Coaches often believe that if they narrow their niche, they’ll limit their opportunities and help fewer people. It seems logical—if you market yourself as available to everyone, you’ll get more clients, right? But the reality is, trying to serve everyone often means serving no one effectively.
A broad, general coaching message gets lost in the noise because it doesn’t resonate with any particular audience. Instead of being seen as an expert, you blend in with every other life coach out there. And let’s be honest—when someone needs help, do they look for a generalist, or a specialist who understands their specific challenge?
Choosing a Niche = Defining Your Coaching Specialty
Your niche is the specific area or problem you solve as a coach. It’s what you do and who you serve at a broad level.
Think of it as the category or field of coaching that you focus on.
Examples of Coaching Niches:
✔ Career coaching (helping professionals navigate career transitions)
✔ Leadership coaching (guiding executives or entrepreneurs to become better leaders)
✔ Health & wellness coaching (supporting clients in fitness, nutrition, or mindset)
✔ Relationship coaching (helping people improve marriages, dating, or communication)
✔ Mindset coaching (helping clients overcome limiting beliefs and confidence issues)
Why Coaches Resist Choosing a Niche
One of the biggest reasons coaches resist niching down is fear.
Fear of Missing Out – What if you exclude potential clients?
Fear of Choosing the Wrong Niche – What if you make the wrong decision and limit yourself?
A Heart to Help Everyone – Many coaches feel called to serve broadly and worry that specialization means leaving people behind.
Lack of Clarity – If you’re just starting out, you may not yet know who you want to work with.
Scarcity Mindset – Early in business, any client feels like a win, so narrowing feels risky.
But the truth is, specialization is the key to attracting more of the right clients—those who truly need and value what you offer.
The Struggle of Being a Generalist
I’ve seen this play out with new coaches who market themselves as “life coaches for anyone who needs my help.”
They struggle to get traction because their messaging is too vague. Potential clients don’t know if they’re the right fit, and these coaches get lost among countless other generic life coaches. It’s exhausting to market that way, and it doesn’t lead to sustainable business growth.
But when a coach defines a clear niche—whether it’s helping career changers, supporting first-time leaders, or guiding new moms through transitions—they suddenly stand out. People see them as the go-to expert in that space, making it easier to attract clients who need exactly what they offer.
I know this firsthand. Over the years, I’ve gone from general life coaching to coaching women and life coaches specifically. I’ve refined that even further, coaching women who want to be great leaders in their personal lives and in the world, as well as coaching life coaches in business and mindset.
I didn’t start there—I started by coaching anyone and everyone to gain experience, learn who I loved working with, develop my coaching methods, and discover the areas I am so passionate about that I’d do anything to help others.
Why Your Niche Should Align with Your Passion
Finding your niche makes coaching more sustainable.
When I was coaching topics that I didn’t deeply care about, I could still coach my clients well, but I didn’t feel the same drive to create content, courses, and resources around those topics.
Contrast that with how I feel about supporting coaches in their calling. I’m willing to invest a ton of energy and timeinto building programs like my Greenhouse Life Coach Certification or the Called to Coach Business Course because I believe in them.
But I only know this because I started taking action somewhere.
I’ve seen so many of my clients hold themselves back from starting at all because they don’t know their niche or their perfect client avatar. But the reason you don’t know yet is because you’re not going out and getting clients.
I don’t care if they’re paid or free, strangers or best friends. Start coaching.Start having conversations.Start learning.Start serving.
Just start—and do it today.
You Can Start General, Then Refine Your Niche
Starting as a general life coach isn’t a bad thing—it can actually be a great way to gain experience, build confidence, and discover who you’re truly passionate about serving. I really encourage you to do this as a new coach or if you’re a coach who’s been doing client work but you’re still unclear about things, do general life coaching but start really paying attention to your interests, passions, and the type of results you become great at helping clients achieve. Is there a pathway there for you once you start looking for it?
Many successful coaches begin with a broad approach, working with different types of clients. Over time, patterns emerge. They start to notice:
✔ The problems they enjoy solving most.
✔ The clients they naturally connect with.
✔ The areas where they make the biggest impact.
So if you’re in the early stages of your coaching business, give yourself permission to experiment. Work with a variety of clients, refine your skills, and take note of what feels most fulfilling.
Then, as you gain clarity, start dialing in your niche to attract those ideal clients consistently.
Here’s another major mythbuster for you:
Niching down is not a coaching method.
It’s a marketing strategy. It helps you dial in the results you help clients get, the type of growth you are able to guide them towards, and the way you approach your business. You can use any method you want, be certified anywhere by anyone, and still niche down to become the go-to in your area so that people know you are the right coach for them, they are the right client for you, and the results you guide them towards are the ones they truly want.
How to Start Defining Your Niche Today
A great way to begin defining your niche is by identifying three types of clients you’d love to work with.
Ask yourself:
What are their biggest pain points?
What transformations do they need?
Where do I feel most excited and qualified to help?
Once you tailor your message to speak directly to these needs, you become the obvious choice for the right people. You don’t have to niche overnight, but you should always be paying attention to where your work feels most meaningful.
How My Coaching Path Led to a Defined Niche
I’ve built my coaching framework in a way that allows new coaches to gain clarity while still taking action.
1️⃣ Start with The Greenhouse Course – Train to become a Sterling and Stone Life Coach, use The PEARL Practice coaching methodology, and launch your coaching business simply and affordably.
2️⃣ Take the Niche Clarity Course – Identify your personal passions and calling so you can figure out who needs your help most.
3️⃣ Step into Called to Coach Course – With a clear niche, you’ll use the SOCOCA System to grow your coaching business.
The reason I built this process? Because I didn’t have a roadmap when I started.
I had to figure everything out on my own. I couldn’t find any faith-based, affordable, approachable coaching programs that showed me not just how to coach well but how to build a sustainable business.
A lot of times, our passions develop from the areas of pain or deficit we’ve overcome or figured out on our own.
So think about this for yourself:
What have you figured out, overcome, or created great results in that you could help others do?
Why Niching Works: The Expert vs. The Generalist
Imagine you have a heart condition. Would you rather see a general practitioner or a cardiologist?
Exactly.
People don’t want generic help—they want the best help for their specific situation. The more specific your niche, the more credibility and trust you build in that space.
Or think about it in terms of a restaurant:
You could be a diner that serves everything and has a massive menu with 2,000 ingredients, leading to inconsistent quality and a generic customer base.
Or you could be a steakhouse that’s known for doing one thing exceptionally well—and people make reservations weeks in advance because they trust your expertise.
Coaching works the same way. The more focused you are, the more demand you create.
Embracing Specialization
Instead of fearing specialization, embrace it.
When you clarify your niche, you help the right people in a bigger way and make a lasting impact in your area of expertise.
Less really is more when it comes to coaching success. Start general if you need to, but don’t stay there. Keep refining, keep learning, and when the time is right, confidently step into the space where you do your best work. 🚀
Reader Challenge:
Take some time today to reflect on your specific focus and specialty. Write down three results you’d like to help people get and list their biggest pain points in getting them. What problems do they need solved? What transformations are they looking for? Once you have that clarity, think about how you can start speaking directly to them in your marketing and messaging. Post your thoughts, share them with a peer, or even send me a message- I’d love to hear what you discover!