Too many coaches get stuck before they even get started coaching because they cannot pick a target coaching niche. Many of my coach clients have expertise and interests in many niches and cannot choose a single niche to focus on for their coaching business. Others fear that they will narrow the possibilities and that will decrease the chances of getting any clients.

There are two false assumptions involved in this type of thinking. The first false assumption is that once you choose a target coaching niche you are limited to that niche alone and you will not coach in any other areas. The second false assumption is that narrowing you niche limits your ability to fill your coaching schedule with coaching clients.

Why to Choose a Target Coaching Niche

Have you ever noticed that it is hard to talk to someone if you do not know who you are talking to? This is the reason that you must choose a target coaching niche. How are you going to talk to your clients and address their challenges, needs, desires, and goals if you do not know who they are? The answer is you cannot. You must know who your niche is before you can help them.

Once you have chosen a target coaching niche you can do research to discover where to find them in your local market and on the Internet. You can always find a group that focuses on the target coaching niche you have chosen. The advantage of knowing your target coaching niche and knowing where they gather in groups is the ability to communicate with many at once.

Sharing your information is the easiest and best way to gain the trust of potential clients in your target coaching niche. Once you know who you want to reach and you know what their challenges, problems, goals, and desires are then you are in a position to help them overcome their challenges and reach their goals. Simply by recognizing these challenges, desires and goals you are building trust with your potential coaching clients. They see that you understand them and they begin to trust that you can help them.

Analyze Your Possible Niches to Find the Best Niche

Your experience, education, skills, and abilities are all variables that you should examine when you are choosing your target coaching niche. Many times my clients have experience in an area but it is not the area that they want to coach in. Other clients have a lot of experience and informal education in a specific niche but they have no formal training. Often formal training is not necessary. Many people have no formal experience, no education but have apparently innate or God given abilities in a certain coaching niche.

Review all of these areas as you determine what coaching niche will best suit you and your personal ability, education, interest, and skills. Don’t limit you possibilities to the areas where you have formal training or extensive formal experience.

Passion is a key element for success in choosing a suitable target coaching nice. When you are passionate about a niche you will be attractive to potential coaching clients. Passion and enthusiasm are contagious and very attractive. Place the possible niches that you are the most passionate about at the top of your list of potential coaching niches. You passion will contribute a great deal to your success.

Determine if there is a market for the possible target coaching niches you are looking at. It is very difficult to achieve success if there is no market for your services. It is also important to determine if the market that desires your coaching services can afford to pay for coaching. Many possible coaching niches fall into markets that simply cannot afford to pay for coaching.

Define Your Target Coaching Niche

Once you have chosen your target coaching niche it is crucial that you have a clear and accurate definition of the niche. You want to know what their basic demographics like age, income, gender, and education are.

You want to know what their major and minor associated problems and challenges are. You should know what their desires and goals are likely to be. Where do they gather in groups and what are those groups talking about.

The best coaching niches have large numbers of people with similar challenges that gather in groups and forums on the Internet. Large groups of people in your target coaching niche provide a great opportunity for you to reach many potential clients at one time in one place. Your target coaching niche must be available for you to communicate with them.

When you find a target coaching niche that suits your personal experience, skills and passion that is large enough to gather in groups that are filled with potential clients that can pay for your services you have found the niche that will provide you with the coaching business you desire.

Imagine having a schedule full of coaching client, plenty of opportunities to communicate with many groups and gather more prospective clients while you share your information and serve people who are hungry for what you have to offer. Imagine being able to communicate in a way that strike these potential clients in a way that motivates them to make the changes they desire.

The biggest problem coaches have when they are starting out is deciding on and defining a target coaching niche. I had the same trouble because I thought if I narrowed my niche to a specific target then I would be eliminating too many people and it would be more difficult to get coaching clients.

The exact opposite is true and it makes sense when you think about it. How can you relate to any group of people for any purpose if you do not define who you are trying to reach? You can’t and it is that simple. Just like you can’t make everyone happy, you can’t be the right coach for all niches so you must become the best coach for one niche.

There are the criteria we need to judge a possible niche against to determine which niche is the best fit for us as a coach and to eliminate niches that we may be passionate about but have little or no chance of supporting a coaching business.

It may seem obvious that you should have a high interest level in the target coaching niche you choose but many coaches choose a niche based on their experience alone. Many of us have spent years in a particular field,have a great degree of experience and competence in that area but we have lost our passion and interest in the field. Yes choose that niche because it is what we know and because of the level and length of experience we are extremely competent.

This level of interest will most likely not be sufficient to sustain you through the development of an entrepreneurial endeavor. Make no mistake; starting your own business of any type requires a lot of hard work and immense dedication so you better be passionate about it.

Choose a target coaching niche that is so interesting to you that you would consider working in that area even if you did not make any money. Of course you want to make money so you can continue to help others with your coaching but the point remains you must be dedicated and committed to your goals.

Experience in a particular niche can be valuable but experience alone is not enought to justify choosing a particular target coaching niche. Make sure that you choose a coaching niche that excites you and is one that you are passionate about because a high level of commitment is essential to achieving the level of success you desirein your coaching business.

Persuasion is a skill that can be very helpful in coaching. Our goal as coaches is to help the client see past their limiting thoughts and beliefs to achieve their objectives. Sometimes those limiting thoughts and beliefs limit the "sight" of the clients so dramatically that we must help them see any available options and opportunities. The first opportunity we want to help a client see is the value they will receive from coaching.

Robert Caldini wrote the book "Influence-The Psychology of Persuasion." His research suggests that there are laws at work in our society and that we can count on the laws to hold true when it comes to influence and how we interact with others. Let's examine a couple of these laws and see how they can be applied to your coaching business.

The Law of Consistency

This law states that we have an unconscious need to stay consistent. We have a need to be consistent in the things we do, the things we say, the things we believe, and our other behaviors.

So anytime we are placed in a situation or position that violates the law of consistency we have the unconscious need to return to a position of consistency. What does that tell you effective persuasion? It says that as we work with someone we need to work with them in a way that allows them to be consistent.

Every coach starts off differently but I have found that there are certain steps that prove to be effective for most coaches who want to generate some income right away. It is a great idea to begin generating income in your local market so you have ample funds to begin the process of marketing in a bigger scale and so you have some financial security and peace of mind.

Choose Your Target Coaching Niche

This single step is the most important element to the success of your coaching business. Your target coaching niche is the basis from which many key business decisions are made. Take your time and research your potential target coaching niches to choose the one best suited to you that is a viable market segment.

Your target coaching niche must be a potentially profitable market that suits your experience, passion, education, aptitudes, and interests. It is best to use some formal process to determine your target coaching niche. You can use your own process or you can use a process offered by people who have already succeeded in coaching.