Developing Your Niche Up to this point you may have been exposed to the practice of personal coaching and thought...hey, I could be a coach. Well you can! Myy intent in this article is to stimulate your thinking as you strive to hold yourself to a higher standard, as you will undoubtedly serve as mentors to your clients.
The definition of “niche" is: an activity or thing for which a person is best suited a habitat supplying the factors necessary for the existence of an organism or species. When you define your “niche" using these parameters, you will identify the connection between your practice niche and your personal aspirations.
Many people come to the field of coaching believing that they can be personally paid for their skills, rather than simply working for and increasing the wealth of their employers. They also see it as a means to do something they have done all their lives for themselves and with their friends. This is a fundamental need we all have: to feel valued for our talents and efforts.
Let’s Carve Your Niche
When identifying your practice, or coaching, niche, your current employment should not be a driving force. For example, you are a plumber working for ABC Plumbing Company. You quit your job and open a practice as the Plumbing Coach. You set up shop, hang out your shingle, and begin to practice. You attract clients, you become known as an expert in the plumbing industry, and provide a unique alternative to building maintenance consulting. Before you know it you have a full coaching practice. But one day, you begin to feel that you have wasted your life and you start to wonder why you are so unfulfilled. After personal introspection and hiring your own personal coach, the light comes on and you realize that plumbing was your trade, not your passion. Your passion is mentoring children with physical defects. You discover that, despite being an expert plumber and having a successful practice, you are simply tired of talking about plumbing. So, now what? Close up shop and follow your passion? NO!
The wise thing for you to do, and for anyone aspiring to enter the coaching profession, is to integrate your professional experience with your passion. Use your present position or experience as a vehicle to drive you toward building a full practice in your chosen niche. Cut your practice objectives into two equal halves: your trade and your passion. Devote quality time and effort to both facets to provide a balanced effort that is sustained by your experience and fueled by your passion. Initially, your passion may not make you rich in terms of material wealth, but it will further enrich your passion. Eventually you will conceive of a new way to fully pursue your passion as your full-time vocation…if that’s what you want. Give it time.
"When the future becomes far more interesting than the present, the destination holds more importance than the journey. So you gradually lose the present, which is where the real gifts are. And the destination, if you ever reach it, is shabbier and much less fun than it looked from a distance."
The Portable Coach
The future is what I once lived for. I lived for the future of this investment, of this opportunity, or the “potential" of that relationship. I have been coached and I have implemented the concepts in coaching in my life. I am amazed how more GLORIOUS my life is now than how I had ever imagined my future!
The field of coaching and its varied niches are as expansive as the human imagination. Studies show more than 46 percent of men and 40 percent of people are still trying to find their personal purpose and some meaning to their lives. Subsequently, a Coach can help all people. Coaches can help people who are pursuing career opportunities, involved in team building, after corporate downsizing, in bereavement, looking for time management skills, seeking new relationships, lonely, ill, or in need of guidance in their search for their spirituality.
According to the book Cool Careers for Dummies, by Marty Neck and Paul and Sara Edwards, the “Personal Coaching" profession is a “short cut to a Ph.D." Coaching opens up a dynamic market for professionals to begin a practice o f helping people, without having to rely on third-party insurance payments.
Here few of the boundless examples of coaching niches:
Parenting Coach: Adjusting to a parent’s lifestyle can be a difficult transition for many people. With people opting to delay pregnancy until later in life, these mid-life mommies find the transition from the corporate office to the playpen a radical shift. Many parents prematurely worry if they are capable of providing their child with the foundation necessary to nurture and support the child.
Career Coach: Career coaching involves helping people pursue career opportunities in their field of choice, offering services that go beyond standard job development by giving a more personal approach to the job search. Career coaches help clients clarify their professional aspirations and financial objectives.
Travel Coach: The Internet has enabled people from around the world to interact and exchange cultural nuances shore to shore. Providing clients with a virtual tour of prospective locations for vacation or business also allows the coach first-hand opportunities to expand personal travel pursuits.
Time Management Coach: Many people can identify with the inability to find enough time in their day to meet their demands. A time management coach provides a third-party approach to organizing and prioritizing work and personal objectives by developing potentially useful strategies to effectively use time.
Meditation Coach: Many people run their lives on the adrenaline of living in a technologically saturated society. Microwaves, speed dialing, drive through…marriages! Everything in their lives compels them to a “do-it-now" way of life. Teaching people how to slow down and balance their time to allow for nurturing oneself is often a lofty goal for meditation coaches.
Fitness Coach: For those people who pursue a healthier lifestyle but lack personal discipline, a fitness coach is the answer. Fitness coaches motivate people to maintain and be accountable for their personal health and fitness. This is most definitely one niche where you, yourself, need to be in top physical health.
Writing Coach: Technology has created a deficit in written communications skills. Despite information still being delivered in written form, the advent of voice dictation, spellchecker, and grammar prompts has caused people to relax their writing skills. Computer enthusiasts acknowledge a distinct decline in writing skills. Writing coaches provide professionals with editing, document review, and proofreading skills. Working side by side, coaches help clients learn to construct their written message so that their message is effectively conveyed.
Communications Coach: With a large majority of people indicating that they lack the communication skills to speak effectively in professional arenas, a communications coach has the responsibility to effectively listen and critique a client’s communication skills and style, and to encourage and help develop verbal presentation skills that reflect the client’s true expertise.
Cyber Coach: Believe it or not only 30% of the world is linked in, hooked up and dialed into the World Wide Web. But you can bet your money that this figure has no alternative but to change...and change quickly. Any professional who wants to remain competitive or any person looking to remain current will inevitably turn to the Internet. And, as there is a starting point to all things, this market will always need professionals to guide the “newbies" through the process. Despite the schools offering microcomputer courses, many people opt to learn in their homes using their own computer.
Spiritual Coach: Regardless of the array of religions and world views, the one mainstay of religion is the unification of body and spirit—the uniting of the human spirit with the belief in a higher power. The spiritual journey is a quest for personal balance and inner faith. As humans, we continually seek knowledge and revise our frame of religious reference. As masters and mentors in a particular theological perspective, spiritual coaches aid clients through individual religious processes in a rewarding experience.
Image Coach: Let it be said, “Image is everything." With the rising price of clothing, personal appearance says a great deal about a person and makes an indelible first impression, before a word is spoken. Hiring an image coach is an invaluable investment. Combining their love for the fashion industry and a knack for teaching men and people how to dress successfully and economically, an image coach can clients improve not only how they look, but how they feel about themselves.
Now, to learn more on how to begin, build and market your practice. Visit my website for more information and the fastest way you can begin, TODAY!
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
