EP 322 - How to Choose Your Coaching Niche in 2026
Some coaches spend two or three years still 'working on their niche.' If that sounds familiar, this episode will change everything. Here's How to choose your coaching niche
I've helped over 10,000 coaches build profitable businesses, and the number one thing that unlocks everything? A niche rooted in your own story.
In this episode, I'm sharing what nobody told you about choosing a coaching niche and why for women over 50, it is actually easier than you think.
Here's what I cover:
What's really keeping you stuck on your niche (it's not what you think)
Why niching down actually gives you more freedom, not less
Three real client examples that show exactly how to find a niche rooted in your lived experience
The "fluffy niche" trap that kills urgency and costs you clients
Three questions to ask yourself before committing to any niche
Why women over 50 have a unique advantage when it comes to picking the right niche
Your niche should not be a guess. It is rooted in your story, and once you find it, everything in your business gets easier.
Ready to find your niche and start building? Start with my free Business Assessment at https://www.debbieshadid.com/schedule
Let’s connect → DebbieShadid.com/schedule
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Transcript
If you've ever said, I don't wanna leave people out, or I can help people with so many things, or what if I pick the wrong thing? Then I know you're talking about your niche. And today's episode is for you, especially if you're a woman over 50. Today I am gonna tell you what nobody told you about choosing a niche and why for women of our age, it is actually easier than you think. Today we're diving into something that nearly every coach is wrestling with, but again, especially women over 50. My name is Debbie Shadid and I've helped over 10,000 coaches not only build, but grow successful, profitable coaching businesses. And let me talk about the real reason why you haven't picked a niche and what's going on. And I think it's not because you're confused, but it's because you haven't seen how simple it can be. You've been told, just follow your passion. Don't niche at all. Serve everyone. But that advice is really misleading and it's keeping brilliant women just like you stuck in indecision And my friend, I hear people that have been stuck for like two or three years. Still quote, working on their niche. I'm doing that with air quotes, working on their niche. So let's shift this conversation. You don't need to have a niche that boxes you in. You need to have a niche that frees you up. how could that be? Well, when you pick the right niche, your business becomes easy. When your business is easy and you understand that your niche is the right niche because you know how to talk about it well, and you're confident about the results that you can get your clients, I'm telling you what, everything in your business. Is easier, you'll market with greater ease. And when people find you, they'll be like, yeah, that's a coach for me, because there will be such a connection. I wanna share with you two or three examples that will help you see how narrowing down will actually help you get the business that you want. So this first example is gonna be something you have never heard of. I had a client who was worried about. Losing people because she would narrow down too far. so here's the background on her. She's in her sixties. She has a background as a pastor, she's in ministry. She's interested in parenting because she's been one and life transitions and she's a life coach. she is trained to help anyone, not only as a pastor or minister, but also as a life coach. And when we started working together, she's like, Debbie, I have coached so many people in so many different areas. I cannot just pick one. All of them feel so important. Can you relate? When I talked to her and we did niche research, we had conversations with some real people. Guess what we discovered? We discovered that we could actually build a niche around that, and that is exactly what she did. she was able to help women. Get reconnected with themselves through the Bible. Yes, she coached women as a life coach, but it was about using the Bible in their life. Now, who else has heard of a Bible coach? she narrowed her niche down. She said, I help Christian women over 50 rediscover themselves. Through the word that one sentence gave her freedom and she knew what to talk about because she was a pastor and a life coach. So she combined two things that she loved and she knew what offers to create. She realized that she would not be leaving anyone out, but instead, as I always say, you'll actually be including people. People will know that they are. The right person for you. instantly she found clarity and everything else got easier. Like what her coaching programs would be about, what her marketing would be about, what her website should say. All of it got easier. Alright, here's the next person I wanna tell you about. We had a client that wanted to help women lose weight, and y'all know that's pretty generic. was a bariatric. Surgery patient. And I was like, okay, tell me more. So she told me about this journey of qualifying for bariatric surgery and she said, you have to lose a certain amount of weight to have the bariatric surgery. So we started talking about all the people who can't even get the surgery. Because they have to be a certain weight to have the surgery. And of course they're coming to get the help, and yet you have to lose the weight to have the surgery. So after I heard about this, I was like, okay, this is an incredible niche. Again, it sounds kind of silly, like, wait a minute, I have to lose the weight so I can have the surgery to lose the weight. Yes. So that turned out to be really a unique opportunity. For coaching and really making a difference because this client had actually done it. two things here this client had done. One is that she had lost the weight to qualify for the surgery, and two, like many, many people, she