One of the quickest ways to make a new coach uncomfortable is to ask:
Who, specifically, do you help?
The answer often begins broadly:
“I want to help people improve their health.”
“I want to work with professionals experiencing stress.”
“I want to support people going through a transition.”
All of those intentions are meaningful. But they are not yet specific enough for someone to recognize themselves in the message.
During the first session of Coaching Business Launchpad, one of the participants expressed a concern I hear frequently from coaches. As we made her audience more specific, she worried that she might be limiting herself.
I stopped her and suggested that we remove the word limit from the conversation.
Because choosing a niche is not only about excluding people.
It is about making someone feel seen.
Specificity Helps the Right Person Recognize You
Imagine coming across two coaching messages.
The first says:
I help people reduce stress and improve their well-being.
The second speaks directly to a particular person, in a particular season, who is experiencing a problem that has become difficult to ignore.
The first message may apply to thousands of people.
The second may cause someone to stop and think:
That sounds like me.
That recognition is what specificity creates.
A niche does not mean that you are forbidden from coaching anyone outside of it. It simply gives you a person to speak to, an experience to understand, and a place to begin testing your business.
As I told the cohort:
Your niche is a hypothesis, not a prison.
It does not need to define your business forever. It only needs to be specific enough to test right now.
Broad Messaging Often Feels Safer
New coaches frequently stay broad because broadness feels inclusive.
They do not want to turn away someone they could potentially help. They may also be uncertain about which audience will eventually become the most profitable or sustainable.
That makes sense.
But broadness creates its own risk: no one feels certain that the message was created for them.
It also makes nearly every other business decision harder.
When you do not know who you are speaking to, it becomes difficult to decide:
- What problems to address in your content
- Where to build relationships
- What type of offer to develop
- Who to interview for market research
- What organizations or referral partners to approach
Once the person becomes clearer, the pathways to reaching them often begin to appear naturally.
That happened during our first session. As one participant clarified who she wanted to serve, she immediately began identifying employers, community groups, potential partnerships, and communication channels that could help her reach them.
She moved from asking, “How do I market my coaching?” to seeing specific people and places where meaningful conversations could begin.
But we had to clarify the who before we could find the how.
Start With a Working Hypothesis
A simple niche hypothesis can follow this structure:
I help [a specific person] who is experiencing [a specific problem or moment] so they can achieve [a meaningful outcome].
You can use the free New Coach Marketing Plan to work through this niche hypothesis, define your ideal client, and begin shaping the message around your coaching business.
You are not writing a permanent declaration.
You are creating something you can take into the market and learn from.
Ask yourself:
Who do I currently believe I can help?
What is happening in their life when they become interested in support?
What problem is that moment creating in their work, health, relationships, confidence, or daily experience?
What meaningful change do they want to experience?
Your first answer will probably not be your final answer. That is not a failure of the process. That is the process.
Clarity Comes From Contact, Not Contemplation
You can only think your way toward a niche for so long.
Eventually, you have to talk to people.
That is why the coaches in the Launchpad did not leave Week 1 with an assignment to design the perfect website or build a polished coaching package. They were asked to have two short conversations with people who resembled their working client archetype.
Those conversations provide language, emotional texture, recurring problems, and real-world context that cannot be manufactured in isolation.
That same language can also make your marketing much stronger. Learn how client conversations improve your coaching content and help you stop guessing what your audience wants to hear.
You make a hypothesis.
You speak with real people.
You notice what resonates.
You refine the hypothesis.
Then you repeat.
That is how a niche develops: not through one perfect decision, but through a series of increasingly informed decisions.
You do not need to know exactly where your coaching business will be five years from now.
You need someone specific enough to serve today.
The next Coaching Business Launchpad cohort begins September 15, 2026. Explore our website to learn more about the program or submit your application today.
About John Marshall
John Marshall, MS, PCC, NBC-HWC, is a coach trainer, mentor coach, entrepreneur, and founder of Coaching Business Launchpad. He helps newly certified and early-stage coaches turn their training into clearer messaging, real client conversations, and a sustainable path to building their business.