Whether you are a consultant, coach or a freelancer choosing a niche is one that should happen early stages of your business. Having said that, still today I meet many entrepreneurs that “just want to serve everyone”. I kind of know that feeling and have been guilty of it myself. So what changed my mind and what happened after?
What changed my mind was that I heard successful examples from many entrepreneurs. I analyzed their business model and realized I am actually missing out when I try to “serve the world”. When I did narrow my niche down, I actually sold more of my services than ever before! I was working with right clients and doing perfect projects for me. Before choosing a niche I was doing a bit of everything and working with clients that did not match my ideal client. It is time consuming and does not pay enough compared to the effort necessary.
What is a niche?
A niche is an area of a market you choose to focus on. If you are building or running an online business finding a narrow niche is critical! You want to stand out from the crowd and be different from millions of other websites.
Imagine someone finds your website on Google or Facebook and lands to your website because of an awesome blog post on copywriting for lawyers and after reading your blog post they browse around your website only to find nothing more on the topic and all about copywriting for hairdressers. So they leave… and never come back.
But imagine same scenario and all your content is focused on copywriting for lawyers so this person hangs around much longer, reads about you and your expertize and will most likely also sign up for your newsletter when you have great incentive to do so. This is what we want!
Latter is your target market and already loves your content and is more likely to convert to paying client (make sure you have a funnel ready to monetize it!). In the first scenario, that would never happen. This visitor would never convert to a paying client as they are not interested in beauty stuff you put out. Sure you get bigger website hit number in Google Analytics, but you also had to take a lot of time to write blog post for the wrong audience. Time wasted. Income Lost!
Big Fish in a Small Pond
You may wonder why I am talking about fish here but here’s a great example of what I mean. It is better to be a big fish in a small pond than small fish in a big pond. You see what I mean? When you choose a narrow niche you are the big fish! It is far easier to become a recognized expert in a small area than a large area. Being a recognized expert means… more qualified clients, more income. By saying no to people you actually make more money! Sounds totally wrong, but it is right. Guaranteed.
What is my niche?
I work with entrepreneurs & freelancers who are to the online world and can’t wait to take over their niche and become a recognized expert in it. My previous niche was quite narrow focusing on Upwork freelancers and you may know me from my Upwork courses. It is totally possible to change your niche, and as your business grows it is natural that more people come to your way outside your niche. A narrow niche is just a starting point. As your business grows, so does your niche. This happened to me. Lately more and more coaches and consultants have been around hence it makes sense to expand/divert my niche a bit. Sometimes clients actually tell you what your niche is so have a think about who’s knocking on your door and what do they want.
If you would like little more support on finding your niche on Upwork, check out my Upwork Niche course.
