Find Your Perfect Niche A simple guide to choosing the right niche for you. by Jason Billows You ve heard it a million times... get a niche. Easily said, but what exactly is a niche, how do you go about finding your niche, and how will that help you to get more clients and build your business? 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 1 of 10
What Is A Niche? You can t choose a niche without knowing what it is, and yet it can be difficult to define in real-world terms. You see, the word niche gets used interchangeably with two other common terms - target market and ideal client. Let s define what each of those terms. Target Market Your target market is the specific group of people or businesses that you serve. For example, your target market may be professional athletes, stay-at-home dads, or yoga instructors. Ideal Client Your ideal client is someone you love to work with because of the qualities, characteristics and values they possess. They are a sub-group of your target market. For example, your ideal client may be someone who is punctual, courageous, hard-working, collaborative and optimistic. Niche Your niche is the specific services you specialize in providing to your target market. For example, you may offer relationship coaching that uses a unique approach, or you may be a plumber that specializes in restaurant plumbing needs. We now have a working definition for these terms, but don t get hung up on them. They share similarities and you ll benefit more by accepting those than trying to define the differences. 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 2 of 10
Find Your Niche So if your niche is the specific services you offer, you may expect that this will be easier than you thought, right? Maybe, and maybe not. You see, most business owners can tell you what services they offer, but they rarely identify those services in specific enough terms. And there are drawbacks to remaining general in your service offerings. Here are 5 of the most significant drawbacks... 1. Potential clients will not see you as an expert or authority, and may assume you aren t as skilled or knowledgeable as a competitor who has been specific in defining their niche. 2. You will have a difficult time standing out and being noticed. 3. You will struggle to find your potential clients because you don t know where they hang out. 4. If you do happen to stumble upon them, you won t be able to communicate with them using language that is specific to their needs and desires. 5. Even if they notice you and your marketing efforts, they won t know that you re there to serve them. 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 3 of 10
Brainstorm Your Niche So choosing a niche may be tougher than you thought. Maybe you re a life coach who hasn t decided if you want to specialize in a niche such as the relationship niche, spirituality niche, or finding your life purpose niche. However, you probably do have a sense of what you re leaning towards, so let s start there with some brainstorming. Take a pen to paper and quickly jot down every possible specialty service you can imagine providing. Don t hold back. Remember, when brainstorming, every idea is a good idea. Spend at least 10 minutes brainstorming every possibility that comes to mind, then look at your list. What stands out? What common themes and patterns do you see? What excites you? And what makes you want to run? Spend another 10 minutes getting a feel for the services that resonate with you most, then create a shortlist of those that you re most interested in exploring. Next you re going to dive deeper into each of your shortlisted niches by creating a Niche Wheel. 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 4 of 10
What Is The Niche Wheel? The Niche Wheel is a simple yet effective tool to quickly assess how fulfilling a particular niche may be for you. It also provides some guidance on which niche may offer the most opportunity. On page 7 you ll find an example of the Niche Wheel which is divided into the following eight wedges. 1. Interest & Passion - How passionate and interested are you to work in this niche? 2. Experience & Expertise - Do you have experience or expertise related to or working in this niche? 3. Training & Credentials - What training or credentials do you possess related to this niche? 4. Connections - Do you have a network and connections to prospects and influencers within this niche? 5. Market Need - Are there prospects with a need for your services within this niche? 6. Market Desire - Are there prospects with a desire or interest in your services within this niche? After all, need and desire are very different. 7. Market Means - Do prospects within this niche have the means to pay for your services? 8. Competition - Is there competition in this niche? This can be a positive. These 8 wedges represent some of the most important considerations when choosing a niche. Notice that wedges 1-4 are related to you, whereas wedges 5-8 are specific to your niche marketplace. 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 5 of 10
Create Your Niche Wheel Creating your Niche Wheel is simple. Seeing the centre of the wheel as 1 and the outer edges as 10, rank your answers to each of the questions represented by the 8 wedges. Then, mark those rankings in each wedge as a curved line to create a new outer edge. For example, if you are extremely passionate about working in this niche, you would draw a line at 9 or 10 in the Interest & Passion wedge. Note that the Competition wedge can be answered in one of two ways. If you view competition as positive because it indicates opportunity in the niche, you would rank it from 1-10 with 10 being the highest ranking. However, if you view competition within this niche as negative because you will be competing against other service providers, rank it from 10-1, with 1 indicating a high level of competition (negative) or 10 indicating a low level of competition (positive). Whichever you choose, remember that this is your wheel. There is no right or wrong. Use the wheel template on the following page to create Niche Wheels for each of your shortlisted niches. Label the wheel with the 8 wedge titles and complete the wheel by adding your rankings for each wedge. See the bottom left corner of page 7 for a visual example of a completed wheel. 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 6 of 10
Niche Wheel Template: <Example of a completed Niche Wheel 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 7 of 10
What Does My Wheel Mean? Take a look at the Niche Wheels you ve created How do they roll? The Niche Wheel is a reflection of how smooth or bumpy your ride will be if you choose to specialize in this area. Is this a wheel that will move forward with ease, or is it a wheel that will create a very bumpy ride? Also notice how full your Niche Wheel is. A wheel with every wedge ranked at 3 may offer a smooth ride, but it won t take you far and probably won t result in a fulfilling work. It is important to note that this exercise is not about keeping score. Adding up the rankings from each wedge and comparing one Niche Wheel s score to another will not be beneficial. The balance and fullness of your wheel is important, but ultimately you should notice which of these niches resonates with you the most. The Niche Wheel is not a formula that will provide you with a single answer. It is a balanced approach to identifying the most important considerations when choosing a niche. 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 8 of 10
What s Next? I Still Don t Know If you still don t know what your perfect niche is, don t worry. It can take time to settle on a niche that resonates with you and is truly fulfilling. If this guide has given you some direction, follow it. Interview other business owners working in the niches you re considering, talk with potential clients, and if possible, begin working in this niche. And during this exploration, remain aware of how fulfilled or unfulfilled you are. I ve Found My Perfect Niche If you re clear on your perfect niche, congratulations! You can now leverage that clarity to identify a target market and find the language to effectively communicate with your ideal clients. Whether you re clear on your perfect niche or you re still exploring, there is more work ahead of you to build a thriving business. Don t waste your time and energy trying to figure out the best way to do that. Visit www.jasonbillows.com for more FREE guides and resources. 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 9 of 10
Book Yourself Solid. I m proud to be one of only a few Elite Level Book Yourself Solid Certified Coaches, trained personally by Michael Port. Book Yourself Solid is the cornerstone of the work I do to help small business owners get more clients in less time, and with less stress. I have created the Book Yourself Solid Masterclass to teach coaches the entire Book Yourself Solid System. It includes 4+ hours of video training, 50+ worksheets, bonus resources, and a members-only forum for peer support. Visit www.jasonbillows.com/masterclass to get more information. Please Share. If you know any entrepreneurs or executives who would benefit from finding the perfect niche, please share this guide with them or encourage them to visit www.jasonbillows.com/niche to get their own FREE copy. Get this and more FREE guides and resources at www.jasonbillows.com 2015 Jason Billows Inc. www.jasonbillows.com 10 of 10