[Transcript starts at 1:08]
Hello, hello, hello my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. It is May 1st when this podcast episode drops. So welcome to May. Spring has sprung, and I'm kind of like gonna Knock on wood because when I'm recording this, it's not quite May yet. Spring has sprung, but you know, you say stuff and then Mother Nature's like, I'm gonna show you and then the rain's gonna come back.
So, knocked on the wood there, but spring has sprung in SoCal. It is warm again, playing lots of volleyball. It's just, I'm a, I'm a better person when it's nice out. That's why I moved here. Uh, yes, doing a bunch to try and reframe things and you know, when it is cloudy and rainy it means it's snowing somewhere and people love that stuff and some people like the gloom and stuff and so I'm like, cool, I will be happy for you, but I'll be sad for myself cuz I don't like that weather.
Um, but it's better so, Spring has sprung. Welcome to May. Today's episode we are talking about whether or not you need to w wow. Whether or not you need to niche down, right? We are here to answer the question: Do you actually need to niche down? The short answer, yes. Yes, you do. The medium answer yes, as it relates to the online space, things will be a little bit different for the in-person brick and mortar space. And then the long answer is the rest of this episode.
So this episode, this topic is inspired by a talk that I recently gave at Nicole and Jesse's Cozean's, Pelvic PT Rising Mastermind. I'm gonna call it a mastermind. I believe it's a Mastermind. Um, They had their in-person event this past weekend down in San Clemente, Laguna area.
Beautiful weather. Like I was a little bit jealous because when Jill and I had our in-person event, the weather did not cooperate. Last year at BossUp, terrible. Weather was terrible. I apologized. If you're listening to this, there's a good chance you went to BossUp. I'm sorry. I'm still sorry. I still feel bad.
Uh, we had our in-person event for, for Legacy. It's not the weather that we want. Hopefully our next events at, uh, the end of May. The weather gods, Mother Nature looking at you, will be smiling upon us. But the weather was great. The event was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. And I got brought in to talk about online business or, you know, social media, but largely the MOAR you concept, the authenticity part, which I, I just love, I'm super, super grateful to both Nicole and and Jesse for, for seeing me and for trusting me to, to speak to their people.
But, part of the talk, I spoke about this concept of nicheing down and most of, I wanna say all of the business owners that were there, there was about 32 or 33 business owners that were there, they all had brick and mortar facilities. And so as it relates to nicheing down, it is different in when we're talking about in-person versus online, right.
Online you have to go more narrow and you are able to go more narrow than in-person, right? In-person you'll always be limited by who can actually physically get through your door, and that sounds bad. Can actually physically, you know, come through the door. Do they live there? Is it, you know, proximity, things like that.
So perfect example is if we think about, you know, in the physical therapy space, the clinic may niche down into like ortho or pelvic floor. Maybe they do a little combo. Versus something in the online space where we see KneesOverToesGuy. Look at that niche, right? That's ortho. But look how niche that is.
Or maybe they're like the Interstitial Cystitis expert. Super, super. Niched, right. So it is to me, in my opinion, my humble opinion, imperative that you niche down in the online space. It's just so noisy and so crowded.
Of note if you have a physical space, you have a brick and mortar facility, you do in-person, um, business, and you're looking to use social media for marketing, I personally would just use it as a website.
I wouldn't really be putting a ton of effort into my social media efforts because pe I wouldn't be putting a ton of effort into my social media. Period. Uh, because like, I didn't like that redundancy there, um, because people are not gonna find you that way, not that many people. And the whole goal with using social media is to really cast a wider net.
And if you cast a super wide net, but you're like, uh, I only do things in person, well, we see that that could be a problem. So I suggested if you have a brick and mortar space, you wanna be on Instagram, something like that, that you use it in the same way that you would a website where it's just kind of like you can update it, you know, once a week.
Meaning you could add pic, you know, some, uh, Instagram post. Once a week, something like that, if that much. Um, and you have like the, the Instagram highlights that would serve as the navigation bar on your website where it's like, meet the team about us, conditions we solve, or conditions we treat, or tour the facility, testimonials, things like that.
