These Popular Niches Keep Coaches Broke
… and how you can succeed if you have your heart set on working in one of them
Has this ever happened to you…?
Someone hires you to help them achieve their health goal, but then they don’t follow your advice.
I’ve never understood why someone would hire an expert and then not follow their advice! It’s happened to me a few times. And boy, is it ever frustrating.
Jane’s a great example. She wanted me to help her create a webinar funnel.
The goal of the funnel was to attract new leads. (So it was a “cold traffic” funnel, meaning it would go out to people who don’t know her yet.)
The webinar funnels I create are powerful marketing assets. They help people to see the problem they have in a new light.
They also position the coach in a unique way and gets people excited to take the next step with them.
It’s a fantastic way to get new client leads for a coaching program. (I’ve done more of these than I can count, and many of them have helped coaches earn $20k or more a month.)
Back to Jane…
Jane had a successful fitness business. When I started working with her, her goal was to move her business online so she could have more freedom and flexibility.
When I asked her about the people she helps, Jane said it was women who wanted to lose weight.
“But,” she said quickly…
“Even though I help them lose weight, women always tell me the most valuable thing they get out of our work together is the mindset shift. So that’s the niche I want to focus on.”
Why The Most Powerful “Niche” Is Practically Impossible To Sell
I often meet people who want to be a mindset coach. And I get it.
Mindset is magic. It’s the secret ingredient that makes even the most difficult transformations possible.
But it’s a very difficult thing to sell … especially in a cold traffic funnel.
I told Jane that the key to making a cold-traffic funnel work is to start with messaging that the audience will notice and pay attention to. Then I asked her if her clients are aware that their mindset is keeping them from reaching their goals.
“No, they want to lose weight. But I DON’T want to be known as a weight loss coach. I want to be known as someone who helps women reach their full potential by helping them master their mindset.”
The problem with mindset is that it’s usually so intertwined with our identity that it’s almost impossible to know it’s blocking our progress. A good coach, like Jane, can help a person shift their mindset so they achieve the results they want.
So “mindset” can certainly be part of a coaching program. But if you make it your marketing message, it will be tough going.
It takes a lot of self-awareness for a person to realize their mindset is the problem. So messaging that focuses on it won’t get a lot of people’s attention.
Unfortunately, Jane was determined. Even though I gave her plenty of warnings that she would struggle to get clients with a mindset funnel, she didn’t listen. And the funnel flopped.
So “mindset” is one of the niches many coaches want to focus on that makes getting new clients a struggle.
And there’s another one …
People Won’t Pay a Penny for Prevention
… but they’ll empty their bank account for a cure. (We have a thriving “health care” system that proves it.)
You may have read an article I posted a couple of weeks ago about how you can use buyer biology to help you get more clients. Well, prevention actually goes against our biology because our brain is wired to solve problems.
That’s why problem-focused messages work better.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there who are interested in prevention. Biohackers are a great example of a prevention-focused audience. But it’s a much smaller group and harder to target.
My advice? Focus on lower-hanging fruit, first.
2 Ways You Can Succeed In A Hard-to-Sell Niche
If you really want to be a mindset or prevention coach there are 2 ways to do it.
The first way is to sell people what they want, and give them what they need.
This is what Jane was doing when I first met her. She focused on women who wanted to lose weight (what they wanted), and she made mindset part of the program (what they needed).
As you saw, it worked so well that Jane wanted to make it her primary focus. That turned a successful approach into a failure.
So the key is to focus your marketing on what your audience wants, and then you give them what they need as part of the program.
The second way is to focus your hard-to-sell offer on a warm audience. You do this by first solving the problem your audience knows they want help with. That’s the offer that brings them into your world.
Once they’re in your world, they become a warm audience. They know you.
In fact, Jane could have offered the clients the opportunity to continue working with her in a mindset-focused program as a next phase. They would be a hot audience at that point because they would be in the midst of their coaching with Jane.
They’d know her, love her, and want more of her!
So the initial program would lead people into your world, and then you could offer them the next phase.
The other approach is to build your following on social media and by building an email list. Your following is a warm audience that you can make offers to.
This does take more time. So you’d need to be prepared for that.
My article on How to Use Buyer Biology to Get More Clients talks more about why this approach works and how to do it.
What’s Next…
We’re in the midst of the Holiday season (I’m writing this on Christmas Eve). I hope you have wonderful gatherings planned for the end of the year!
As for next year, I’m working on something for you. It’s pretty big, and I debated whether I should let you see it because it’s an ambitious plan.
But I want Health Coach Marketing Insights to be your go-to as you build your coaching business and take it to the next level. With that in mind, I’m working on a calendar of workshops for 2025.
Here’s a sneak peek at what I’m planning: Health Coach Marketing Insights 2025 Workshop Calendar
I was initially thinking of doing just 3-4 workshops. But when I started brainstorming ideas, I got really excited about sharing with you all the things that will help you move your business forward!
Like I said, it’s an ambitious calendar and I may have to cut back on a few. So please keep in mind it’s a work in progress and might not happen as I’ve laid it out.
Some workshops will be free and others will be paid (probably $97). If you’re a Founding Member, you get free access to all the workshops and the recordings of all the previous workshops.
If you’re not a Founding Member yet, why not give yourself a gift this holiday and become one? For most people, it’s tax deductible. (Please check with your accountant to know for sure.)
You’ll have all the Founding Member benefits, including immediate access to these resources:
How to Create a Profitable Health Coaching Business
The 3 Health Coach Success Paths … and how to pick the one that’s right for you
The Irresistible Breakthrough Offer™ Formula
The 4 Questions Your Website Homepage MUST Answer
The Website Essentials Checklist
The 5 Game-Changing Messages Every Health & Wellness Coach Needs To Build a Profitable Online Business
The 3 Mistakes Health Coaches Make When Crafting Their Signature System … and what to do instead
Just click on the link below to see the plans or to upgrade.
I wish you a wonderful holiday!
P.S. If you got some value from reading this article, please give it a like. And if you have any feedback on the workshops I have planned, I’d love to hear! Just put it in the comments.