Ready to start your own business, but you haven't landed your niche yet, you're not alone. It is one of the biggest places people get hung up. There are so many aspiring entrepreneurs know that they have the skills and drive to create a business, but something feels off. Maybe you're even in the camp of knowing you want to create a transformation for others, you're just not quite sure on what that is...Here are 7 ways to ensure you find the perfect niche for you and your business!
What is a Niche
It's your specialty!
A niche is a segment of the market with a high demand and low supply. Merriam Webster defines a niche as, "a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted."
Finding your niche is a process that will continue to evolve and change. Finding your niche can take weeks, even months. Don't rush the process, instead do the inner work to get clear on what you really want!
Niche Criteria
A good niche should be:
- Aligned with your passion
- All about the result you wanna create for others
- Opportunities for lots of sales
- High profit margins
- Low in Supply (this may be your specific result or audience)
- In line with your skill-set
Want to just Skip to Good Stuff? Download your Ultimate Guide to Find the Perfect Niche for your Business Today!
This guide will walk you discovering your strengths, your weaknesses, your passions and opportunities while giving you the tools to ensure your business niche will be profitable and clearly defined.
By further understanding what you want, and who you wanna serve, you can narrow in on your business idea so that you create a business that you will enjoy in the long term.
Here are 7 Ways to Find Your Niche
Step 1: Know your Strengths
We all have innate strengths. You are a powerhouse, you are unique! Strengths are talents that come to us naturally. That zone of genius where when you are doing something that comes easy, so much that time just flies by!
In order to overcome any self-doubt and get to the root of what we are good at, it is important to go back to what you love to do and what feels effortless.
Skills can be learned behaviors; however, strengths are innate and are part of your being.
“Gallup analysis reveals that people who use their strengths every day are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life, six times more likely to be engaged at work, 8% more productive and 15% less likely to quit their jobs” (Gallop, 2015).
Don't know what YOUR strengths are?
I highly recommend taking the Strength Finders 2.0 (affiliate link). I've done this twice and it is spot on in defining my personality, my strengths and what I am naturally good at. It dives deep into your top 5 strengths and provides you with the ability to read further into how to utilize that knowledge in your career. Check it out here, it packs a punch compared to the price you pay.
Examples of Strengths
When I define strengths, I mean those personality traits that are part of your make-up.
Are you a good listener? Do you thrive when your able to teach others? Are you a creative that is motivated by putting your ideas on paper? Do you flourish when you are around others or its it when you have time to yourself to think?
Step 2: Know your Skills
Take an inventory of your skill-set and your expertise. What are the primary skills that you have built up throughout your career?
They may be systems, software, industry knowledge or more conceptual fields like user experience, communication, or business strategy.
Take specific experiences in your professional career that you are proud of and highlight those achievements.
Step 3) Realize your passions
You may or may not know what you are passionate about.
Take a minute and jot down the things that you love, the things that make your day, the things that you enjoy doing.
Take note of what you identified as your strengths earlier and identify if you enjoy these things.
Write down the topics that make you excited, interactions that feel natural, the people that intrigue you, the influences that drive you.
Once you have written these down (yes, you need to write them down), circle the ideas that stand out to you.
From there, zero in on your future and what you are doing right now in your career or do they align with your vision for the future?
Not sure what direction you want to go in? Let's define your vision more clearly.
Step 4: Define your Vision
Here are a couple of ways to become more clear on your vision:
1) Create a Vision Board
A vision board is a visual representation of the dream you are looking to achieve. It is a really easy way to begin to manifest your goals.
Be sure to incorporate those things you are passionate about as well as your vision for your future business idea.
Steps to creating a Vision Board that works:
- Prepare your supplies: magazines, scissors, color printer, tape or glue, and markers.
- It might also be helpful to create a Pinterest board with images, colors, ideas and words that invoke your vision.
- Note: You do not need to print things out, however sometimes it is easier when you are able to print a specific idea from an online source or your Pinterest account if you cannot find it readily available in magazines.
- Choose the pictures that invoke emotion and be specific. You can also use words to help represent your vision and or trigger the feeling you are looking to achieve. Place your vision board in a place that you will consistently see.