Um, so for those looking to use social media to run their business or looking to use the online space, uh, to run their business, if they're using social media, if they're using it for marketing, nicheing down is a must. The online space is just far too noisy and far too crowded. If this was 10 years ago, sure, just say I help people and you'll probably be one of the few people doing it. Right. But it's not like that anymore. There are, there's incredible amount of supply, if you will, in the social media space and, and people doing very similar things. Obviously, my, um, area of expertise, my niche, is gonna be health and fitness pros.
I could niche down even further into the just physical therapists, but I do have the luxury of having started before, right? I started years ago, and so I have, I'm able to cast that wider net and people, now they, you know, I have proof of concept, social proof, I have, um, all the reps, the results, and so I can lean on that.
But if I was just starting now, I'd be super, super, super, super niched down. And yes, the market can sustain it. Yes, absolutely, please do some market research first, and to that end, it's not a bad thing when other people are doing what you do. It means that there is proof of concept there and there is somewhat, you know, something there to sustain this idea. But it is far more feasible to super niche, if you will, in the online space as compared with brick and mortar or the in-person space because you're not limited by who can actually walk through your door. You're gonna deliver this service remotely, which means you have access to way more people.
I do see coaches online, uh, business coaches online, telling people that they don't need to niche down, and that's a lie, right?
These folks, they're looking to be contrarian, they're looking to be inflammatory. They're looking to get some clicks and get some views. They're looking to appeal to a demographic that is struggling to niche down and feels like they're getting boxed in by nicheing down. And they're like, okay, it's fine.
You don't have to do that. Yes you do. This is like, you know, someone that's like feel says that they wanna, they want to run a race, but they're like, I don't wanna run. And the coach is like, that's fine. No, it's not. It's actually not fine. If your goal is to complete this race, and run, and not have your legs fall off, then we have to train and you have to run.
So same, same for online business here. You do need to niche down if you want to succeed, if you wanna cut through the noise, but we're gonna give you a little reframe here, inspired by my girl Laura Jean, and in case you're one of those people that's like, I'm multi-passionate. There's a new word that I'm seeing going around, I can't remember it.
But if you're multi-passionate, um, and you're like, but I don't wanna niche down, I feel caged in. Okay. I hear you. We are going to address that. So to start off, why do we need to niche down? I've made my case that you need to niche down, but why do we need to niche down? Remember, this, the reason you're listening to this episode, I'm guessing, is something having to do with a business, right?
Having an online business. To that end, businesses are built on solutions to problems. I say all the time. I borrowed that quote from Danny Matta. They're not built on your hopes and dreams and your wants and your your opinions. Businesses are built on solutions to problems, which means you gotta get specific and let people know that you can solve their problem.
Not that you can solve all of their problems, cuz people will not believe that, right? They're not gonna go to this general thing, right? You're not gonna like, be like, I'm going to the shoe store and I'm gonna also pick up some milk from there. Like that's not how it works. So the reframe here that my girl, Laura Jean, she's @dieticianvalues, going to bring her on the podcast.
She's scheduled. I gotta see when it's for, but either way she's coming back on the podcast. She's been on before. I just did another episode on her podcast. Total banger. I don't think it's gonna be out by the time this episode drops. So we can lo we can link the things that we do have. So thank you, Courtney.
Uh, but the reframe by Laura Jean is, and I'm gonna loosely paraphrase this is: Don't look at nicheing down as saying no to parts of yourself or things that you enjoy. Look at nicheing down as giving your people something to say yes to. Pause for a dramatic effect. It's just so good, right? It's just so good.
You're giving your people something to say yes to. Yes, I have that problem. Yes, I want it solved. Yes, I want you to solve it for me. This is also incredibly helpful for you as the business owner. You get to work with people who you will be the best at helping. And you get to help them with things that you actually want to be doing.
There is something so incredibly freeing the moment that you're able to say to someone, ah, you know what? I don't think we'd be a good fit. You know, hopefully you have recommendation for them. But there is something so powerful about that moment. Because I get it, when you first start, you're like, I'll take anybody. Like anyone that's willing to pay me, I will work with you. I get it. I've been there. There's time and a place for that. But as you grow and evolve and get traction and build this business and and niche down, at some point you're gonna be like, Nope. You know what? This isn't a good fit. It's either not the problem I solve, or it's not the person I really work with, or whatever.
