The past few years have been difficult for the entire world. In these unprecedented times, many issues have been brought to the forefront of society and have really gotten our attention. This shift in perspective has brought a lot of different pain points to light which opens up many new opportunities for health coaches to niche down.
In today’s episode one of our favorite guests, Michelle Ellis, returns for a discussion on some of the new health coaching niches that are trending in 2022 due to the changes we’ve collectively experienced these past two years. The opportunities to niche down as a health coach are always growing. Still struggling to get specific and clear on your message and your ideal client? Tune in now to see if any of these emerging niches inspire you!
Rachel: Hey guys, it’s Rachel and today and we are going to break open the Healthy Hustle podcast by talking about niches. We talked about niches an episode or two ago, and we thought, why not talk about how what we’ve gone through in the last few years has really opened the door for health coaches. I had Michelle come onto the show again to support me in this amazing episode. Michelle, what do you think about this time that we’ve gone through in the last few years? Do you think that it’s helped coaches to open the door as well to help others see them as really needed in somebody’s life?
Michelle: Absolutely, I think with these times that we’ve faced in the last couple of years, it’s been very stressful. And it’s had such an enormous impact on people’s bodies physically, as well as mentally, emotionally, mindset wise. So there’s just been a rising and a need in the marketplace for people struggling with digestive issues caused by stress or mental health, right?
And I think it’s such an amazing opportunity for health coaches to show up in a new, very niched down way, to really specialize in one of these areas and help people on a bigger, more in depth scale.
Rachel: When I think on the last few years, I remember when I started coaching. 12 years ago, I graduated from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. And back then, almost nobody understood what gut meant. Now, we’re in this time, not just because of what we’ve experienced in the last few years, but I think we’re in a time where there are major publications, TV, and the news that are actually talking about this gut-brain connection. They’re actually talking about stress and hormones; they’re actually talking about mental health. So I think that we’re also in a really ripe time where people are open to having these kinds of services, because they realize what has been working is not working anymore.
Michelle: Exactly. And I think trying to serve everyone is always hard, you know? It’s really best to niche down, narrow in on who you want to serve, and also looking at what the needs are right now in the marketplace. How can you show up and really serve? Because every health coach wants to make a big impact. So really, it’s about what type of impact you want to make. It takes looking at those different areas and saying, maybe it’s weight loss, or maybe it’s hormones, maybe it’s gut, but right now, these are the needs. How can you show up with a solid signature program?
Rachel: I would say what’s really exciting, and I’ve always talked about the depression and anxiety that I dealt with and still deal with and how I manage it, is to actually see mental health coaches come around. It’s exciting to see anxiety coaches and stress coaches, and to see a lot of these niches that I don’t think have been around. Maybe we saw stress in the workplace for corporate wellness, but I didn’t see a lot of stress coaches. And now, I’m seeing a plethora of those as well as what we talked about last year, the amount of emotional eating coaches that I saw, and now body positivity. I think it’s a really exciting time where we still have weight loss coaches, gut coaches, hormone coaches, as really solid niches, but I think it’s a really great time to niche down in those areas and get even more specific so you’re really speaking to your ideal client in your marketing, which is going to save you a lot of time and money.
Michelle: When you do niche down, your message is so much clearer. You can really speak to those individual areas of pain, and really offer a solution that’s going to fill that need for them. The only way to really do that is to know what the pain is. So, if you know your niche, then you know, what those people are dealing with. You know what they are struggling with on a daily basis. What are the symptoms of that stress that they’re facing? If it’s emotional eating, if it’s not practicing self care, or having the right habits, or loving themselves enough, how can you step in as a health coach and really serve them?
Rachel: I’ve also seen a niche emerge around this mindset of weight loss. So, I see a lot of coaches who are weight loss coaches, but they’re more focused on the mindset and habits. And that’s been something I’ve seen born in the last year, habit coaches. It’s interesting because this is a lot like what I saw in corporate wellness, but now we’re seeing this across the board. Are there any other niches that you’re seeing coming up that can come to mind?
Michelle: Adding to what you just said, it’s not even just the niche, but also that step by step approach as well. So, with those habits, actually integrating more of a ritual approach to any of those niches, because in recent times, with all that we’ve been dealing with, people need those bite-siized steps to have a low pressure transformation where they can do something small, yet impactful every single day and get the results that they want, no matter what niche you choose.
