Dr Nicolya Williams

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Should I Niche Down?


There's two different types of business organizational systems that you can create when you're building out your brand. One is a horizontal organizational structure and the other is a vertical organizational structure. Now, what most coaches just won't tell you is that there are pros and cons to both, and you have to lean into what feels right for you. In today's blog, I'm going to explain exactly why.

So when I first started my business, I had an amazing coach who believed that you had to niche down.

Due to this and me being new in the coaching space I spent the first two years of my business solely focused on book writing. While I absolutely loved it, I felt suffocated. It felt like there was more to what I was supposed to be doing. So, for example, I'd have someone come through to work with me on their book.

I'd coach them around book writing, but then they'd want more coaching. And I felt like I had to stop. I felt like I could only go so far. Because of that what ended up happening was I boxed myself in and I started to burn out. It wasn't until I uncovered my unique human design, and I learned that as a manifestor, which is my type in human design, I'm actually supposed to be multi, passionate, and niches don't necessarily work in my favor.

So I started to lean into other things that I wanted to do. I built my happily divorced course funnel. I recently updated my book writing funnel. I built out a course creation funnel, and I built out my certification. Many people think it can be overwhelming or crazy, but the reason that this has worked so powerfully for me is because I will typically have someone who will come in to one thing and then want more support. I in turn can meet them where they are.

A good example of this is I recently had someone come in that wanted support around writing a book, but she was blocked based on some experiences she had in her last marriage where she felt really torn down. So I was able to help her with her book. I was also able to help her with her healing.

Another example is that, I had a client who came to me who wanted to create a course, and she created her very first course that she loved. But then she wanted to take it a step further and really build a coaching business.

So I was able to help her with her course and also able to help her build out a profitable coaching brand. None of this would have been possible had I stayed put and only focused on one arena. But for me, this horizontal organization model works really well because I can funnel people into different arenas and support them. Holistically. Now, on the flip side, I have plenty of clients who have really taken that one stream of income all the way up vertically and succeeded really, really well.

When I think about this, I think of people like Danielle Leslie, right. She has created profitability by helping people create courses and she essentially takes them all the way up the product suite this way. Whereas I'm essentially taking people across the product suite in a horizontal manner. There are a lot of pros and cons to both- so with that said there is no "right"answer. \

Let's break it down to a more simple example. There's Red Lobster, and there's Cheesecake Factory. If we go to Red Lobster on a date with a group of your friends. You know that you're going there for seafood. But you may instead chose to change things up and go to Cheesecake factory, where everyone can get what they want.

One person can get a Mexican dish, one person can get a bomb dessert, another person can get some seafood, another person can get some American food. This is done strategically to meet people right where they are

So the reason I felt called to share this structure and this model of business is because what most coaches won't tell you is that you have to lean into what feels right for you.

I had a client I worked with who was trying to do a lot of different things, and that felt exhausting for her. She is now focused on one thing. While on the flip side for me, it felt exhausting to just do one thing. That doesn't mean that she's right and I'm wrong, and it doesn't mean that I'm right and she's wrong. Again, it comes down to what feels most aligned for you. As you think of your business model, your business vision, and your business goals, what feels good?

Does it feel good to have a lot of different offers? Does it feel good to have one focus that you can really build your way up from? Take some time to really reflect and contemplate that today. And the best thing that I need you to know is that you already have the answers within you don't seek to see what everyone else around you is doing, because what works for 1 may not work for you. And that's totally okay.

So trust yourself of trust your intuition and start committing to taking action in the direction of your dreams today.