How To Choose Your Niche as a Beginner Coach - The 10 Second Exercise That Never Fails

Okay, so there are thousands of videos online on how to pick your niche. Some are okay, but most miss the mark. And so no, this is not going to be a video that's going to get you to do a personality quiz or get you to do a passion mapping exercise or stare at a whiteboard for 3 hours hoping the answer is going to pop out to you. That's not going to work because here's what most people are not going to tell you: most of you already know your niche. You're just overcomplicating it. And so by the end of this video, I'm going to give you a 10-second practical exercise that's going to allow you to finally decide on your niche for good. And I've run this 10-second exercise on hundreds of coaches, and it's never failed. And if you don't want to watch to the end, what I've also dropped in the description section of this video is a 240-word master prompt on how to finally decide on your niche. Just insert that prompt, copy and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude or whatever AI you're using, and in under 5 minutes it'll help you define your niche for good. That being said, here's how you finally decide on your niche for good. First things first, if you want the short and easy answer, coach the person you were 12 months ago. That is the easiest, quickest answer. But some of you might be thinking, am I even qualified to do that? How do I know which person I was 12 months ago? Because there's so many different characters then, I don't even know which person to coach 12 months ago. So let me share with you on the easiest way to think about this. So first things first, are you qualified? This is a book. This is a bookmark. And the purpose of a bookmark is to put this on the page in the book so you never reread the same page. You only read forwards, you don't reread the same chapter because that would be super annoying. Now, everybody knows how to use a bookmark, but here's the problem: people don't know how to bookmark their life. What does that mean? It means that there are people in this world right now that have been reliving the same chapter and rereading the same chapter over and over and over and over again, rereading the same page over and over again because they don't know how to bookmark their life. And so are there people out there that you know, maybe yourself, that have had the same New Year's resolution set 3 years in a row? Yep, I've done that. I've set the same New Year's resolution again and again because I've been really reliving the same chapter again and again. Now we all know someone that's been trying to lose the same 10 pounds or the same 10 kilos over the last 10 years because they keep on reliving the same health chapter. We also know someone that's been in a career and a job that they hate, but they don't know what else to do, they don't know how to get out. They've been reliving the same career chapter for the last 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years. We also know someone that's been in a relationship which they are not fulfilled in, and they've been reliving the same relationship chapter for the last 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years. So how is this relevant to your niche? Because in order to help someone, you only need to be one chapter ahead. What does that mean? If you're one chapter ahead of the person you're coaching, you are more than qualified. Because if someone's been stuck in the same chapter, whether it's a health chapter or relationship chapter or career chapter or a business chapter for the last 2, 3, 4, 5 years and you're one chapter ahead and you can help them get out, how many of you watching this right now would think that that is a reasonable cause for them to pay you? Hundreds or thousands of dollars to help them get out of a chapter they've been stuck in for years or even decades. If I was in the health space or relationship space or career space and I've been stuck in the same chapter again and again and again, I just couldn't get out, and someone was one chapter ahead and gave their hand out to me and said, I can help you and here's my program and it's only $2,000, I'll be like, get me out! Because I don't want to live another year stuck in the same chapter. And that's why you are more than qualified to to coach someone when you're one chapter ahead. And so if you are just coaching the person you were 12 months ago and you're one chapter ahead, that's more than enough. But here's where it gets really cool, because there are a lot of people out there who are not just reliving the same chapter year after year after year, but they're actually going backwards. And I've had a season in my life where I wish I was reliving the same chapter, but I wasn't because I was going backwards. I was over a million dollars in debt. I was losing everything including my relationship and I wasn't even moving forward, yet alone staying still. I wish I wasn't going backwards. And so imagine now you're not even coaching one person that's a chapter ahead, now you're coaching someone that's actually going backwards. How much would they pay to get out? A lot. And so never ever