And when you can say, no, holy smokes, is it a liberating moment? Right? So nicheing down helps your people, gives them something to say yes to, but it also helps you. The cool part about this reframe, right, giving people something to say yes to is that you can still scratch the diversification of services and offers itch once you have what we're gonna call captive customers.
I know that that phrase may sound a little bit like negative or pejorative. Um, and I'm, I got it from that book that I'm reading. Uh, what is the name of the book? Um, Demystifying- Competition Demystified. All right. Competition Demystified. Still working on it. It's kind of dense. But they talk about this idea of captive customers, which just means like your sup, your super fans.
These are people that they bought from you and they're in your ecosystem and they want you. The coolest part about this is that when you niche down, you get those people that you're the best at helping. You're the best at serving. That means that you can get them solutions to their problems. When you get them solution to their problems in a way that they want, and from someone who they trust and like, which is you, they are there. They're not going anywhere. Think about yourself. You're just like, this is the person- I'm, and you know, maybe it's your barber, maybe it's where you coffee from. Maybe it's, I don't know. Maybe it's me. That is amazing and I'm incredibly grateful if it's me.
You're there. So the cool part about scratching the itch now is that you can diversify your offers once you've broken through the trust barrier with these people. Someone that we're seeing this happen to on a massive scale right now is Ramit. I'm, I'm excited for this guy like I know him.
He's having massive, just monumental success right now. He's at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. He has a Top 10 podcast and he has a TV show that is now in the top 10 on Netflix. Amazing. And so the diversification happens for him. Like he's a finance guy. He came, you know, he's like a financial literacy, uh, financial, I don't wanna say financial planner kind of guy, but that's where he started off with, right?
Was with a blog, helping people with financial things. He really likes the psychology of of things. He really likes the kind of relationship side of things and he's been able to create courses about that cuz he broke through the trust barrier, got results for people with this one thing, this one niche.
And now these things are still offshoots of, you know, building your rich life. But he has mindset courses and personal development courses. He has copywriting courses, right? He has how to launch things courses. We see scratching the itch. We see the diversification of things. In terms of, as well, in terms of how he creates, right?
It's not just writing. Maybe if you're like, I like writing, I like video, I like all the things. Cool. He's, he literally has a podcast. He has a massive, uh, email list. He has the TV show. He has the bestselling book, right? We see that diversification, that can happen. We niche down, we break through the trust barrier, and then we can scratch all the itches.
Sounds weird, but. I said it.
So if you want some help with this nicheing down process, I have dropped this, um, resource before and I'm gonna drop it again. It's gonna be my free FT3 niche down workbook. I created this thing however many years ago, uh, as part of the Instagram Intensive actually, because I saw people really struggling with this and you know, if you want better answers, ask better questions. And sometimes that means asking more questions, which is exactly what I do in the FT3. It's called FT3 because it stands for First This, Then That. And that title speaks to the fact that oftentimes when people e- enter my ecosystem, they're looking to pivot or change, looking to go into a new niche, perhaps.
And so I want them to identify where they're currently at, what current, you know, skillset, do they, do they have, where are the eyes coming from? What are the results coming from? What are they like doing right now? And then also identify where they wanna go and see if they can bridge the gap there. So if you want that worksheet, excuse me, that workbook, we will drop the link in the show notes.
Thank you, Courtney. Uh, and you can dive into that. It is pretty extensive, so, you know, gives yourself some time. But if you are like, I'm really struggling with this, that's the number one resource that I'm going to suggest for you.
I want you to understand, if we zoom out for a second here, that the process of nicheing down is, to me, about learning your no. And it's going to take time.
I don't wanna say it's, it has to take time or needs to take time, but for most of us, it will take time. I started out with the niche of -looking to start on the niche- of helping CrossFitters with pain and mobility. I don't do that anymore at all. I do online business coaching for health and fitness pros who are looking to build profitable personal brands. Very, very different. You will learn your no as you go.
If you're one of those, you know, few really fortunate people that starts off and you're like, this is what I do, I love it. I'm thinking about Courtney, my girl Courtney Conley right now. She's @gaithappens.
