The Rookie Niching Mistake I Made This Year and How I’m Correcting It – The Nourished CEO Episode 75

Earlier this year, I made what I can only describe as a “rookie” niching mistake. I built my new positioning around something my current clients talked to me about constantly, people responded really well to it, and some even reached out about working together. Then the conversations with new prospects kept ending with, “This sounds great. But I’m not ready yet.”

That pattern forced me to look at the difference between what my current clients value after they’ve worked with me and what prospective clients already know they want before they hire me.

In this episode, I’m sharing how I missed that distinction, the data that finally made it impossible to ignore, and what I’m changing about my niche, messaging, and the backbone of The Foundry curriculum as a result.

The deeper work around building a business that fits your strengths, personality, capacity, and life still matters to me. I just realized it wasn’t the right thing to lead with if I wanted new clients to understand why they should work with me now.

If people are responding to your content but your sales conversations keep stalling at “later,” this episode will help you figure out whether you have a sales problem, a messaging problem, or a niche that’s asking people to want something they’re not ready to pay for yet.

And if you’re an experienced coach or practitioner whose work already gets results, but your signature offer still takes too much explaining or selling, this conversation is especially relevant.

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Knowing how to choose a profitable coaching niche sounds like something you should be able to figure out once and move on from, especially after you’ve been in business for years. Apparently, that isn’t how it works.

Earlier this year, I decided to shift my business toward more experienced coaches and practitioners. I’d been working with advanced entrepreneurs for years, but I was still known by a lot of people as someone who primarily helped beginners. That wasn’t the reputation I wanted to keep building.

Going upmarket felt pretty clear. Where I got tripped up was deciding what I should talk about to reach those clients. I kept having conversations about burnout, personality, capacity, profitability, and what happens when you build a successful business that doesn’t actually fit your life, so it seemed perfectly logical to make those topics the center of my positioning.

The problem was that I skipped an important question: Did prospective clients already want this outcome enough to pay for it?

 

People Liking the Idea Wasn’t Enough

My new positioning centered on building a business around your strengths, personality, and natural way of working. The basic promise was a more profitable business that was easier to run because it actually fit you.

On paper, that sounds great. People told me it sounded great too. They responded to the content, said the direction was interesting, and even reached out to ask about working together.

Then we’d have the sales conversation, I’d explain how I could help, and the response kept being some version of, “This sounds great. I’m not ready yet. Maybe in a few months. Maybe next year.”

Obviously, I don’t expect everyone who talks to me to buy. I’m a premium-priced coach, and a 100% close rate would honestly be a little concerning.

But when the same objection keeps coming up from people who initiated the conversation, you have to pay attention. That was the clue I couldn’t ignore.

Especially when the people saying it aren’t beginners who still need to figure out whether they want a business at all. These are experienced business owners who already invest in support and know the value of getting help.

 

Why My Client Conversations Threw Me Off

Here’s where I got off track.

My current clients absolutely care about building a business around their strengths, personality, capacity, and actual life. Those things affect what they sell, how they deliver it, the marketing they can sustain, and how much money they actually get to keep.

But they’re already working with me. They’ve experienced how I think and understand the connections I’m making. Someone outside my programs hasn’t had that experience yet.

The prospective client is usually focused on the problem they can already see. Their signature program isn’t selling consistently, too much revenue depends on one-to-one work, or their offer takes too much explaining.

They already know their expertise is valuable. What they’re struggling with is turning that expertise into an offer and sales process that works without requiring so much of them personally.

Those are the things they want help with before they hire me. The deeper work still matters, but I was expecting prospective clients to start several steps further into the conversation than they actually were. That’s incredibly easy to miss when you’re deep inside your own work.

 

The Data I Couldn’t Ignore

For a while, the positive response made it look like the new positioning was working. The sales data told a different story.

I haven’t calculated the exact number, but I’d estimate that 80% to 90% of my sales this year came from current or former clients. I take that as a compliment, but it also showed me where the gap was.

I could sell the new direction to someone who already understood the value of my work. My messaging wasn’t earning enough trust or creating enough urgency with people who hadn’t worked with me yet.

Interest and buying intent aren’t the same data. A compliment tells you the idea resonates. An application or purchase tells you the person sees the problem as important enough to do something about.

And when you already have an established business, that distinction matters. You don’t just need people to think your work is valuable. You need the right people to recognize that the problem you solve is important enough to address now.

In an established coaching business, I’d make that even more specific: Are the people you want to work with already trying to solve this problem, and do they value the outcome enough to pay for help now?

 

When “I’m Not Ready” Keeps Happening

Sometimes someone really isn’t ready. Their finances may be tight or another priority may need their attention first. One person saying no doesn’t mean you need to rebuild your niche. A repeated pattern is different.

Some of the people I was talking to had followed me for years. These weren’t strangers who had discovered me last Tuesday and needed more time to build trust. They already knew me, reached out themselves, and still decided the work could wait.

That’s when I had to ask a better question: What are they ready for?

The answer was much more concrete. They wanted a signature offer that sold more predictably, less dependence on one-to-one work, clearer messaging, and a way to grow without adding more calls. Those were problems they could already name and already wanted solved. That’s what my positioning needed to lead with.

Not because the deeper work wasn’t valuable, but because these were the problems they were already motivated to do something about.

 

How to Choose a Profitable Coaching Niche

So I went back to the same questions I ask my clients:

1. Do these people already want the result? You shouldn’t have to spend months convincing someone that the problem matters.
2. Do they value it enough to pay for help? People can believe your work is important without being willing to invest in it.
3. Am I especially good at helping them get that result? Your expertise should create a real advantage for this specific person.
4. Do I actually want to do this work? A niche that sells but makes you dread your calendar isn’t a particularly good business decision.