discount the power of being one chapter ahead. There are so many people out there who would die to trade places with you, and that's all you need to do. Now, should you compare? The reason why you may be thinking this is you're comparing yourself. Should you compare your chapter to someone else's chapter, like your chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 20? Everyone's going to tell you no. You should compare. You should compare yourself to other people. The problem is most people don't know how to compare properly. You should compare yourself to other people to see what's possible and you should compare for inspiration, not defamation. What does that mean? Look at other people who have done the thing that you've done. Look and see what's possible out there and compare yourself. Say, wow, I cannot believe they can do it. If they can do it, so can I, and I'm inspired by what's possible. So comparison can be used to your advantage. Comparison gives you hope. Comparison gives you confidence. Comparison gives you belief. But most people compare for defamation and say, oh my gosh, my chapter 1 is not as good as your chapter 20. I'll never be as good. I can't start a coaching business. So compare for inspiration, not defamation, and you only need to be one chapter ahead. The other thing I'm going to say is this: your niche, it's not a tattoo. You are allowed to change it. You don't have to stick to it for the rest of your life. The average coach changes the niche 3 times anyway. I have, I have. And so you're allowed to change it, but people think, oh my gosh, once I decide on this niche I have to stick to it for the rest of my life, and I, and I have to, and I can't change it. You're allowed to change it. Now, what is not good, but it's still okay to do, is if you change it every single day and all the time on your social media profile, you have a new niche every single week, you're going to confuse your ideal client. In fact, you're not going to build a following. But even if you did that and you did it 100 times, and then finally you found something you're stuck with and you stuck with it for the next 5 years, you're gonna grow. So is it detrimental to change it 100 times? Well, only in the short term, but if it allows you to finally find the one that you want to pick and stick to, then that's going to be awesome for you in the long term anyway. And so it's not a tattoo, you're allowed to change it if you didn't like it, you're allowed to go back to a different niche or just continue to change it, and that's okay. Now the big question is, once you decide on your niche, how do you know if it's going to be the right one for you. That's probably one of the biggest things about, oh my gosh, I feel like this is right, but how do I actually know? Now, you're not going to know by just sitting down and meditating on it, and you already know that. But this is how you actually know, and I'll share with you a real story that happened to me. And I used to be an optometrist for 10 years before I became a coach. And my very first mentor, Scott Harris— shout out to you, Scott Harris, if you're watching— I paid $25,000 to be in his mastermind, and he said, Richmond Dinh, you gotta niche down, pick your niche. And he said, pick the person you were a year ago. I'm like, okay, I'll do that. But I didn't know who that person was because it could have been, it could have been life coaching, it could have been like confidence coaching, it could have been mindset coaching, it could have been an optometrist, it could be like, it was so many different people. And he said, well, why don't you pick a life coaching? And I said, yeah, I feel like I want to be a life coach. And And he said, well, who do you want to be a life coach for? Like optometrists? Asians? Men? People like you? And I'm like, I'm not sure, Scott. Can I just pick everyone? Can I be a life coach for everyone? He said, no, you cannot be. You don't want to be a life coach for everyone because if you don't niche down, you're not going to be a niche for anyone. And I knew that logically. Of course that makes sense. Yes, you've heard it 100 times before. If you try to be something for everyone, you become something for no one. And so he said, Richmond Dinh, you gotta niche down. If you're gonna be a life coach, who are you gonna be a life coach for? And he really pushed me to niche down, and I was kind of reluctant on making decisions because I was scared of making the wrong decision, not realizing that wasn't tattoo. And I remember one night I was sleeping, and you know how ideas come to you in bed, or sometimes ideas come to you in the shower? This time came to me in the middle of the night. And I woke up and I knew it. I said, oh my gosh, I know my niche. I know my niche. I felt it in my heart. I felt it in my soul. It just felt right. You see, being an optometrist for 10 years, I had done 20,000 eye tests in that time, and the majority of those eye tests were done on elderly, meaning people who were in the senior ages of 55+. I know what you're thinking, I'm 55, I'm not an elderly. Well, what I meant was my average patient age was about 65. I saw people mostly over 55, people that were 65, people 