18: What's Holding You Back From Your Coaching Niche?

This is the last episode in the current season called Smart and Profitable Niches. Show notes and mentions from this episode are at https://prosperouscoach.com/18Because I can tell everybody's really liking the On Air coaching sessions I've been doing with coaches to help them find their niche, I'll keep doing those. They're really fun, arent' they?Unless you're in coach training you don't get to hear other coaches coach. It's a meta world, where you get layers of information. You get to hear how someone else coaches, which is always interesting. You get to hear how someone like you, a coach, is being coached. And it's inspiring to hear people go from confusion to illumination on a topic that you may be challenged by — choosing your niche.Also to look for and interview other coaches who have chosen a unique and narrow niche and who are well into their business. So you can see what it's like, four years, six years, 10 years in or 20 years. As in my case. The Big Mindset ShiftEpisode #7 was popular. I think I know why. It's about a critical mindset shift that I encourage all coaches to make.And when you make the shift, your eyes are opened to how business and marketing works. It comes down to this ... that even though we as coaches love coaching with every fiber of our being ... most other people do not. They either don't know what it is or they have a preconceived notion about coaching — believing it's expensive or elitist or ridiculous because of how media spins the idea of coaching. So, if you are selling coaching, that's what your website is all about and that's what your posts are about, you're going to miss the mark most of the time.Change your mind about what you're selling and about what coaching actually is. It's an amazing skillset but not an outcome people will buy.Sell Outcomes Not CoachingWhat coaches really sell is outcomes. You've heard this but somewhere deep in the heart of you, you may not have really gotten this on the level that you need to. People invest in programs and experiences when they believe that it is going to get them where they want to go. And that's why you need to target an audience and to build your niche around what they want instead of the type of coaching you offer.  There's a misunderstanding about what a coaching niche is and in Episode #8 I busted that myth. Your niche is NOT the over arching area that you want to coach about. That's a track.When coaches hire me many have already chosen what I call their track. By itself, it is not enough to help you attract a steady flow of clients. Your Coaching Track is Not Your NicheIf you know that track, then it gives you an idea of how to narrow your target audience.Some people try to choose all the tracks. I see this on coaching websites where there's a services tab and a menu beneath that with 4 or 5 different coaching tracks.There's no doubt that you are capable of coaching around every topic. But you are not capable of adequately marketing all of those areas. Not choosing indicates that you don't know really what you're doing.Business and marketing is all about choices.Marketing needs to be clear, congruent and consistent. The 3 C's. And that's why you focus it on one audience. ... Find more about how your niche doesn't limit you here.