She loves feet. Okay, cool. That's the thing. Start off with that and you're good to go. I know what my niche is. I will say as a little bit of a like tangent here, she has diversified. Her, her main thing is GaitHappens, but she's brought in, you know, breathing, hips, um, some FRC stuff. She's brought in PRI stuff.
Why? Because she broke through the trust barrier. It doesn't have to just be about feet. There, there's a bit of an umbrella of feet there. Um, but you see how you can scratch these other itches once you've broken through that trust barrier. Um, so big thing to understand is that nicheing down is about learning your no, and it will likely take time.
As you go, you work with people and you're like, nah, I don't like that. You, you know, look to solve certain problems. And you're like, ah, I'm not that good at that actually. I don't like doing that. And suddenly you're like, ah, but this other thing lights me up. I love doing that. Lean into that. Move in that direction.
One thing that I will say is that your best bet for just getting started in that direction and, and in a direction with nicheing down, is to lean on your current skillset. So again, I get people in my ecosystem that are kind of looking to pivot or shift or evolve, and I love that. That's awesome. I don't want them to just abandon what's behind them.
Oftentimes people may feel like that cuz they're just like so salty and been just like burned out by that and they're like, I'm just done with it. But the things that you've done, they're not by coincidence and there's oftentimes a lot that we can take from them and use to build as we're going in the new direction.
So think about your current skillset and what you can take from that as you move forward and are looking to provide solutions, new solutions to new problems, right?
If you are looking to pivot and you're just learning things in this new niche that you want, there's a good chance that it's going to be extra, extra slow for you to get traction because you can't actually solve problems yet.
Right. You are brand new. It's, it's like someone trying to start a business while they're in school learning about that thing. Can it be done? Yes, but it's very difficult. The example I'm thinking about right now is the, The Prehab Guys. Um, but, the flip side of that is that I want all of you physical therapists listening to this to understand just how much more you know than the average person, that even when you're in school and you haven't practiced yet, you still know exponentially more than the general population, which is where we want you as a business owner, right?
We want you, we need you to be 50 steps, more than 50 steps ahead of the people that you're working with. Not just one step ahead of them, but in general, right? If you're learning the methodology, you're learning the thing, it becomes very difficult to have this big booming business. And if you're, if I just wanna manage expectations there. Where, yes, you can do it kind of concurrently, but don't expect to be like, okay, I'm just gonna go online, I'm switching my niche. I am leaning into this new expertise that I don't have yet. I'm like, I'm learning, but I'm gonna start this business and it's gonna make me all this money. Give yourself 10 years and then yes, vi, that's a very viable, viable plan there, right?
So looking at the outline, again, my suggestion, if you are thinking about nicheing down, you're having some trouble with nicheing down, check out the FT3, that free work book that I have. It is linked in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney.
Zooming out, recapping the episode, closing the loop of learning, the point of this episode was to answer the question, do you actually need to niche down? The short answer, absolutely yes. If you're looking for a resource to help you out with that, again, check out the FT3. If you're worried about being pigeonholed, remember that the goal is simply to provide something for your people to say yes to. All right? And from there, once you have break through the trust barrier, you can scratch all the itches.
If you're not sure where to get started, and you're like, I don't know exactly what niche I want, or. Cool. Again, check out that free workbook that I, that I have for you. But remember that this whole thing is a process, right?
Choose a direction based on your current skillset and your current interests, and then be willing to give it the time it takes to learn your no as you go.
There you have it. Answered the questions. Stoked about this episode. I told you in the little intro part this was gonna be a banger and hopefully you agree. If you got questions, comments, concerns, additions, subtractions, anything, hit me up. I love hearing from you. You can shoot me a DM @themovementmaestro. You can drop me a comment below if you're watching on YouTube. Thank you, by the way. Uh, or you can shoot me a text. It will be me. It's gonna be green cuz it's my sideline, but it will be me. 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5.
I kind of whispered that. 2, 3, 4, 5. That was weird. As always, endlessly, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
Watch this Episode on YouTube!
Get the FREE FT3 Workbook!
MOTM #343: Start with Your Values with Laura Jean
Follow Laura Jean: @dietitianvalues
Listen to the Dietician Values Podcast
Catch me on the socials: Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | TikTok | Facebook