75, people 80s old, because that's majority where they have eye problems. And so the average patient age I saw was a 65-year-old. And so out of the 20,000 eye tests I'd done, about 15,000 of them were done with that age group, which I call the elderly. It's not to offend you, it's just what I call them. And I built up this beautiful affinity with them. I knew exactly what they wanted. I knew how to get along with them. I knew everything about them. They would tell me their life story and I just felt like a deep connection to them. And so I decided I was going to be a life coach for the elderly. And I went back to my mentor, my coach, Scott Harris, said, Scott, I found my niche. It felt so right to me. I'm going to coach the elderly. I'm going to be the life coach for the elderly. It was my calling because I felt like optometry had led me to this moment. It was such a waste letting go of 10 years of optometry, and now I knew, oh my gosh, that's what it served me for. And I said, Scott, I'm going to do the elderly. I'm going to get 10 pro bono clients and all coach them. They're all going to be elderly. And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa, Richmond Dinh, I love that you found your niche. I love that you felt like it's your calling, but don't take on 10 pro bono clients that are all elderly. You probably should take on a few that are elderly and take on a few like you, take on a few the old version of you, take on a few Asians here, there, that kind of stuff. And I'm like, hang on a sec, you were pushing me to niche down. I'm finally niching down. I'm telling you right now, this feels right to me. I'm going to be the life coach for the elderly. No one else was doing it. And now you're telling me to hold my horses, hang tight, and not take on 10 pro bonos that are elderly and take a mix, I was quite pissed. In fact, I was so pissed because here he is telling me niche down and now telling me the opposite. And a part of me wanted to say no, but why pay for a coach if you're not going to listen to their coaching? Because at the end of the day, Scott had no— like, there was no ulterior motive. There was, there was no reason why he would want to steer me the wrong way. There was no reason. I mean, if he tried to steer me the wrong way, how would it benefit him? There was zero benefit. And so being the good boy I am, I put on my best student hat and said, fine, I'll listen to you reluctantly. I'll take on a few elderly, I'll take on a few of my age, I'll take on a few just like me, that kind of stuff, and I'll just coach them and see how it goes. And so I took on two pro bono clients. One was a 64-year-old, one was a 67-year-old. 7-year-old, and the rest were kind of like me. And after coaching them pro bono for 6 weeks, you know what happened? I realized I hated coaching that age group. I don't know why, as an optometrist it was great, but as a life coach, it was, it was hard. It was not enjoyable. They didn't understand my jokes. I couldn't have my banter. I struggled to build rapport in that setting. As an optometrist, it was easy, but this— I just, I just hated it. I hated the whole experience. I'd never, quote unquote, wanted to coach the elderly again. In life coaching, we have many elderly clients right now in our business, but that I didn't want to coach. Again, if you're watching this and you're getting a little bit offended because you're 55 and you're not elderly, I totally get it. I know you're not elderly. I'm just saying that's how I categorize it. So I coached them, I hated it, and I wanted to coach people just like me. And that's when I learned a powerful lesson, and you might want to write this down, that action precedes clarity all the time. Here I am thinking I found the perfect niche designed for me, it came to me in my sleep, it came to me right in my soul, and I felt like it was the perfect one, only to realize when I started coaching them It wasn't perfect at all. And the only way I could have known that was if I had taken action on that niche first. And the opposite is also true. I've been in situations, and also my students, where the niche didn't quite feel right. It didn't feel like it was the perfect calling. It didn't feel aligned. But until I actually coached that person the alignment came. Again, action precedes clarity all the time. And so whatever niche you're thinking, whatever one chapter ahead you're thinking, if you've got 2, 3 options, it doesn't matter. You just need to take action on that first. And what's the best way to take action on it? This is not a plug— maybe it is— but run a Tiny Challenge. A Tiny Challenge is a 5-day one-on-one challenge. I have a video on my channel called What Is a Tiny Challenge. Basically, in short, it allows you to coach someone for free over 5 days, 5 calls, over a period where it's very short and allows you to test your niche. It allows you to find clarity through taking action. And if you have a niche where it could be single moms or corporate women or women who've been a victim of abuse and you're like, I could do all of those things, well, do a tiny challenge on each of them and I promise you after each of them you will know who you're called to