Choosing a Niche and knowing your Ideal Client

When choosing a niche or ideal client, there are several things to consider:

1) Low Hanging Fruit: People who have the pressing problem and want it solved. It is a high priority.

2) People who don’t even know they have the problem until you give them an awareness that THAT is what is causing discomfort in their lives.

For #1 these are the people that are up at 3am worrying about this problem that they have.

However my hypothesis is that if you JUST target the people with the 3am problem, you will miss people who want what you offer, and you might get people who won’t get great results because they are coming to the work from a desperate place instead of a creative place.

Example: when I started my business, what was keeping me up at night was getting new clients. So, yes I hired my first business coach to help me with this, and took programs, but I spun in circles because my mindset wasn’t aligned. I wasn’t ready for the “how to” and I didn’t even know it.  Had I hired someone who worked with me on a mindset in a sneaky way, I might have been super grateful (at the time  – this was several years ago – I remember even telling her I didn’t need to work on the “mindset stuff” – HA!). “Sell them what they want, give them what they need.” After a few business classes, I decided that I needed to just pick a marketing focus and spend time there. So, I hired a speaking coach. So, the underlying problem was still getting new clients, but I came to speaking from a creative place. A desire to be good at speaking, and good at sales, not a desperate place. I think you can hire from a desperate place and get good results, but you have to work with someone who specializes in mindset. If they don’t, you will spin.

After my breakup, I bought everything in sight on breakups and love and self-love. That was keeping me up at 3am.  Obviously, that was ALL mindset. So I think it was a good fit.

Stella Orange calls it the language of “struggle” vs the language of “challenge.” 

Here is my question (and one I have not yet found an answer to): how high of a priority does it have to be for people to be willing to invest? Their time, money, energy — their resources? And does priority = pain? Or can priority be from creation?

And do you want to target people who are only in pain? Who are in creation? Who are 50/50?

When I say target, here is what I mean:

• Messaging
• Resources

Messaging meaning any way you talk about what you do. Elevator pitch at a networking event, to talk titles, to program copy. And resources meaning where you focus your attention and energy – what events you attend, where you spend your money to travel and sponsor or advertise.

So here is the question — how do you spend your RESOURCES on low hanging fruit, while also allowing your messaging to reach both #1 and #2?

More on the journey of niching, ideal client, and target marketing here. 

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The more I step into growing my business, the more I realized it is 90+% mindset. Strategy is important, but will not solve the problem if you constantly find yourself in resistance to what you “should” be doing, overwhelm or at a loss for the next steps or clarity around your big vision. If you want success, and to really enjoy your business, I coach passionate, ambitious women whose current job descriptions are too small for their potential and who are ready to step into their superpowers and express their purpose through their work. If that sounds like you, and you are ready to step into your greatness, learn more and set up a complimentary consultation here.