Folks often tell me they find business planning to be restrictive. 

Instead of creating a plan, they try to grow their business by choosing a niche.   

Business plans let you be nimble and take chances because you understand what is (and isn’t) working in your business. They show you the best path and any small adjustments you need to make. A good plan isn’t constraining. 

Niches are equally important, but we often feel pressured to choose one before the time is right. Let me explain. 

“Every Podcast Tells Me to Niche ASAP!”

A niche is a way to classify your business. 

Mix together the industry you work in, the specific type of client you help within that industry, and the services you offer. That’s your niche. 

Choosing a niche is a strategy to narrow down who you help, how you help them, and when. 

While niching is important to scale your business, it can be a mistake to niche too soon. Let me explain.  

Know Your Stage of Business Growth BEFORE You Niche  

In the early stages of business, I recommend doing work for all different types of clients. 

Being a generalist in your area of speciality is the easiest way to learn exactly what you enjoy! 

Later, you can easily focus on specialized, niche-specific work. You will have gathered enough knowledge to decide which niche thrills you most. 

Rather than skip directly to niching, it’s better to strategize a plan.

The first step to creating a thoughtful entrepreneurial plan is knowing your Stage of Business Growth. My model’s below.  

Recognizing the Best Time to Niche

Finding the right niche is a process—so is creating a business you enjoy! 

First you need to know where you are. Then you create a plan to make that dream business a reality. 

The next right step of your plan might not be niching. Take a peek at my Seven Stages of Business Growth; niches aren’t crucial until we hit $200K.    

 #1 Annual Revenue: $0 – $79K 

We say YES to any type of work we can get. Earning money and experience are equally important at this point.  

Choosing a niche can become our way of procrastinating tough decisions. It ends up being a distraction that makes us even more overwhelmed.

#2 Annual Revenue: $80K – $139K

Our business isn’t new anymore, but it’s still in the early stages. We don’t need to have a clear niche yet.

We can start to outline a customer journey. Marketing will have better ROI than niching because we have so much yet to learn about providing our services.

#3 Annual Revenue: $140K – $199K

We learned a lot! We know what we do well and what we enjoy doing.

It’s fine to explore niches and try to find a good fit. Don’t worry about getting it perfect; it’s still the early stages. It’s okay to be a bit messy! 

#4 Annual Revenue: $200K – $249K

Now’s the time to take what we know about our customers’ needs and desires to create highly-customized offers.

Once we decide what to offer, we can target a specific niche. 

#5 Annual Revenue: $250K – $499K

We have deep knowledge of our niche and our capabilities. 

This is a good stage to expand our offers because we learned new, creative ways to bring extra value to our customers. 

#6 Annual Revenue: $500K – $1M   

Now we have enough business experience to leverage our expertise. 

Several years of working with similar customer projects has given us expert-level knowledge about the niche we serve. 

#7 Annual Revenue: $1 Million and Up

This stage is fun! We get to use our vast experience and expertise to shake things up; let’s make some noise in the market!

We can create forward-thinking offers/services for our niche. It’s a great chance to set ourselves far apart from any competitors. 

Summary

Before making any decisions, it’s best to get clear about exactly which Stage of Business you’re at. That’s the easiest way to plan for the next steps you need to take. 

Figuring out where you are right now is much more important that choosing the niche you’d like to be. Save that step for later. 

If you’re unsure about the next best step, my coaching program, “7-Figure Confidence”, teaches you how to make a 90-day plan for achieving your business goals. 

Feel free to reach out for a complimentary imagination session to see what the next best step is for you. If I think I can help, we can chat further. But rest assured, there’s no pressure – I want what’s best for you at the stage of business you are at right now.

P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 3 ways I can help you grow your business:

1. Grab my Guide & Workbook to keeping your cool and making money- even during a global pandemic!
Can you make money, grow your business, and survive a pandemic all at the same time? The quick answer is yes.  — Click Here

2. Book a free strategy chat
You can grow your business bigger than you imagine possible, even during a pandemic.  Here’s what will happen – we will chat about your vision for your biz, where you are right now and any challenges you are facing.— Click Here

3. I’m looking for a few specific people to join me for my live training, where we will spend 90 minutes a week for 90 days to exponentially grow your business.

Just send me a message with DOUBLE in the subject line to get more details.