Rachel: That’s interesting because that even brings me to thoughts about how we are absorbing information now. And when you’re setting up your signature program, really think about that bite- sized information, because people really don’t have a lot of time. It’s not to say people are not in Facebook groups, they are in Facebook groups and engaging if that Facebook group is bringing value. They are on social media, but I feel like people really have seen how busy life is and has gotten this year, so when you’re thinking about delivering your materials, think of that bite-sized information. Even if you have to go week by week and do one video, or two videos, or three videos to really support that person through the week, give them little wins. Allow for them to really go through that transformation without it feeling so overwhelming that they quit.
So, what is your biggest advice for somebody that is scared to niche down?
Michelle: Obviously, it would be to do it anyway. Test it out. There’s nothing wrong with testing. Put one offer out there and take one step forward. You don’t have to redo your whole website or redo your branding, right? Just test it with a program, test it with an offer and see how it changes your business and your messaging for your ideal audience.
Rachel: What’s interesting is, I talked to a coach yesterday, we’ll just call her Samantha.I talked to Samantha and she has always worked with everyone. She’s always said, “I can serve everyone.” And in the last month she had one of those moments where you say, “What am I going to do with my life? What do I really want to do?” And she said, “You know, I want to work with women’s health. I want to work with hormones.” So she started in the last two weeks putting out social media infographics about hormones, and she got all this feedback. Women were like, “Oh my gosh, I love the posts that you’re putting out. It just is really speaking to me. It’s speaking my language. I’ve been struggling with this.” And so she ended up buying our hormone program yesterday and said, “I’m so excited. I feel like I was so scared to niche down. I was so scared to get specific. I was so scared to serve a woman in a specific time of her life. But now I’m so excited because it feels like I know where I need to take this woman.”
So I think of her and I think of how many times I know I was scared. I was like, “Well, I’m gonna work with gut.” And then it’s like, that didn’t really work. I had to get even more specific to food allergies and intolerances, and as soon as I started talking about food allergies, it was like, I had clients left and right, because that’s such a pain point. I realized a lot of people didn’t understand gut. And I think that still, even with this time where we have gut plastered on The New York Times, and we have all these different publications talking about gut health, food and mood (and that’s another niche that I’m seeing people talking about – moods and food), it’s still difficult to have somebody identify what their gut issues are. When our clients say things like, “I just eat and I feel nauseous. I don’t feel good,” helping that person to really navigate what’s going on can be a little difficult. But once I added food allergies and intolerances, I got more specific in my talk, I was able to talk about detoxing from those foods, detoxing from a mindset that keeps you in a high cortisol, and really just streamlined my message.
Michelle: That is so important because that’s how people get seen as experts, too. That’s how you really build authority in your niche. When you try to talk about everything, sometimes it’s overwhelming. But when you’re really specific, like that coach who’s now sharing those specific infographics, the pain is specific, so the messaging is specific and the solution is like a no brainer.
I think that the more that health coaches can take that step forward and do a trust falll and try to test niching down, they’re going to experience such a big difference for themselves and for their clients.
Rachel: What would you say, in your opinion, are the niches that you’re going to see come out of this amazing time, because I really do think I think people are just at a point where they realize that stress can influence them in such a huge way. Mindset hacks, productivity, rest are big things that we’re hearing. Take time to rest. Take time to put yourself first. We see a lot of self-care coaches, self-love coaches, what do you think is going to come out of this time?
Michelle: Definitely stress related niches. I would say stress and mindset are number one, and then all of the niches that are symptomatic from those levels of stress. So you have hormones, weight loss, food and mood, the emotional eating aspect of it, the gut, the gut and the brain connection. I would say those are the top ones and also looking at it through the lens of the approach being bite-sized. Anything habits related is a great lead in to any of those niches. If it’s a daily habits freebie, or a habit challenge, or something where they can come inand build those habits. Then you can lead them to any niche that you serve and lead them to that transformation.
Rachel: So guys, we’re giving you today a bite-sized chunk by making this podcast short and sweet. And we want to hear feedback! If you have any comments, please leave them below. We hope that you have a great day.
Remember, niche down! It can be scary, but you’re going to find that you’re attracting your ideal client. Make sure that your niche is profitable. Do your market research, see if there’s a demand for that niche, but always don’t be scared to set yourself apart and pave the road for that niche to be really profitable. With that being said, we will see you later. Bye guys.
