Choosing a coaching niche can take a minute or a decade – seriously! I’ve seen coaches struggle with this ever since I began working in this field.

If you’re struggling to find your own coaching niche, start by focusing on a profession or an industry – yes, even if you’re a life coach! – then create solutions just for this group of people.

Here’s a list of 75 professions you may find helpful to browse through:

1. Accountants
2. Admissions Counselors
3. Administrative Assistants
4. Advertising Professsionals
5. Architects
6. Art Directors
7. Audit Director
8. Bankers
9. Bookkeepers
10. Brand Managers
11. Business Owners
12. Business Planners
13. Chefs
14. Coaches
15. Computer/Technology Specialists
16. Consultants
17. Controllers
18. Creative Artists
19. Critics
20. Corporate Employees
21. Couples
22. Economists
23. Educators
24. Engineers
25. Entrepreneurs
26. Environmental Planners
27. Executives (wide range of industries)
28. Financial Analysts
29. Financial Consultants
30. Fitness Instructors
31. Fund Raisers/Corporate Developers
32. Headhunters
33. Health Care Administrators
34. Homemakers
35. Human Resource Managers
36. Insurance Sales
37. Interior Designers
38. Internet Consultants
39. Investment Bankers
40. Lawyers
41. Librarians
42. Management Consultants
43. Managers (wide range of industries)
44. Marketing Professionals
45. Media Executives
46. Merchandisers
47. Museum/Cultural Administrators
48. Non-Profit Executives
49. Operations Managers
50. PR Executives
51. Parents
52. Physicians
53. Professionals(wide range of industries)
54. Professors
55. Programmers
56. Project Managers
57. Proposal Specialists
58. Publishers
59. Real Estate Executives
60. Researchers
61. Restauranteurs
62. Retirees
63. Retailers
64. Sales Executives
65. Salesmen
66. Students
67. Systems Analysts
68. Tax Associates
69. Teachers
70. Theater Critics
71. Traders
72. Translators
73. Wall Street Executives
74. Web Designers
75. Writers

You network, speak, write, collect business cards… Eventually, you end up with a list of people you can enter into your database – great!

You decide to send out an announcement about your new program or product, but the results are simply disappointing — no sign-ups. What’s wrong? Is it your product? Is it your announcement? Is it you?

The answer is in your mailing list. To make your list respond to your announcement, they need to share common problems and goals. They need to belong to the same group of people, target audience, a niche.

Unfortunately, most of these people have only one thing in common–they know you. No wonder no one “jumps” on the opportunity to buy.

So what do you do with a list you built from dozens of different sources?

You survey!

Find out what they have in common, what their biggest problem is, and what do they most want to know. Then offer it to them in a form of a coaching program or product. (Be sure to give them a way to leave your list, or they’ll be sorry they ever met you People who need to be on your list will stay.)

Next time you send something out to your mailing list of 500 people, and don’t get a single sale, think about what attracted these people to you in the first place. Your business card? Your new program? Or just a free cup of coffee?

The only way to get great results from an announcement to your database is to announce something the majority of them care about.  Since a mailing list is not a niche, your goal is to survey and filter it.

You know for sure your mailing list is a niche when all people came to you through the same method – by requesting a special report from your web site, by hearing you speak at a specific seminar, by purchasing a specific product from you…Keep these lists separately, segment everyone on your list! When the time comes to e-mail your product announcement, you’ll be able to choose which sub-list will be most interested in it. And the results will show!

For more specific niche ideas, check out my Coaching Niche Toolkit.

If you feel like getting clients is a struggle, I can almost guarantee it’s because you’re not working in any specific niche market. Let’s do a quick reality check. Have you experienced any of these challenges lately?

• Too few client referrals
• Don’t know what to say on your web site
• Products don’t sell well
• Low confidence in your skills
• Feeling like a fraud
• Clients don’t see value in coaching
• No strong strategic alliances partners
• Don’t know where to spend time networking
• Sending a newsletter brings no clients
• Submitting articles generates poor results

I found that most of the problems coaches have arise from lack of a good niche. In fact, Discover Your Perfect Coaching Niche toolkit has been my best-selling product for many years.

Here are the 8 little-known coaching niche success secrets to keep in mind when choosing a niche market:

1) Focusing on a specific niche will allow you to concentrate your marketing efforts in a particular area.

2) Instead of limiting you, it can help position and brand your business.

3) You will be able to develop more targeted marketing materials that speak directly to your ideal clients.

4) Even if you target a certain group, you can still coach other people outside your niche.

5) Having a niche will increase your chances of getting referrals. If someone can’t describe what you do and whom you help, they won’t be able to refer people to you.

7) Let your niche find you, but don’t wait too long. Pay attention to the types of clients who hire you as a coach. You may soon discover that some of them fall into one or more groups.

Multiple niches are fine. Eventually, you may find that one of the several niches you work in is more enjoyable, profitable and easiest to reach.

Choosing a niche might be one of the most frustrating things when you start your business, but when you finally do it – everything falls into right places and your coaching business begins to flourish like never before.