serve. Because action precedes clarity. So on that note of niching, that we're going to take action anyway because you're not going to be able to meditate to them, there's a story that says if I niche down, I'm going to exclude people. And you're half right. So there's a principle called Blue Ocean, right, and Red Ocean. So if you go abroad and try to pick a niche and become a life coach for everyone, right? And that's a red ocean. It's a red ocean because yes, there might be, let's just call it, a thousand people here that you can serve. Lots of people, a thousand people that you can serve. But you know what? There's also 1,000 of your competitors trying to serve the same market. And now there's 1,000 people you can serve, and there's 1,000 other sharks out there trying to fight for the same people. And so even though it's a broader market and there's more people out there, there's also more competition because most people are so afraid to niche down. So what's the solution here? Your solution is to find a blue ocean and to niche down. And you can niche down on multiple categories. You can niche down on age, on race, on gender, on religion, on specific interests, on location and geography, on maybe a unique vehicle. There's many ways you can niche down. I'll drop it in the comment section on the 9 ways in which you can niche down. But let's just say you pick one, okay, and you niche down and you say, I'm going to be the life coach for the elderly. Now How many elderly clients are there out there compared to everyone? There's much less, right? And in here there might be 100. So now I've narrowed down from everyone, life coach for everyone, to life coach for elderly, and there's only 100 people. So there's less people here to serve, way less. There's 1,000 people here, but there's 1,000 people fighting for the same people. There's 100 people here, but here's the key. Out of the 100 people here, when you niche down, there might only be you serving them. So your ratio of you to them is 1 to 100, and that's why you win. Rather than the ratio here is 1 to 1, and that's why you lose. Because when you niche down, you don't have any competition. And write this down: your biggest competitive advantage is when you don't have competition. Think about it. If you wanted to open up a hot dog stand in a stadium and there's no other hot dog stand, you will sell out. Even if you're the most expensive, even if you're crap, even if you're starting out, even if you're inexperienced, because you're the only one. But if you try to open up a hot dog stand where there's another 1,000 hot dog stands there, it doesn't matter how good you are, you will struggle because there's another thousand there. And so your biggest advantage is when you don't have competition, and that's why monopolies are illegal, because it's that powerful. And so there's always power in niching down. Again, it's not a tattoo, but I want you to get thinking on this level here. Now, one of the final things I want to say is this, and this is the 10-second exercise. Whatever niche you're deciding right now or thinking about, there's probably two options you're deciding on. Life coaching for elderly, life coaching for male agents, whatever, whatever you're thinking. I just want you to think of the two broad things that you're thinking of right now. If you're really stuck on this decision, this is the exercise, okay? I want you to imagine this for a second. If you have a coin, use a coin. If you don't, use an imaginary coin. I want you on an imaginary coin. Heads is option 1, which niche you're thinking of. Tails is option 2, the other niche that you're thinking of. Just whatever comes to your mind that you've been toying with. It could be this, it could be this. Heads is 1, tails are 2. I want you to imagine the coin in your hand and you flick it up and it's flipping right now. And it lands on top and you cover it and do not look at it. Don't look at it. While it's underneath your hand right now, ask yourself this question: What do you secretly wish that coin would land on? Feel it in your heart. You don't know what it landed on. It's an imaginary coin. What do you secretly wish that coin landed on? Whatever that first answer is, start there. Take on a few clients through a Tiny Challenge and just start there. That, my friends, is a 10-second practical exercise to know your niche, because most of you are just overcomplicating it. And at the end of the day, if you decide wrong, it's not a tattoo, and your parents are not going to put you in a naughty corner for making the wrong decision. So that, my friends, is how you do it. If this video was valuable, I also have a video on my channel called What Is a Tiny Challenge? If you're like, what's a tiny challenge? I don't know about that. Check that out. It is boss. It's the fastest, simplest way for you to get paid with the least amount of friction. And I also have a video on my channel on how to get your first paying client as well. So you can check those videos out, and that's without posting content, I might add. So check those videos out on that channel. It'll be super useful for you. For now, appreciate you for watching. Keep believing and never settle.