Just wondering: How many times has someone told you this…
If you’d just start speaking to your ideal client the way she wants to be communicated with…. Then sales wouldn’t be an issue anymore.
And how many times have you heard that and then wanted to chuck your phone at that person out of frustration because your next thought was this: I don’t friggin’ know WHAT my ideal client wants to hear from me!
I totally get it.
And hey… if it’s me you’ve ever wanted to chuck your phone at,please consider this blog post an apology.
Newsflash: The reason you feel so lost is because you’re experiencing a disconnect.
A disconnect between you presenting yourself as an expert in your area of genius and your ideal client desperately needing to find an expert to solve her problems.
In other words… a disconnect between you conveying (with clarity) what you wanna be known for AKA the problem you solve in your own unique way.
Because if it isn’t clear what you do and how you do it… your ideal client may come across your feed but not feel at home.
And then she’s gone.
Worst nightmare as an entrepreneur, right?
Another way to look at this is to think about it in terms of a niche. What niche do you want to connect with or speak to?
A niche is just a smaller section of the population that shares a common interest.
Let’s take my biz as an example. I’m in the health & wellness space and I sell essential oils which, quite frankly, is huge and overly saturated with businesses. Not to mention everyone and their cousin’s best friend’s puppy is selling oils these days.
So it means I had to niche down so I could connect with my peeps (and make some money).
Think of ALL the niches in health & wellness: diet, nutrition, supplements, juicing, fitness, exercise routines, styles of eating, aromatherapy, yoga, and on and on.
Each of those niches has a subset of people who are into health & wellness but a very specific area of it.
Which means they have a very specific set of problems. So when you niche down, you are able to connect more intimately and create the right solution for someone else’s problem.
My niche is life hacks - aka, fun and interesting tips, tricks and processes that make life more efficient, simpler, and just plain better - and how to build a profitable business.
Which means I’m only talking to a segment of people who are into health and wellness.
You know...the cool ones who want #allthegoods...
Not just people who can google how to make a green smoothie because that’s already all over the internet.
Or the ones who are looking for a more natural solution for their headache.
But NEXT LEVEL.
It may seem counter-intuitive but here’s a fact: you can’t be everything to everyone. But you can be everything to a really small, targeted group of people, right?
I chose this niche using the 3 step process I’m about to share with you. A niche, or what you want to be known for, comes down to blending your passions and your skills with how you help your ideal client.
So let’s break it down, okay?
STEP ONE: Where does your passion and skill set overlap?
If you’re an entrepreneur, I probably triggered you with this statement.
“Hayley, how am I supposed to just choose ONE passion, or ONE skill?!”
Listen, I didn’t say that. One of the things that makes entrepreneurs unicorns is the fact that we are multi-passionate and super diverse in our skills. We’re scrappy AF and we’re proud of it.
But you’ve gotta spend time seeing where those passions and your skill sets overlap because where they overlap is a sweet spot.
It’s a place where you can talk from passion and authority. Which is a killer duo.
If you don’t do this, it means you start presenting your solutions online… you’ll be fakin’ it. And the niche peeps will know.
If you’re stuck on this, do a visualization exercise: imagine you’re invited to speak at a conference or industry event. You’re teaching on something. What’s the topic you’re teaching?
Chances are it’s something you’re equally passionate and skilled in. Right?
If that exercise totally bombs for you, then try this: quickly write 25 passions and skills you have.
Whoa. Yep. Don’t think about it, just write.
Now go through and X out any that don’t spark a fire in you - AKA, they aren’t something you could talk anyone’s ear off about.
Narrow it down to 2-3 and see where they overlap. For example, my list would look like: health hacks, consciously creating habits that bring about a dream life, and entrepreneurship.
STEP TWO: HOW does the overlap of your passions and skills create a way for you to solve your ideal client’s pain points?
First, let’s talk about what the heck I mean by “pain point”.
A pain point is basically anything in her life or mind that prevents her from becoming your actual, real life client or customer.
Sometimes pain points are things like “she doesn’t have enough time”. Other times they’re really specific like “she didn’t attend a business school or a high level course so she feels like she isn’t qualified.”
So the point of this step is to get clear about what the pain points are and how your passions and skills SOLVE them.
Because if you’re just out there going on and on about how much you love plant based food but you never really share why or how you made that choice, the benefits it brought you, or how someone could get started eating more plants…. Then you aren’t serving her, you’re just talking for the sake of talking. You’re preaching.
#truthbomb and I think someone needs to hear it because the key to social media, podcasts, blogs, your website - all of it - is to be incredibly strategic in this way.
Step 2 really pulls your strategy together in terms of what you want to be known for because it’s how you can share about your solutions in a natural and authentic way.
Your solutions to your ideal client’s pain points become a natural extension of yourself.
Seeing how this works?
STEP THREE: How viable is your niche, or what you want to be known for?
Not many coaches are gonna tell you this - but if you’re spending all this time visualizing, planning and preparing to launch a business but you aren’t doing research to see if it’s viable…
Then you may waste all your time and money buying into an idea that has no need.
And that would seriously sting. I don’t want that for you.
The easiest and fastest way to determine if there’s a desire for what you’re about to be droppin’ is to try this tactic doing something you’re already doing anyway:
Scroll social or do a quick search on Google… but instead of searching out spoilers for last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, you’ll be looking for your competition.
Then do some quick analysis. How big are your competitors? Are they making money? Do they seem to have good engagement on their social profiles?
Competition is healthy and means there’s a market. It also will give you deeper insight into how you can differentiate yourself, because competition also means opportunity.
It will tell you whether your niche has a chance, and if what you want to be known for is something people are asking about.
In other words, it shows you if you can fill a gap your competition is overlooking.
If you’d like to go ahead and start taking action on these three steps, I’ve got a download for ya.
It’s free and could just be the key to explosive growth for you in the new year.
Stay niche-y, my friends.
XO,
Hayley