. That’s probably going to confuse people because if people don’t understand the skin gut connection, then they’re going to be like, “I have acne but my gut is cool. I don’t have gut issues, so that’s not for me.” Little do they know that sometimes, you don’t have gut symptoms and you still have gut issues, and healing the gut is important regardless of gut symptoms. It gets confusing for people. Plus, your method is going to be ever-evolving and ever-changing.
We are nerds to the core. We love continuing education, professional development and learning more. Over time, your method is going to shift based on how you evolve in your health journey or professional journey. Maybe at some point, you’re going to do a course in essential oils and you’re going to be like, “These essential oils are so powerful. I want to add them to your program,” and that’s cool. Your method can be ever-evolving and ever-changing but your niche stays the same. Coming back to this acne example, maybe over time I’m like, “I focus on gut healing but I’ve learned that mindset is huge and a lot of people with acne have this terrible mindset. I need to do this mindset training so I can bring that into my program.”
Maybe you’re like, “I’ve learned this energy healing and I’ve learned that a woman with acne has a lot of energetic blocks, so we’re going to bring in some energetic healing into my program.” That’s great. The method is changing and it’s ever-evolving, but your niche statement that is on your social media bios, profiles and your website stays the same, “I help women with acne and get clear skin so they can feel confident and beautiful.” The method is not the niche. Take the method out of the niche statement. Think of your niche as the billboard and you’ve got five seconds to capture their attention, so it needs to be quick, two sentences or less. It needs to be an actual problem that people have and it needs to be in their words or they’re going to just keep on driving by. That was number four. Does it focus on problem/outcome and not method?
Is It Understandable To A Ten-Year-Old?
Number five, is it understandable to a ten-year-old? This comes back to that being clear and concise because you do want it to be understandable to a ten-year-old. You want to be able to say it to a ten-year-old and have them be like, “Cool,” or whatever. It should be that easy to understand that a young child can figure it out. It’s important. This comes back to me at the beginning. When people are like, “What do you do?” You’re like, “I do functional health. I run all these labs and I help these people. It’s like this but occasionally, I do this.” Your ten-year-old doesn’t have the attention span for that. They’re gone. It needs to be incredibly understandable. If you have a ten-year-old human in your life, say your niche statement to them. That’s a great test. That’s number five. Is it understandable to a ten-year-old? Just to recap, can you say it in two sentences or less? Ideally, one sentence. Remember, the three aspects of a good niche statement are person, problem, outcome.
Number two, is it a legit worry for your person? Is it a problem that keeps them awake at night and drastically interferes with their life? Number three, is it in their own words? Not your words, not nutritionist language, not these vague health coach terms in words that they use. You don’t know what words they use. Interview some people with that problem. Number four, does it focus on the problem/outcome and not the method? How you do it and how you get them there is going to be changing and ever-evolving, but that is not the niche. That is what sits behind the niche.
Number five, is it understandable to a ten-year-old? All the young humans out there should be able to understand what you do when you say your niche statement. If you don’t have a ten-year-old in your life, you can still do this test. Ask a friend if they understand. Say your niche statement to a friend who doesn’t have a health background and see if they have follow-up questions. You want to want them to have minimal follow-up questions. You want to be like, “Okay.” I went and picked up my brand-new fat bike. Think of it like a bike built for biking in the snow. It’s totally crazy, but that was my panicked December-buy when they started shutting down gyms and yoga studios.
I went to the bike shop to pick it up and the guy asked me, “You have a business, don’t you? What do you do?” I said, “I help health coaches and practitioners build their online business.” It’s quick. His only follow-up question was, “Do you help them with websites?” I said, “No. I help them with online marketing, messaging and social media.” He was like, “Cool. Great.” He totally understood it. People might ask you follow-up questions about the method like, “How do you actually do that?” He understood that I help health coaches build their online business. If he ever meets a health coach who is struggling to build their online business, he might think of me and send them my way.
I hope that makes sense. Niching is so important. Don’t glaze over niching, and make sure that your niche is incredibly clear. If you want help in your business, we’re going to be launching Health Coach Accelerator, which is my 90-day signature group experience, which is all about niching, branding, messaging, building out your signature offer, social media and content creation. Also, getting that email list up and running and bringing in new subscribers. That is what we do inside Health Coach Accelerator.
I feel like this is my life’s work. I am excited about this program. We are going to be launching, so make sure to get on the waitlist. Go to Go.KendraPerry.net/hca-waitlist. If you need help with anything and you’re not ready to go through the whole life-changing program with me, Niche Like a Boss is my mini-training that you can get for a decent price. That will walk you through how to choose a profitable niche. I will give you my entire Profitable Niche Self-assessment. I will give you 55 profitable niches, so you can choose one off the list. We will go through my five-step process that helps you choose a niche that is both aligned and feels good in your soul.
We’re going to talk about how to do that market research and how to make sure your niche is profitable. If you like this episode, I like to hang it on Instagram. Share it to your Instagram stories with your take-homes what you learned, what was the biggest golden nugget that I talked about. Make sure to tag @KendraPerryInc so I can thank you personally because I want to know who you are and I want to chat with you inside my direct message. I would love to personally thank you for reading the show. I hope you have a fantastic New Year’s, whatever that looks like this year 2020. I will see you in the next episode, same time, same place where I help you go from broke AF to wealthy AF.
