The book, Nail Your Niche: The 7 Ingredients of a Six-Figure Online Coaching Business, was written by Brian Ellwood in 2022.
This is a book I accidentally came across. I was looking for a book about Coaching, and there were many recommendations. It turns out the book talks about how to develop virtual Coaching businesses online. Of course, I learned from reading it (otherwise, there would be no summary here). I believe that almost every theoretical book has something to learn from, and many can learn from the proposed method, even if their journey is unrelated to the internet, coaching, and the web. You are welcome to read it.
Even in an era with such significant changes, infrastructure and foundations remain more stable and need to be defined and established.
Developing a successful online coaching business includes defining and refining the following seven foundational components:
Purpose
Population
Niche
Promise
Your message when marketing the service
Selecting clients from the population
Differentiation
To support business development, Ellwood helps us think about:
Strategies to attract an audience
Communication
Ourselves
And... Ellwood suggests considering taking the profession you specialize in and training others to develop their knowledge instead of practicing it directly. In his opinion, coaching businesses in general and those online in particular is the most promising approach.
I recommend reading the summary and, subsequently, the entire book. It might help you in your activities, provide a different perspective, or even assist someone you know. Either way, there's something to learn, and the book is practical, short, and easy to read.
Purpose
Ellwood (and I - M.L.) follow Simon Sinek's approach: Start With Why.
How do you find the "What For", that mission you will promote?
Prepare a short list of 5 past stories that influenced you the most.
Distill, preferably with the help of a trusted partner, the central themes included in these stories.
Formulate a mission statement, even if it's not perfect. Start using it and refine it along the way. Ensure that you include your contribution and the impact you will have on the world in the mission.
Example of a mission: To create a world connected and abundant with love.
Defining the "What For" mission will serve as a basis and inspiration for the products you want to offer; they should include it and present a response that advances it.
The mission will serve you as a compass - for making decisions, in general.
Population
You don't choose family - but clients you can and should choose!
Ellwood suggests choosing clients you'll love to serve and with whom you'll love to be friends.
Despite the temptation for all of us not to choose a demographic and serve everyone, it's worth focusing. Although the overall potential is lower, the bottom line, as Ellwood teaches, is higher.
Choosing a population allows targeting them: through sponsored awareness, tailored messages, collaborations, and more.
Choosing the population should be done with a clear, verifiable criterion.
A good example of population selection - selling real estate coaching to dentists.
And a poor example - selling real estate coaching to trainees who want to expand their services.
Of course, with success, you can add populations or expand the definition, but patience - start narrow; expand later.
Niche
Ellwood suggests defining a niche by choosing the content area you will coach. (Reminder: The book discusses developing coaching businesses, but the messages can be expanded to many fields.—M.L.)
Here too, as in choosing the population, Ellwood suggests being modest and starting with a narrow, not too broad niche.
Choose a niche in which you already have skills. This will ensure credibility, allow you to be more confident in your offering, and help you succeed in implementing it.
Is it preferable to stick to what you're already good at or a field you're passionate about? There's no definitive answer, and it seems that a balance between the two is best, but there's no doubt that Ellwood gives extra weight to passion.
Promise
The promise is a clear, easily distinguishable result to which you will promise to take your trainees.
Example: Reaching $10,000 in monthly income from the activity.
Of course, clients need to have confidence that you can lead them to their goals—as long as there are no significant surprises outside our control (e.g., climate change, war).
Be credible and open - promise what you can; don't promise anything else. At the beginning of your journey, make modest promises; as you develop and succeed in implementation, consider raising the bar of expectations and promises.
Be clear about the boundaries, to what extent you help achieve goals, and to what extent you are just guiding the client, and he is responsible for implementation. It's okay to help the client, even if you want to build their capabilities, but limit this.
If you have a client who wants to achieve a significant goal that you believe is too far and too big, break it down into stages. Then, see what can be advanced now and what tools they have to achieve each desired stage. You might even be surprised to discover that breaking it down makes even the big goal achievable and implementable.
If not, try to define a more modest goal for now jointly.
Be aware of how confident the client feels at each stage of the conversation; this is another reason why authenticity and transparency are essential.
Your message when marketing the service
When marketing the service, your message should be clear so the potential user feels they are receiving something tangible and will achieve measurable results—QER: Quantifiable End Results.
Be specific in your message:
There are three overarching domains in which clients are willing to invest more, even if they are not in a critical need situation: health, well-being, and interpersonal relationships. Ensure that the message relates to one of these three overarching domains (for example: lose weight.)
Add a time frame (for example: within 3 months.)
There is a difference between what is requested and what is received. As a first step, we must understand that we are selling customers what they want. It may sound trivial, but it is far from simple, as there are few cases where what the customer requests is what they truly need. Even if you understand this as expert consultants, you must communicate messages related to what the client is seeking during the sales stages, while keeping the offer and message broad and general enough to act in the right way that will indeed lead the client to their goal, and through their authentic needs.
Selecting clients from the population
At this stage of business development, you can focus even more on the clients you will work with.
Focus on the clients according to their starting point and where they are currently when you are helping them.
Again, this choice narrows the population but increases sales, as potential clients will feel more comfortable knowing someone is assisting them precisely at their point of need.
Is it preferable to choose someone at an initial point or specifically prefer clients in an advanced stage?
The advantage of those in the initial stage is that it seems easier to help them. On the other hand, beginnings are slow in many fields.
As mentioned above, ensure that you have chosen a client group you will enjoy working with.
Differentiation
The last stage of business development is the more advanced one - differentiation and precision of your unique angle.
Differentiation is essential for them to understand your "magic" and allow you to succeed, even if the general market is crowded.
Three possible differentiation directions are proposed:
A unique mechanism of action. For example, weight loss can be achieved through a musical approach.
A unique population (not yet addressed). For example: selling assets to families wanting to live together.
A unique way of activity (similar to #1, but a sub-mechanism). For example: yoga as a health tool with unique exercises.
Brand your differentiation and externalize it simply with a cool name.
Business development and differentiation are not one-time processes. Later, refine the proposed value proposition repeatedly.
Support for business development
Strategies to attract an audience
As mentioned - not the book's main topic, but since we know that having a good solution is not enough to attract people, Ellwood suggests three strategies for attracting an audience:
Organic growth: Progressing individually, in a "manual" way.
Collaborations: Working with potential clients and influencers, and reaching their audiences through them.
Sponsored advertising: Highly recommended, not as an initial stage, but certainly later. Makes a significant difference.
Ourselves
Thinking about ourselves means...
Engaging in something we truly love. If our financial situation is not too bad, we should be brave enough to leave other occupations and connect with our heart.
Engaging in things we are passionate about, and expressing this passion.
Do not be afraid of those who are considered GURUs in the field. You also have advantages—you are more accessible and available.
Remembering that you can expand your offerings over time (clients also progress, and then it will be easier to offer them more services.)
Read the book critically and adopt the parts that serve you best.
Enjoying the journey as well.
Work on business development in the right way that is adapted to you. And succeed.
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