You Picked a Niche. You Launched. So…Why Do You Still Feel Stuck?

Michelle Leotta: Welcome to the Health Coach Power Community Podcast. I'm Michelle Leotta, ex-corporate girl turned certified health coach with over 15 years of experience growing a successful online practice. I started out with no idea what I was getting into and learned a lot of lessons along the way that have given me the freedom to do the work I love and raised two boys as a single mom.

I created a health coach power community over a decade ago to make it easier for health coaches to build a career they love and make the world a better place.
Hello there. Health coaches. So you picked a niche, huh? And you launched your health coaching business, and you offered your services. It takes a lot of guts to do that, by the way. So, congratulations on taking those steps. It may feel, though, that nothing's really clicking. Or maybe for some of you, you know, you haven't picked a niche yet, and that's what's been holding you back.

But either way, you are in the right place today because sometimes these issues do have to do with your niche or your target market. You know, maybe it's going in the wrong direction, and sometimes it has nothing to do with that whatsoever. And I've definitely been there in both of those scenarios and many points in my coaching business feeling stuck.
Wondering what the heck I'm doing. It's a normal part of the process, and this episode is about getting clarity and deciding what to do next. And I wanna thank Danielle and Erica for texting me about this topic. Thank you guys. They both had very similar questions. Danielle was asking more about shifting to serve a different niche and how to know when it's worth making that shift.

And Erica was like, what, what? What about when nothing seems to be working? You know, do you pivot? Do you stay the course with your current target market? So these are all super smart questions. Super relatable. Thank you again, Danielle and Erica. By the way, I love getting your questions to answer on future episodes, and it's really easy to send them to me.
Just go to health coach power.com/text. You can send me a message there. That's what they did. All righty. So I hear this all the time from health coaches. They say I'm stuck. And frankly, we hear this from our health coaching clients too. They feel stuck around whatever their health issues are, what are habits that they're trying to change that maybe it's just not happening for them quite yet.

So this whole stuck thing. It's normal. It's a human feeling. No need to sound the alarm, don't panic. And for health coaches, it usually means you're not getting traction with your efforts, right? Low engagement, no one's taking you up on your offers, no one's booking a free call, and you're second-guessing yourself.

Did I get that right? So today I wanna reframe what stuck means. Instead of it meaning failure to a degree. I think that's what we usually mean when we're saying, I'm stuck. Nothing's working. Let's have it mean feedback. It's feedback that your efforts so far, I haven't hit the mark for some reason. It's like Thomas Edison said, I have not failed.

I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. And that's progress. I know it doesn't feel like progress, but it is because before you started all of this, you were probably much more naive about what would work and what wouldn't work. So we learn. So is it your niche? That's the problem. Should Danielle shift to a new target market?

Should Erica give up on the niche niche that she's been, you know, going after for a while now, maybe. I'm gonna talk about all of that, but first, I wanna check in with those of you that are joining me here over on Facebook and see what you guys have to say. I do have my eye on the comments. So, have you been feeling this way?

Have you been feeling stuck? And what do you think about reframing? Stuck as I'm collecting data. This is feedback. Could that be a more productive way to feel the feeling, this very real human feeling. You know, before we talk about niches and all that kind of thing, um, a while ago I did an episode called Likability, the X Factor for Client Attraction, and I'm, I'm gonna link to that in the show notes for you because it feels very, very relevant here.

And I wanna remind you that people hire coaches for their energy, for their confidence, for their smile. For their vibe, you know? So, regardless of which target market you're aiming at, just remember that if the energy isn't aligned for whatever reason, yeah, you're probably gonna feel stuck and you might think you have a niche problem, but is it really that? So this reminded me of something I saw recently. I think it came up in like an Instagram reel. And it was so interesting to me, though. They did a study of high school students, and they were trying to figure out what made somebody popular. Like first of all, this may give some of us like bad flashbacks to high school, but it's not just relevant to high schoolers.

It's really just in life. Like, why are certain people so likable, and there was a study for high schoolers, so they thought, well, maybe it has to do with appearance, and maybe it has to do with athleticism or grades, or who knows. What they found was really surprising. The most popular students were the ones who had the longest list of people that they liked.

Like they liked people, and they walked down the halls and they were like given high fives and given hug,s and you know, Hey Chad, hey Jessica. Kind of shouting people out and making everyone feel liked. What a coincidence. And right, they carried around this positive, welcoming energy, and they had lots and lots of people who liked and wanted to be around them.

So, what can we learn from this? What I see is our energy matters. We have to be the ones showing up, saying hello, making others feel welcome and at ease. And if we love our people and we like really understand them and we really wanna help them, they feel that. That doesn't mean they necessarily buy your first offer.

You know, maybe they, uh, show up to your workshops though. That's something. Or maybe they're engaging with us on social media. You'll find that you get some kind of traction when people want to be around your energy. They're reading your emails, they're reading your blog posts, they're stopping you at the grocery store to chat because of something that they, you know, read that you wrote, whatever, and there's some kind of traction there.

That means like, yeah, maybe you're still figuring out your marketing message. You might be still figuring out how to communicate your value, but you are getting noticed and you are getting good feedback overall. So the energy is moving in the right direction. So that's one possibility. Let's see what Ellen has to say about that.

