Comments on: How to Own Your Coaching Market

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:06:00 +0000

Great article and comments, as always – thanks!

By: Rhonda Hess

Rhonda Hess — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:39:00 +0000

Couples reviving their passion is a great niche market and topic. Before you try to figure everything out in your head, go and interview a bunch of couples about their biggest challenges (clue: the kind they would pay to fix). You want to strike a deep chord to encourage them to listen to you, engage and enroll in your programs. I teach coaches how to interview their market and use that language in their marketing and offers in my Ideal Coaching Market program. Check it out on my site.

By: Rachael

Rachael — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:14:00 +0000

Thank you for the reply Rhonda. And yes, I have been gobbling all your great information up. My husband commented that I seem to have reignited with my coaching and he’s right. I have to thank your work here for that.

No, I’m not a therapist and your questions helped me to brainstorm and better define who it is I want to work with last night. Recovery is certainly the wrong word but one I tend to default to given it was literally a path of recovery for my husband and I to get where we are today. Thank you for questioning this term.

We are lucky in NZ that we don’t tend to have a huge culture of liability claims but I still don’t want to venture into territory that is well out of my depth. What I do want is to help couples revive the passion, commitment and love in their lives together and move away from old patterns that keep them stuck in a “it’s not bad” relationship. My thinking is that I can appeal to those who don’t want to feel ‘broken’ and go down the therapy path which is funny given my words seemed suggest heading that way. I will keep working on my elevator speech until I get just the right angle.

Anyway, THANK YOU again and I will be wandering through the rest of what I haven’t read yet, including your 5 secrets sitting in my inbox ; )

By: Rhonda Hess

Rhonda Hess — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:46:00 +0000

Hey again Rachael. Love connecting with you here and it seems like you’re gobbling up all this great info. Nothing makes me happier! ; ‘ )

I was wondering if you’re a therapist as well as a coach? I noticed your thinking about some therapeutic topics — any kind of “recovery” is usually best left to therapists as they would be the “top of mind” resource for those issues. Plus, you can find yourself in an uncomfortable liability issue coaching about those topics.

So, are you on the “health” or “relationship” track? In any case, be sure to choose a target market that’s viable — easy to find (and I mean 100s of people at a time), narrow and full of seekers — people who do invest money and time into their personal/professional growth. Hope this helps. Did you grab my freebie — 5 Secrets No One Ever Told You About Your Coaching Niche…?

By: Rachael

Rachael — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:54:00 +0000

I get it now!! Your website has been such an eye opener for me! I was trying to avoid a niche so I didn’t limit myself, and getting no where. No with the simple reframe of targeting a market, a ‘who’, the lights have come on.

I really want to coach couples who want support in recovering their damaged relationship but I’m not sure if I need to narrow this more. I initially started out thinking I would work with partners and spouses of addicts but this hasn’t been a well converting niche. I feel like if I broaden it to targeting couple recovering from ANY relationship damage I might do better.

I will work it out. With the fantastic help of your website!

By: Rhonda Hess

Rhonda Hess — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:36:08 +0000

It really is a mindset shift. To go from believing coaching is about expertise to it being about having a thinking partner to draw the client's wisdom out. What drives coaches to try this proven approach is that what they are doing — trying to sell coaching and coaching concepts — doesn't result in a sustainable business. They try this approach and it works! That's because it's all about what the client knows (ie: what your market knows), NOT what you know. Athletes, actors and musicians is 3 huge markets, but you could choose one of them. The question is, would a musician, actor or athletes invest in coaching as a solutions when actors and athletes already have coaches of a sort. Business people really are just people. You might still think you have to know more than they know or coach them about business. Not so. I invite you to let that go.

By: Gettingtofutureyou

Gettingtofutureyou — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:25:30 +0000

Hello Rhonda-Great info everywhere here!

I am having difficulty, however in wrapping my head around the concept of not needing to be an “expert” in the market one chooses for their niche…I see that in one of your examples above a coach chose “financial planners” without knowing about BEING a financial planner. I'm trying to just let it sink in…but my brain is saying “but, but, BUT…….” Athletes, actors and musicians…I can see coaching them, but business people? ack!!! I realize that my brain just needs a clue to get over this block. I will continue reading, listening and learning.