- Do not put your board in a public place, rather a place that is yours such as an office or a room that you are in often. This will give you a daily reminder of your goals.
2) Journal
If the vision board seems a bit out there to you, feel free to utilize a journal.
Putting things on paper has a way of telling the brain that this is a real tangible idea/thought/vision/action.
Use this journal to describe your vision and your passions.
What have you been pondering as a business idea? If there are multiple ideas, write those down.
Envision what you want your life to look like and be specific. It's more about the life you want to create and what that perfect day in 5 years looks like.
Identify the themes in your thoughts and narrow in on those themes.
Get clear on what you want.
- Be sure to include everything that comes to mind, do not edit your words in this process.
- Use all of your senses
- Attach ideal deadlines to represent the optimal scenario you are looking to achieve.
- Ask yourself these questions and write down all that comes to mind: What does your vision feel like, look like, smell like, and sound like? What are your needs versus wants? Write these down!
- Thought Starters:
- What books and magazines are you reading?
- Out of your friends’ jobs, which one are you most jealous of? Why? What do you like about it?
- What’s the one thing you’ve been talking about doing forever, but haven't done?
- What do you spend your leisure time on?
- What are some of your favorite things? Why?
- What are the things you look forward to doing on the weekends?
- Are you a member of any subscriptions services?
- What types of genres of music and or TV shows do you watch?
- Now, identify any patterns that you may have found in your answers.
- Then prioritize the list and get specific on your answers narrowing down to 5 topics.
Step 5: Your Point of View
When it comes to your niche and understanding what makes you stand out and different form others who are in your industry.
A great way to do that is envision you are sitting with your best friend at the bar or coffee shop and they ask you what frustrates you about your industry.
Write down those things that frustrate you in your industry. This is your unique point of view and what will make you stand out.
Get clear and what you would do differently & why the result you would create for your customers would be better than others.
Step 6: Refine Your Ideas
Now pinpoint all of the intersections!
Write down the intersection of your strengths, skills, passions, vision, point of view & what you believe in for your customer.
What are the repeating themes that keep coming up?
Now you must narrow in on three to five ideas of what you want to do based on these intersections.
Another concept you may want to add to this list is identifying a problem.
If there is a problem or issue that you have found within a product or service that you currently use.
Maybe it is the problem you are seeing in your industry that you feel you could do better.
Another impactful exercise that may be helpful is to combine two or more of the ideas or concepts that are in your list and formulate a new idea.
For more on this exercise click here for my free workbook or enter your email below for a free download.
Once you have gotten clearer on the, "what," you would like to do. Take those concepts and ideas and choose the one or two that is the most appealing.
Step 7: Define your Target Audience
The next step is to narrow in on the "who," i.e.) the audience you would like to target.
Try to target a specific person.
In fact, your customer may actually be a lot like you!
In order to sell your idea, the result you are trying to create for your customer, then you have to get clear on who you want to work with and what their problems are.
Know what makes them tick. What are they feeling? What are their tangible problems and internal struggles surrounding your solution?
You'll eventually want to develop a personal relationship and brand loyalty with your customer. That said, the more you work to understand them and define them the more likely this business concept will be successful.
Next Steps
Download my free guide to help you sort through finding your niche and getting clear on what business idea is right for you.
Still need help sorting through your thoughts?
You're not alone! Most of my clients come to me when they know the direction they want to go in, but are so close to it that they can't find the answer.
Sometimes it's just easier to talk to someone who can look at it from an objective point of view, ask you the right questions and pull those passions and ideas out of you.
If this is you, working through your niche, offers and business structure is my jam. I would love to chat with you! Click here to find a time that works and finally take the stress off your shoulders!
Take Aways
Your most important takeaway....
Ensure that your niche meets your expertise, strengths, passions and motivations. Do the inner work to get clear on you and that business idea will become more and more concrete each day!
Today we covered:
- Know your strengths
- Understand your skills
- Realize your passions
- Define your vision
- Clarify your life goals and ambitions
- Get clear on your point of view
- Define your target audience
Not quite there yet & a call isn't exactly the next step for you? Download my workbook and it will help you get clear on those beautiful ideas and narrow in on your niche!
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