Discover Your Breakthrough Coaching Niche: Find Your Perfect Niche and Experience the Freedom and Excitement of Being the ‘Go to Coach’ In Your Field in Just a Few Short Months

Gary Vaynerchuk, the Wine Library guy, says: “What do you want to do every day for the rest of your life? Do it!”

Thousands of people walk through life completely blind to their unique talents, trying to master something they might never master entirely, and most importantly, they go through life struggling.

But what if you could figure out what you’re really good at already and master THAT?

What would that do to your life? Money? Success? Reputation?

Most people in the world are unhappy and not successful, and that is because they’re trying to master something they were never meant to master.

Clearly, these lions are still learning what they can and cannot do. Or rather, what they’re born to do naturally, and what they should stay away from. Chances are, if they keep trying, they’ll get better at it. But most soon realize that it’s easier to use their natural abilities … and instead of trying to climb a tree to go after a baboon, they simply chase a zebra.

Unfortunately, many humans never realize what their natural abilities are and keep trying to strengthen their weaknesses, ignoring the abilities they were born with and could master much faster and be much more successful in business and in life.

Every highly successful person you hear about has recognized what they’re great at and harnessed their unique talent. Just off the top of my head…

Donald Trump – negotiating deals;
Stephen King – writing mysteries and thrillers;
Celine Dion – performing;
Abe Lincoln – leading;
Oprah Winfrey – connecting and inspiring;
Nido Qubein – inspiring and motivating (my favorite speaker of all times!);
Seth Godin – challenging standards and innovating.

A natural ability is NOT your niche.

A natural ability is NOT your topic of expertise.

A natural ability is what you do best and it will dictate your business model: what you do every day, how you structure your offerings, and what to charge premium fees for.

Lynda-Ross Vega

According to Lynda-Ross Vega, who’s been studying personality success potential for over 25 years, every person on the planet comes with a certain set of natural abilities.  And unless you recognize and use yours, chances of you success are going to limited. Everyone has a natural ability, but most people just never take time to discover what theirs is.

When you go to school, you study all subjects and all skills to become a well-rounded adult. So it’s sort of against our belief system to focus on one specific skill or ability that each of us was born with. The problem is that when we focus on something that’s not in our natural ability, we have to work much harder to achieve results.

Lynda-Ross Vega and her partner Gary Jordan spent 25 years studying personalities, and what makes people succeed, and they help people unlock what’s been holding them back by simply understanding their natural talents and abilities.  I invited them to the upcoming Coaching Millions Super Summit to guide you in the process of discovering YOURS.

They ‘ll show you how to build your coaching business around your natural abilities  and how to attract the types of clients you love to work with. But also how to increase your level of success in every area of your life, business, and relationships.

Have you discovered what YOUR unique ability is? Your “personal brilliance zone?”

Want to be happy?

Want to make lots of money?

Then spend 80% of your time inside your “personal brilliance zone” and watch your entire world transform!

Discover Your Unique Ability

Here’s a quick exercise to get you started – answer these questions:

1. What have you been paid the most money for in your life?

2. What can do for hours without noticing time go by?

3. What would you do all day long (other than goof around) without getting paid?

I’d be creating products, workbooks, programs, and teaching them to others And, I could TOTALLY do it all day long without getting paid…if only someone else could pay my bills!

Milana’s Unique Ability

My unique ability that comes to me naturally is taking complex concepts and creating clarity around them. I do that through creating my coaching products, live events, retreats, strategy sessions, and in conversations with my clients. My brain is constantly searching clarity and I used to take it for granted.

It might sound too “coachy”, but that’s exactly why clients pay me the big bucks – to take something overwhelming, mind-boggling, something they can’t wrap their mind around, and break it down into simple steps!

Just spent a half-work walking listening to Tom Antion’s “Outsorcing Secrets”.

The guy is absolutely brilliant  (well, I already knew that – that’s why he’s speaking at the Coaching Millions Super Summit for the 2nd year in a row!). Lots of great tips and resources for finding people to outsource your projects and virtual assistance on.

I really loved is the way he began the call: “It’s NOT YOUR FAULT!”

What followed next were the top 2 objections entrepreneurs have when it comes to outsourcing (”It’s not good for America” and “I feel bad about paying only $5 an hour for professional work”).

Tom knew exactly what MY two concerns were…he was right on the money, no pun intended.

That is because he really knows his market, their concerns, their *secret* hopes and desires…Only THEN can you really connect with your prospects and target clients. And connect is what Tom does best.  He basically enters a conversation that’s already happening in his prospect’s mind.

So, if you’ve never thought about your target clients and what’s happening in THEIR mind, here are my 3 favorite questions to ask to help understand your prospects:

• What do they spend most of their days worrying about?

• What are they embarrassed to confess about, even to themselves? (compliments of Eben Pegan)
• What would make them drop EVERYTHING and run to get it?

Once you really know the inner-workings of your prospect’s mind, it becomes effortless to talk to her through your web site, articles, teleseminars, and from stage.