A profitable coaching niche has to make sense across all four. If people love the idea but don’t want it enough to buy, you may be leading with the wrong outcome.

For me, the strongest overlap is experienced coaches and practitioners who already have proof of concept because people pay for their one-to-one work. Their next challenge is turning that expertise into a signature program that’s easier to understand, sell, and deliver.

When I looked back at who consistently got the best results, those were the people who benefited most from my expertise.

They don’t need help proving they have something worth selling. They need help turning what already works into a stronger, more scalable offer and sales system.

 

Your Best Work Doesn’t Always Belong in the Headline

None of this means I’ve stopped believing that your business should be designed around your strengths, capacity, personality, and actual life.

I still believe that deeply, and it’ll continue shaping the offer, delivery model, sales process, and marketing plan we build. I’m just changing the role that idea plays in my positioning.

Instead of being the primary result I’m selling, it becomes part of my perspective and the way I help clients create the result they already want.

I think experts get tripped up here because our most distinctive idea feels like it should automatically become the headline. Sometimes it should. Other times, it’s the reason your solution works better while the buyer enters through a more immediate problem.

That distinction is especially important when your work is nuanced. Your buyer doesn’t need to understand every layer of your methodology before they can recognize that you solve a problem they already care about.

If your offer is valuable but still takes too much explaining, explore The Foundry and see how we can refine the offer, positioning, sales system, and marketing around it.

 

A Strong Niche Makes Sales Less Complicated

A clearer niche isn’t going to eliminate every objection. It should make the sales process easier for the right person to understand.

They should be able to recognize:

• This is for someone in my situation.
• This solves a problem I want handled now.
• This person has a credible way to help me solve it.

When those pieces aren’t clear, the sales process has to do far too much work. You spend the conversation explaining why the problem matters and trying to move someone from “That sounds interesting” to “I want to fix this.”

I’m fine doing hard work, but I’m not interested in making my business harder than it needs to be. I’m the breadwinner, my husband works in the business, and positive engagement doesn’t pay our expenses. I need positioning that helps qualified people understand the value without a year of education first.

And I know a lot of experienced coaches are in a similar position. The business is real. The expertise is real. The stakes are real. At some point, “people seem to like it” isn’t enough information to build your strategy around.

 

I Couldn’t Blame This on the Market

It would’ve been easy to explain all of this by saying the market is hard. And yes, buying conditions are different than they were a few years ago.

But “the market is hard” wasn’t a complete diagnosis of what was happening in my business.

Current and former clients were still buying. The gap was with prospective clients. I was leading with something they appreciated instead of the problem they were actively trying to solve. Once I admitted that, the correction became much clearer.

That’s a much more useful problem than “nobody is buying right now,” because it gives me something specific I can actually change.

 

What I’m Leading With Now

I’m rebuilding The Foundry around the three things that determine whether a signature program can become a reliable source of revenue:

1. The offer: what you’re selling, who it’s for, how it’s positioned, and why the right person would choose it.
2. The sales system: how you create enough meaningful sales touchpoints for qualified people to make a clear decision.
3. The marketing plan: how you build a bingeable body of work that earns trust and leads the right people toward that sales process.

The strengths and capacity work still sits underneath all of it so the result doesn’t become another supposedly scalable model that requires too much from the founder. But the public promise starts with what my prospective clients already want: a signature offer that sells more predictably without requiring more one-to-one delivery.

In other words, the goal is not growth for growth’s sake. It’s creating an offer and sales system that can become a stronger part of an already-established business without automatically creating more work for the person running it.

 

Final Thoughts

After 15 years in online business, I’d love to say I’ve graduated from thinking about my niche. Apparently, I haven’t.

Your expertise, market, and clients change. Sometimes you need to revisit a decision you thought you’d already made, even when you have years of evidence that your work gets results.

Making a mistake doesn’t undermine your expertise. Ignoring a repeated pattern because you don’t like the explanation does.

Look at where your sales process is slowing down. Separate compliments from buying behavior. Ask whether your message is leading with what prospective clients already want or what current clients learn to value after they enter your world. Then make the adjustment the data supports.

And if you’re already good at what you do, don’t automatically assume the solution is becoming better at your craft. Sometimes the real work is making the value of that expertise easier for the right buyer to recognize and act on.

I believe every business problem is solvable. If something isn’t working, there’s an explanation. Once you’re willing to find it, you have something useful to solve.

If you’re an experienced coach or practitioner who wants a signature offer that sells more predictably without adding more one-to-one work, join The Foundry waitlist for first access to the next limited cohort.

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FAQs

How do I choose a profitable coaching niche?

Start with a group of people who already want a result you’re well equipped to help them achieve. Then validate the niche using sales conversations and buying behavior. Interest can point you in the right direction, but purchases tell you whether the problem feels important enough to solve now.

How can I tell if my coaching niche has enough demand?

Look for repeated evidence that prospective clients are actively trying to solve the problem, spending money on alternatives, and moving toward a decision. Compliments and engagement are useful signals, but they’re weaker than applications, sales calls, and purchases.

Why do people say they want my offer and then tell me they’re not ready?

Sometimes the obstacle is timing or money. When the same objection appears repeatedly, your message may be leading with a benefit people appreciate without connecting it to a problem they want solved now. The pattern matters more than any single conversation.

Should an experienced coach ever change niches?

Yes. Your strongest clients, expertise, goals, and preferred work can change as the business matures. An experienced coach may need to refine who the offer is for and what it leads with, even when the underlying work remains valuable.

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