11 Questions That Will Help You Find Your Niche

"The riches are in the niches."

I'm sure you've all heard that before.

But what is a niche and how do you find it?

A niche (in marketing or business) is a small, highly-specific segment of a broader market that has a need that is not being fulfilled by competitors or is not being fulfilled well. A niche is an opportunity for dominance. 

Defining a niche is the easy part. Finding your niche is a different story.

Sometimes it's easy to find your niche because it's already baked into your business. For example, if you own a restaurant that serves vegan Italian food in San Diego, you've already found your niche. You're going to serve the best vegan Italian food in the city and everything you do, all of your marketing, will speak to that. And because you're fulfilling a very specific need, you will naturally attract your perfect clients i.e. people in San Diego who are vegan or who enjoy vegan food that are also in the mood for Italian.

But sometimes it's not so obvious. If you're a dentist, you're probably performing the same basic services as all the other dentists in the city: cleaning teeth, taking x-rays, doing fillings, performing root canals, etc. So what sets you apart?

Sometimes, the answer isn't that your specific services set you apart, but the people you serve or the way you do business. When you set out to discover your niche, don't be so focused on just the services you provide. Don't forget to look horizontally and consider all parts of your business!

If you've decided that you're ready to niche down and go deep, ask yourself the following 11 questions. Get out a piece of paper and write down your answers. Really spend some time thinking about each one to be sure you've captured all the possibilities! Don't just jot down an answer and move on. If you find yourself struggling with any one of the questions below, enlist the help of a trusted friend or better yet, a mentor, to help you answer them.

11 Questions That Will Help You Find Your Niche

•Who am I?

•What has made me special or unique?

•Why do people love me?

•What have been my life experiences?

•How have those experiences shaped me and influenced my career?

•What am I passionate about?

•How can I tie my passion back to my business, if possible?

•What value do I bring to others?

•What makes me successful that is not about my skills or training?

•Who is my perfect client? 

•What problem(s) am I uniquely capable of solving for my perfect clients?

Did you do this exercise? Did you have any revelations on what your niche is or could be? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you discovered!