Show Notes

I’m about to come for some of y’all’s favorite coaching niches.

Burnout.

Self-care.

Time management.

Confidence.

Self-love.

Identity.

Self-worth.

I see coaches choosing these niches all the time. And when I tell them I don’t consider these high-converting coaching niches, I can literally see the dream leave their eyes on Zoom.

So if that’s you, hang in there with me.

I am not saying the work isn’t important.

I’m not saying you have to abandon the work you care about.

What I’m saying is that the thing you help your clients work through and the thing they’re initially willing to pay you to solve may be two different things.

And understanding that distinction could completely change your niche.

Why Burnout and Self-Care Can Be Hard Coaching Niches to Sell

The first issue is that burnout, self-care, time management, and feelings aren’t necessarily anchored to what I teach as the three major categories people spend money on:

Health, wealth, and relationships.

People will spend money because they want a better job.

They’ll spend money because they want to make more money.

They’ll spend money because they want a relationship.

They’ll spend money because they want to improve their health.

These are problems they already recognize.

They don’t need six months of personal development work before realizing they want them solved.

And that’s important when you’re choosing a profitable coaching niche.

Every Coach Is Already a Time Management Coach

Here’s another way to think about it.

Every coach is technically a time management coach.

Why?

Because coaching is a shortcut.

A money coach has to help her client find the time to work on her finances.

A dating coach may help a busy professional find time to date.

A career coach may help a working parent find time to apply for jobs.

A parenting coach may help a parent create routines that allow her to respond differently to her children.

Whatever the niche is, part of the coach’s job is helping the client make the time to create the result.

So if everybody is helping with time management, time management itself isn’t much of a specialty.

The better question is:

What does having more time allow your client to do?

That’s where your niche may be hiding.

Why I Don’t Recommend Promising a Feeling

I also see coaches who want to niche around a feeling.

They want to help people become more confident.

Find their purpose.

Increase their self-worth.

Love themselves more.

The problem is that feelings change.

I’ve had millionaires crying on my coaching calls.

They’re hitting their goals.

They’re making millions.

And they’re still having human emotional experiences around taxes, refunds, relationships, family, health, and everything else life brings.

That’s because feelings are part of being human.

I don’t want to promise someone she’ll permanently feel confident, happy, worthy, or positive.

Instead, I can promise a concrete result while giving her the skills, mindset, and support to pursue that result with her humanity.

Give Your Client a Result She Can Recognize

Think about the difference between a feeling and a concrete result.

If you’re a dating coach, we know whether your client started dating.

If you’re a career coach, we know whether she got callbacks or landed a job.

If you’re a business coach, we know whether she signed a client.

If you’re a money coach, we can see whether her debt decreased.

Those are clear results.

Your client can still have difficult emotions while getting them.

That’s actually the best situation.

She can say:

“I got the result, and I’m still human.”

Your coaching doesn’t have to promise emotional perfection.

It needs to help her create the result.

But What About Successful Spiritual Coaches?

This is where people usually push back.

They’ll say:

“But Dielle, I follow this huge spiritual teacher, and they don’t have a health, wealth, or relationship niche.”

Okay.

Go look again.

Look at their most viral content.

Look at their offers.

Look at what people actually pay them for.

I’ve done this with clients in real time.

We pulled up the spiritual teachers they thought were exceptions and looked at their businesses.

Their viral content talked about relationships.

They had business offers.

They talked about health or money.

Even when the brand appears broader, you’ll often find health, wealth, or relationship outcomes underneath it.

Once you start looking for that specificity, you won’t be able to unsee it.

Your Burnout Work Might Be the Method, Not the Niche

Now let’s get to why this conversation can feel so personal.

Maybe burnout work changed your life.

Maybe learning boundaries changed your life.

Maybe understanding capacity changed your life.

Maybe working on your confidence or identity changed your life.

So naturally you think:

This is what I need to teach.

And I get it.

But I want you to look at your healing journey again.

Was burnout actually the first problem that brought you into personal development?

Or was something else happening first?

Maybe you were struggling in your marriage.

Maybe you wanted a promotion.

Maybe you couldn’t make enough money.

Maybe you were dealing with a health issue.

Then you started listening to podcasts.

Reading books.

Hiring coaches.

Doing personal development work.

And six or 12 months later, you realized:

Ohhhh. Burnout is underneath this.

My boundaries are underneath this.

My self-worth is underneath this.

That’s an important realization.

But your potential client may not be there yet.

Don’t Market to the Version of You Who Was 12 Months Into Healing

This is where coaches accidentally make their audiences too small.

You have years of knowledge about personal development.

Your potential client doesn’t.

You know what “capacity” means.

She might not.

You understand nervous system work.

She may not be searching for that.

You know burnout is affecting her career.

She thinks she needs a new job.

And if you only market to people who already have your level of awareness, you may have to wait much longer for people to understand why they need you.

Instead, ask:

What problem does she already know she has?

That’s the problem I want you to connect your work to.

Ask: “Heal the Burnout So She Can Do What?”

This is one of my favorite questions to ask a coach who wants a burnout niche:

She’s going to heal her burnout so she can do what?

Heal the burnout so she finally has the energy to pursue the promotion?

