BIRD WILLIAMS: You're listening to Bird Means Business Episode 30. 

Hello, hello, hello! And welcome to the Bird Means Business podcast. I'm so happy you're here. Thank you for taking time out of your day to tune in. Now the question is, to niche or not to niche? Y'all this is the question of so many confused entrepreneurs. Should I specifically brand myself as a wedding photographer or just general photography? Do I have to serve a specific type of client or can I go more broad? So this episode was actually inspired from a conversation I had with an MBA student. She's wanting to launch her business and she felt so confused and limited about what it meant to niche down in her business. And I know that it's a question that so many entrepreneurs have so I'm gonna attempt to answer it. And mostly just give my perspective. Okay? 

So first of all, what does it mean to niche? It's funny because before I sat down for this episode, I was a little bit uneasy about talking about this because all I've heard about since launching my online business was niching down, how to find a niche, etc. But I've had questions about how that looks myself. And then I sat down and actually Googled the definition. And it actually brought so much clarity. So here are two definitions: one, a business niche is a specialized or focused area of a broader market that businesses can serve to differentiate themselves from the competition. Another definition is from Charlene Walters, who is a business and branding mentor. She says a business niche is a hole in the current market or the business's unique selling proposition that will be appreciated by a select group of customers or target audience. This target audience might be one that is currently underserved and/or has a large market potential. So you read that and you're like, well, yes, you should definitely niche. And when I read it I realized that some of the confusion could be that the buzz or like the word on the street, kind of ties niching very closely with your ideal client and your ideal client avatar, and it kind of silos, the focus there. For example, you niche down and your tagline is, "I help moms who homeschool small children with creative and engaging curriculum." So that's great, but how we hear niching defined and described usually doesn't frame it as niching down to fulfill a market gap, or to highlight your unique selling proposition. I think both are right. You can niche down either way. I basically think that niching is a little bit more broad than how it's usually described and that's where the confusion lies. So niching isn't just your ideal client avatar. Niching is more about the unique thing that you do or service or product you provide. 

So why should you niche? Because you want your ideal client to recognize you as the person or business that they need to work with as quickly and easily as possible. So, if I am getting married, and I need a wedding cake. I want to find someone who specializes in wedding cakes, not just regular cakes. So another example is Terry and I launching The League. That was my first business back in 2013. My husband, Terry, and I have a gym here in Houston called The League. Now, had we marketed it as just a gym, that would have been no niche and no bueno. We could have launched it and marketed it as a gym that was for kids specifically, and that's an example of kind of niching down around your ideal client, which is great. But what we did is we niched down around our training format. We offer a training format called PAC(K) training. It's a proprietary circuit training format that you can't get anywhere else. So our niche was PAC(K) training and we marketed it to people who wanted to train that way, who found value in the PAC(K) training format. So had we launched The League as just a gym with no niche, that would not have worked, because not only are we not attracting our ideal client. But we're not even differentiating ourselves in the market.

So you might be thinking, well, I don't even know what my niche is. Don't sweat it. And I think this is one of the big takeaways. I want you to start with what you feel most connected to, and be open to adapting along the way. So for example, I had someone tell me recently about their business that had a very specific niche, which he thought was great when he launched. But over time, he realized there was this flaw. There was this inconsistency in his business model when it came to serving that niche client. And he thought you know what, I'll just go away broad, you know, I'll just serve a much larger market. But what I suggested that he did instead was kind of just take one step back and yes serve a broader market since he'd found an issue with this specific market he was targeting. But he still had more specificity than just going way way broad. It was what I suggested was kind of in the middle of a two. It worked with his business model. But him serving that big, huge audience would have made it really hard for his ideal client to distinguish his unique selling proposition or, I call it, secret sauce, right? He'd be, you know, one of many, as opposed to a little bit more specific. Hope that makes sense. 

I also want to emphasize that your niche might look different in different phases of your business. For example, one of the gurus of online marketing who talks a lot about niching also shares that when she launched her business, she had a completely different niche. And over time, she figured it out and pivoted. So that's just an example of why you don't have to feel the need to have this perfect niche from jump, from day one. 

You've heard me say it a million times, and I'm gonna say, once again. You have to start to figure it out. I had a call with a young lady who was trying to figure out which of her business passions, she had many of them, which should she pursue. And she was super stuck on kind of finding a niche. So, if it's not clear, I want you to just start with something like I said whatever you feel most connected to, and be open to adapting over time. Honestly, y'all. I think we subconsciously allow excuses to stop us from starting. Like you're really just afraid of starting your business period, and that fear wears the mask of, I can't figure out my niche. So then you just don't start at all. I'd rather you start even without a niche and just figure it out along the way and define that over time. And adapt as needed instead of waiting to find the perfect niche. Because the truth is, you may never find it. You may never figure it out until you start. So, starting is oftentimes the key to finding the answers, okay? Sure you want to do your due diligence, but sometimes it's more clear for some than others. 

All right. In summary, yes, you should niche if you have a strong niche. Go with it. It's much clearer messaging and it will better help attract your ideal client, but if you don't have a niche perfectly figured out yet don't sweat it. Remember, there are different ways to look at niching down in your business. Also, you don't want to allow not having the perfect niche to stop you from starting. Okay. 

So you might be asking, “Okay, well, how do I even really start to figure out what my niche could be?” I would say, it starts with your foundation. You need to understand why you're doing what you're doing in the first place. So foundation is the first of four pillars that I walk you through and my signature Bird's Eye View Business Plan, one-on-one course. If you want more information, go to birdwilliamsconsulting.com/consultation, set up a time to chat with me and we'll talk through it. 

All right. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I also hope that you are subscribed here on Apple Podcasts or if you're on Spotify that you're following the Bird Means Business podcast and share this episode with any other entrepreneur out there who could benefit from it. All right, let them know all about the Bird Means Business podcast. Talk to you next week.