regained. I believe it was about 70 pounds of the a hundred, and then lost it again. So she has two different ways that she helps people, but it's all around people who are having bariatric surgery, either qualifying or that post surgery phase. Now, can you see how specific that is? If you are somebody who's trying to qualify and you feel out of hope, then you see somebody's, social media post or their workshop that they're hosting for how to qualify for bariatric surgery. All of a sudden you're like, okay, this lady is talking to me. that's a beautiful way to have a niche. Instead of just helping people lose weight, this is the way to go. The third example I wanna give you is a woman who wanted to. Do career coaching. And I said, okay, well please tell me more. And she said, I'm gonna help people get raises. They've been overlooked for raises or promotions. And she said, I wanna help 'em do that. And I'm like, okay. Again, that's pretty generic. Can you tell me more After I got to know this client more and learn her story, she shared that she was from this particular country where being humble and being taught not to brag and not to boast is really part of their culture. And the people that she could help the most in the United States were people who were part of this community or this culture that have come from this country, she could help them navigate the workplace and be able to still maintain the humility that was so important to them, but also get a raise and be able to. Speak up for themselves and take credit for the incredible work that they were doing. So in the end, her coaching became about helping people from marginalized communities learn how to navigate maintain their humble spirit and get raises and promotions again, incredible niche. She could go on LinkedIn and now she knew exactly who she was talking to. Somebody scrolling LinkedIn would say, oh my gosh. Like I identify as somebody from that part of the world. I identify with humility being important to me. I know I'm getting overlooked. I need this help. that's what I want you to think about when you think about your niche. So let's talk about women over 50 and the advantage that you have. I touched on this in an earlier episode, but you have lived through so many things, right? You've had family transitions, you've had career pivots, personal growth, and you just have years of life experience, emotional healing. we talk about trauma now. It's a casual word that's passed around. Most of you at this point in your life have had real trauma, not just that casual, like I had a bad day and was traumatized at work. You've had real trauma and you've gotten to the other side of it. you've walked through things that your ideal client. Is currently facing. We just have to find out who the ideal client is. your niche should not be a guess. It is rooted in your lived experience. When you pick a niche, that is what you have lived and you have come out of, like the examples that I have just shared, all three of those are women that had actually experienced what their niche coaching is. You are an instant authority. All three of those women that I've described, they do not have a hard time selling their coaching, talking in their marketing hosting workshops. They don't get stuck on that. Like, what should I say? They know what to say. you can be an instant authority When we get you in a niche that is like that. you just need a process to uncover what you love to coach about, to discover what people are actively seeking, and to match your story with real solvable problems. when we think about your niche and you start to filter out what your niche might be, what I wanna ask you is, Do you know other people besides you that have the same problem as you? And I'm gonna guess in this whole wide world, whatever your problem is or whatever circumstance you've been through, or whatever you overcome. There's millions of people. What I wanna recommend is that you go do some research, go to chat GPT and start asking them how many millions of people, if you and I were working together, I'd do the research for you and I would blow your mind because everybody that I've done it with, the numbers are phenomenal. go find how many people have the same problem as you, and then find out what are those people searching for help with. And I'm gonna bet it's the same thing that you were. they are looking for the same transformation that you just had. So is it something that they would invest their time, their energy, and their money into fix? This is a key piece I really wanna talk to you. It's the greatest love. If you are a woman who is, again, air quotes, a next chapter coach, and you have been somebody that's had a lot of coaching, getting to that place where you're doing Fun envisioning and getting to your next best life. That's what I call fluffy niches. Those are the things that if you try to sell in a niche like that. What happens is there's not urgency around it. And they might say well, you know what? I'm gonna wait till after the first of the year. Yeah, I know I really wanna do this and, or I just sent my kids to camp so I don't really have it in the budget right now. I'm gonna get back with you because I really wanna do this. It's easy for somebody to make that not a priority. So I want you to find the original pain point that you had, because if you've been on a journey of self-discovery, there was something originally that started it. So whatever the original thing is, chances are that one thing is the reason somebody will seek out change. So again, if you are thinking that next chapter phase, what is, at the root of all of that? What have you dealt with emotionally or mentally or physically or in your careers, in your family life, in raising your children, whatever all of that is actually where the niche is. So think about that. You have to have, Other people that have the same problem, other people that are searching for help, and then people who are willing to invest their time, their energy, and their money to fix it. If you go and look for other