Maybe you’re a career coach.

Heal the burnout so she has the capacity to start dating?

Maybe you’re a dating coach.

Heal the burnout so she can put energy back into her marriage?

Maybe you’re a marriage coach.

Heal the burnout so she’s not constantly yelling at her children?

Maybe you’re a parenting coach.

Your burnout, self-care, time management, identity, or confidence work doesn’t have to disappear.

It can become how you help your client create the result.

But you still have to decide what result you’re helping her create.

Are You Avoiding a Clear Result Because You’re Afraid of Responsibility?

Now we’re getting to the deeper issue.

Sometimes coaches choose softer, feelings-based positioning because promising a concrete result feels scary.

You think:

I can’t promise she’s going to get promoted.

I can’t control the job market.

I can’t control what her husband does.

I can’t control my client.

And that’s true.

But sometimes “I can’t control it” is also covering up fear around taking responsibility for your expertise.

If someone gives you $2,000, $3,000, or $5,000, there is a level of responsibility involved.

You cannot fear responsibility if you want to be paid a premium.

That doesn’t mean guaranteeing something you can’t ethically guarantee.

It means building the frameworks, skills, curriculum, and coaching ability to help your client move toward the result you’re selling.

Don’t water down your messaging because you’re scared.

Address the fear.

You Don’t Have to Promise the Sun, Moon, and Stars

Maybe the issue isn’t that you don’t want a concrete niche.

Maybe you don’t feel experienced enough yet.

I understand that too.

When I entered coaching, I wasn’t promising six-figure launches.

I started with what I already knew how to do.

I had gotten my job offer in February before graduating with my master’s degree in May.

My friends wanted to know how I did it.

So my first niche included helping busy 20-somethings with their careers and time.

Later, when I moved into business coaching, I still didn’t start by promising people they’d double their sales.

I became SideBizCoach.

And my promise was basically:

I’ll help you make an extra $1,000.

That’s it.

I started small.

You can too.

If you eventually want to become a career coach, maybe you start by helping people improve their resumes and get more callbacks.

That’s still a clear result.

You don’t need to promise the biggest possible transformation on day one.

Do a Life Wins Audit Before Choosing Your Coaching Niche

If you’re stuck, stop rewriting your “I help” statement for a minute.

I want you to look at your actual life.

Do a life wins audit.

Write down the things you’ve accomplished since you were 18.

Big wins.

Small wins.

Career wins.

Money wins.

Relationship wins.

Health wins.

Things other people think are impressive.

And especially the things that came so naturally to you that you don’t think they’re impressive.

I’ve coached women who were sitting on incredible expertise and couldn’t see it.

One client wanted to help women over 40 with autoimmune issues have more energy.

When I asked about her life wins, she casually told me she’d been featured in the media for her work around food.

Then she told me she’d put her own autoimmune condition into remission through food.

And I’m like:

Hello. There it is.

Sometimes you’re sitting on the niche while trying to manufacture another one.

Don’t Throw Away a Million-Dollar Niche Because of a Mindset Issue

Once you identify your life wins, pay attention to what your brain immediately says.

I can’t promise that.

It’s too hard in this economy.

I don’t want the responsibility.

I’ll get bored.

I don’t want to make that type of content.

Those thoughts don’t automatically mean the niche is wrong.

They might mean you need to solve a mindset or implementation problem.

I’ve watched people nearly throw away incredible ideas because of something surprisingly small.

One woman wanted to coach around homeschooling but didn’t want her kids in her content.

Okay.

Don’t put your kids in the content.

Show the lessons.

Show the process.

Show their hands.

You don’t even necessarily need to show the kids.

The content problem didn’t mean the business idea was bad.

It meant we needed to solve the content problem.

Your Life Experience May Be Hiding Your Best Coaching Niche

I’ve seen what happens when coaches stop watering down what they’re actually good at.

I’ve helped clients turn specific expertise into offers that generated hundreds of thousands—and in some cases millions—of dollars.

And those clients still had fears.

What if I can’t do it?

What if something changes?

What if I don’t have enough credentials?

Those fears don’t necessarily mean you should abandon the idea.

Look at your expertise.

Look at your life.

Look at the results you’ve already created.

Then ask:

Where does my experience intersect with a health, wealth, or relationship problem somebody already wants solved?

That may be a much stronger starting point for your niche.

Your Burnout Work Doesn’t Have to Disappear

If you take one thing away from this conversation, I want it to be this:

You don’t have to stop caring about burnout.

You don’t have to stop teaching self-care.

You don’t have to abandon nervous system work.

You don’t have to stop coaching confidence, identity, self-worth, boundaries, or emotional capacity.

Those things can be deeply important to the transformation you provide.

But according to the niche framework I teach, they may work better as part of how you help someone create a concrete result rather than being the entire result you’re selling.

So don’t throw away the work.

Go one layer further.

Heal the burnout so she can do what?

Build her confidence so she can do what?

Improve her self-worth so she can do what?

Create more capacity so she can do what?

That answer might be the difference between a niche people appreciate…

and a niche people are ready to pay for.

Join the 5 Day Know Your Niche Workshop: https://forthe23percent.com/niche

Join the membership: https://forthe23percent.com/everything-sales

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