If you feel like you’re screaming into a crowded nutrition-coach-filled room, you’re not alone. Learning to narrow down your niche as a nutrition coach will set you apart from your competitors AND help you attract your ideal clients. The dream, right?

Let’s be honest, starting a business is hard work.

In the United States the odds are stacked against you. When it comes to new businesses, 20% fail in the first year and by the fifth year that statistic rises to 50%.

Those numbers are scary, I get it! That’s why I’m sharing one thing you can do to help ensure you don’t become just another statistic and also enjoy the ride along the way...

You need to narrow down your niche as a nutrition coach.

In other words, you need to pick “your people”. The people you are meant to support and who fit so perfectly into your world.

When you identify the specific segment of the market that feels like it is yours, many other parts of business get easier. You know who to talk to, you can speak to what they like to do more easily and you’ll know where they spend their time and what problems they are encountering.

Knowing the exact group of people (as specific as possible) that you want to work with allows you to focus your voice and attention and will help you be more successful in your marketing and coaching efforts.

Here are 3 questions that will help you narrow down your niche as a nutrition coach:

#1 What are you interested in?

While it is not absolutely necessary for you to be interested in or passionate about the group of people you want to support - it really helps.

Nutrition coaching is very involved. You are embarking on a journey of changing someone's life and that requires you to understand their struggles, their triumphs and all the aspects of their lives.

This job becomes much more sustainable if you choose a group of people that share your passions. This allows you to build rapport and trust which ultimately can help you get people better results - then of course better results will lead to more business referrals!

Ask yourself:

  • What am I passionate about?
  • What kinds of things do I spend my time on?
  • Where do I consume content?
  • What activities do I participate in?

The answers to these questions can help you start to see patterns in your own life that can then translate to the kind of people you may want to work with.

Want an example?

When I first started Working Against Gravity I was at the peak of my weightlifting training.

The majority of my time and attention was spent on performance and recovery. I was so passionate about weightlifting that I would spend my evenings on YouTube watching the A session competitions in every World Championship I could get my hands on. So this is the group of people we started working with in terms of nutrition: Olympic Style Weightlifters.

I knew their struggles, I was passionate about all things going on in their lives and could speak - from experience - to the stress of making weight for a competition, long hours of training, the precision and accuracy of lifting itself.

I understood the language they used and could relate to them on a level that others who were not passionate about weightlifting could not. This made coaching fun and exciting for me but also contributed to their success and growth.

When considering your passions I recommend asking yourself:

  • Is this something I am REALLY passionate about or just mildly?
  • Can I see myself being passionate about this for years?

Again, this isn’t essential but it sure does make things a lot more fun! :)

#2 Where is your experience?

Where do you have personal experience that would lend well to coaching others? You have been through many struggles and triumphs - try to find patterns.

Your experience can come from life in general, work, sport, or education. You are unique and within your experiences will be something special that only YOU can offer. That may be your niche.

A couple questions that may help:

  • What kinds of courses have you taken?
  • Did your education have a focus? Specific degree?
  • Do you have any unique skills?
  • What do people often tell you that you are good at?

Let’s look at another example:

A friend of mine was starting out her nutrition and fitness business. She was ready to leave her career as a nurse in the labor and delivery ward but didn’t know exactly what she had to offer.

We took some time to really consider her experience and came up with the following:

  1. She understood how to tackle shift work
  2. She was great at working under pressure
  3. Time management was a super skill as she could still maintain her fitness and nutrition while being a full time nurse
  4. She was especially great at working with women

There she could see that through her own personal experiences she had a lot of very specific skills that would lend well to a niche in the market.

Think moms that don’t have a lot of time, shift workers or maybe even supporting women through pregnancy and postpartum. She came up with a short list of potential niche markets and then picked the one she felt she was most passionate about as a starting point.

What actually works?

Questions one and two helped you generate a list of passions and identify the experience you have to offer others.

Now it is time to test it out and find out what actually works when you’re narrowing down your niche as a nutrition coach. There are a few ways to do this:

Start coaching them!

Dive in and start working with the people in the niche you have identified.

Taking quick action is going to be the fastest way to test if that niche is right for you. It is important to remember that things don’t alway work the way you think they will on paper (aka, when asking yourself the questions above). The reality is almost never how it actually works out once reality has its way.

You may think that busy entrepreneurs are your niche and then you start working with them only to realize you don’t like it at all or that you can’t connect on a more personal level. If that is the case, you’ll likely find who you would rather speak to and who you do connect with.

No matter what, getting out there and taking action will get you answers.

Survey your people

Where do you communicate with potential clients? Is it through email? Instagram? Facebook? At work? The gym? Somewhere else?

Ask those people some pointed questions to help you identify your niche. Some questions you could ask:

  • What is your biggest challenge in nutrition and fitness?
  • What are you most passionate about right now?
  • Where do you spend most of your time?
  • What is your profession?
  • Why do you follow me/read my content?

Pay attention to the answers to these questions AND who is answering. These are the people you already have access to and who are already invested in you for a reason. Through some research you may discover that the right niche for you is right under your nose. These people can also become your first clients!

A Few More Tips to Narrow Down Your Niche

No matter what you choose, here are a few last things that have been really helpful for me to keep in mind as I started my own business:

If you are talking to everyone you are talking to no one.

As you start to build your clientele and put your information out there you want your ideal client to read your marketing and think “they are talking to ME” which is a much different experience than reading something and thinking “they are talking to everyone”. People want to feel special and like you can understand their needs - especially in something as individual and vulnerable as nutrition.

Nothing is forever.

The niche you pick today is not necessarily the niche you will have forever. This is not the same as getting married or having a baby. The level of commitment is significantly lower - you can change your niche at any time and likely will as you grow and evolve and change.

Have Fun!!!

If you can’t have fun along the way - is it worth it?! Life is short and this is about turning your passions and interests into money making careers or side hustles. Enjoy the ride!

As you can see, there is more to this whole “start your business” thing than coaching. At WAG we have you covered on all sides.

Our Coach Certification will give you the nutritional information you need to best support your clients in reaching their unique goals. We’ll match you with a Training Coach to give personalized feedback so you can ask questions while learning at your own pace.

From there, you’ll have the opportunity to opt into the Seismic Business Program Here, you’ll not only have access to the coaching software trusted by WAG—Seismic—but we’ll also provide you with hundreds of resources and tons of support to help you go from new coach to experienced business owner!

References:

https://getseismic.com/