coaches that are successful in your niche. I can tell you that proves to me that there are people who want to hire coaches in that niche. And I want to remind you, I don't know how many billion people there are in the world, but there's a lot. And so this means there's a lot of opportunity for you because people are not just hiring a coach because of what they coach around, they're hiring you. You are the brand of their business and they're hiring you because they are connected to you. So if the answer happens to be yes to all three of those questions, then your niche is a niche that you can really gain some traction with. So let me just give you a little mindset tip here. You might also feel like I should have already figured this out and I'm taking too long to decide, and other coaches seem to be so clear. Lemme just tell you, they all were confused at one point too. There's not very many people who can just land on something and stay with it. I want to help you do that once you go through this process of answering those three questions and getting really clear with yourself. I want you to be onto yourself because what's gonna happen is your primitive brain is going to cause confusion for you. It loves to go in there and go, but what if and what about this? And well, what about that? And all of that nonsense comes up. it loves to get you confused. I always say it's the toddler that's throwing a fit. It loves to get you confused. So when you've done the research behind it, when you've talked to other people and you can think of examples of people and you've got evidence from other coaches, that is your evidence bank, that the niche that you have is right. And then you hold onto that niche research and that evidence and you keep reminding yourself, no, what I have is perfect. The niche is the right niche for me. And you tell that toddler, that primitive brain of yours, just quiet down, okay? Because if you can stick to a niche, you can get a business built. When you start building a business, you're gonna have a website marketing copy. You know your offers. Everything is based on that one thing, your niche. I don't want you changing your niche once you decide what it is. here's some action steps for you to take today, and I want you to write down three different topics that you're passionate about and then ask yourself these questions about each of those three topics. Number one, are people aware that they need your help? Are they on each one of those topics? Number two, are they searching for solutions? These are the questions that I ask you, okay, are they searching to solve this problem? And number three, Are you gonna be inspired and excited to talk about this? And remember, I'm talking to you about building a business for a lifetime. Now, maybe you're not thinking you wanna work that long, but I want you to imagine that you've built a business that you love. And so why would you not wanna have, clients for the next 10 years? Why would you not wanna support people? You want to retire from your job right now? Because it's. A job, it's a career and it feels really heavy. But if you're doing something really meaningful, like coaching, you don't wanna leave it. So I want you to find something where you're like, I love it. So just pick your niche, just one, and then try it on an outfit, right? You can always refine it. So we can take a niche and continue to refine it down even further. But let me just say one more word about niche. Not only will. That one niche inform everything you say, but it will also inform how you show up, how you as the brand of the business, navigates in the online space. if we can go back for a moment to the particular client who helped people in marginalized communities. When we did her branding, her business branding, we did branding like we have never done for anyone else. And it would be a color palt that I would never recommend for anyone. But because we knew her niche so well, the branding made perfect sense. her brand color was like a fire engine red. A gold and a like hunter green. Those are not colors that I've had any other client. I've done thousands of women's branding, and nobody else has done anything like that. So that's what I want you to do is decide on your niche so we can get your business built from there. no matter how far you narrow down, I want you to know that you'll be able to find things to talk about forever, and it really will give your business a beautiful starting point. And once you have a niche, you know what you can have next. A client, so of course you can do general life coaching, but I'll just tell you, I work with a lot of general life coaches too. They don't even know what to talk about on social media. narrow your niche down, pick a niche and oh my goodness, the clarity that you will have, that clarity that you've been craving. Oh my goodness. You'll love it and you will know what to talk about tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed this second part to our four-part series about how right now is the best time for a woman over 50, and I'll say it again over 16, over 70, to step in and start an incredible coaching business. Build this business, do this foundational work right now so you can have a business. For a lifetime where you have time freedom and financial freedom, and you get to really make a difference with your work. Okay, that's all for today. This is part two of our four part series, so make sure you join us for the next series. I'm gonna talk about you looking like a professional. This is something that all the women over 50. They don't wanna show up and just look like they threw themselves together. I'm talking about your business curb appeal, the visuals of your business, and just how you have your business set up. So if you wanna be seen as a professional, as if you have had a professional involved in your business and you wanna make sure you're doing it right. listen to this next episode, I'll share with you what you need to do to get a professional brand set up. All right, until next time. Bye-bye.