Ellen says, yes, I believe it's feedback, and I've done a lot to not take it personally. This group has kept me always thinking about magnetic energy and what do I need to do differently from I. The feedback, right? You need, you need to figure out all those 10,000 ways that won't work. You know? So, so that's just one way to assess, like maybe it is working, maybe like the way we're measuring successes, has someone, you know, signed up for a program, has somebody, you know, paid me this amount of money?

But like, are you getting some traction with people who seem to want to be around you? Because like that means you're in a good direction. And it might just be like a marketing problem. Now if on the other hand. Your energy is kind of checked out, or coming from frustration or desperation, trying too hard.

People feel that discomfort, and that can be a really strong repellent. You just know when someone's desperate, right? And it's like, oh, that's why self-work. Mindset. All of that is essential to growing your business. In fact, if you think that might be coming up for you, and I know when it's slow going and when things aren't going exactly the way you want them to, it's easy to fall into frustration.

Maybe feeling that desperation like, I have to make this work. You might consider it consider like looking for your own support system. Like, is it hiring health coach? Is it a life coach? Is it therapy? Is it taking a nap? I mean, seriously, your health and happiness essential to your success in this business?

So here's a story from my early days. Some of you may have heard this one before, but this one came to mind as just an example of like how people will be attracted or repelled depending on what they're feeling from you. I did a lot of workshops as a new health coach, and even at my very, very first workshop, I signed a client.

I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't very strategic, but I was all in like I really wanted to be there. Workshops almost always worked out in terms of leading directly to clients, except one. And this one has always lived in my head, and it probably always will because I was, uh. It was a big lesson.

This was years ago. Many years. As you'll see, I booked it for November 6th. Now my birthday is November 5th, and that year, which was a while ago, I turned 30. I. And so my friends came out on the fifth. We had a big party. Oops, I drank too much, you know, bad health coach. That's what happened. And the next morning, I dragged myself to the workshop.

And you know what? I thought I pulled it off. Like I really, really thought I pulled it off, but the feedback was, Ugh, terrible. It's embarrassing to even remember. So I absolutely learned that you can check all the boxes, you can do all the things, you can show up. But your energy needs to be on, and mine was not that day.

So part of having the right energy might have to do with your niche. Like, are you excited about working with them? Are they in a place to be, uh, ready, willing, and able to hire you? Like those things are very, very important. Danielle was asking if it's possible to shift into a niche that's different than who she is.

And you know, it's very common for coaches to work with clients who like reflect our own experiences because it's easy to connect with them. They know that you get them. You know, that's a very smart way to connect with a certain target market. It's not a requirement. You can work with a group that's different if you really, really understand them deeply, and if you can feel what they're feeling like you have massive empathy. So Danielle, if you're listening, there may be another angle to explore that still draws on your lived experience. Doesn't have to go that way, but nine times outta 10, that's your best way to go.

So let's just say that you've been targeting moms and now you wanna target, I don't know, astronauts. You've never been an astronaut though, and you don't know any astronauts, and that's gonna be really hard. I'm just telling you right now, not advised, but let's say, um, I'm still talking to Danielle here, but I'm talking to all of you.

Maybe you're a salsa dancer, maybe you're someone who has eczema. Maybe you're someone who has ADHD. Like any of those could make a great niche, and they align with who you are and your experience and your life, and your ability to empathize. All of those are gonna work better than trying to target astronauts.

So it might be a small pivot, you know, it might not be this giant leap from moms to astronauts. It might just be like, okay, who else is kind of in my world that I can relate to? Like, can I try that sometimes, um, coaches get all stressed out deciding if it's time to pivot, and I'll ask them. I'll say, all right, well, what's your current target market?

And they'll say. I work with moms 30 to 40 who want to lose weight, and I'm like, okay, what are you thinking of switching to? And they'll say, moms 35 to 45. Who wanna lose fat, and I laugh, you know, because it's like they're spending all this brain power thinking about this big decision they have to make, should they switch their niche.

And it's not even a switch, right? It's not even a pivot. It's just a slight, slight messaging tweak. So if that's you, or maybe this is Danielle. I don't know what you guys are thinking in terms of pivoting, test it like it's no big deal. It probably is pretty close to what you're already doing like as in that example.

But if you wanna make that big shift, like helping and not going from helping moms to helping astronauts or helping retired men improve their golf game, like now, that's a major shift. And so, when should you do that? Let's say you've been going hard at it for a year and you still haven't gained any traction.

It might be time to pivot. Anyone here live with me on Facebook who could say, I've been really doing all the things for a year. I've invested in learning about marketing. I've been putting forth the effort. My energy's in the right place. I feel I am, you know, attracting good energy into my world, and yet it's, it's just still not gaining any traction.

It might be time to look at that target market. You know, I once, oh God, this is going back a bunch of years. Again, at one point, I was targeting young moms, like moms who had babies and toddlers at home, because that's where I was at in my life. And those moms, like, they loved my content. Everything I put out for free, they wanted to be there.

They've never hired me. Never. They were not able to do it because why? New moms, they were exhausted. They were short on time. They were short on money, you know, they were probably not working right now or, um, maybe they were working, but the kids were in childcare, and that's so very expensive. So it was just very stretched thin and they really, I found, were not ready, willing, or able to hire a health coach, and at that point in their life anyway.

So what I had to realize after not gaining traction for about a year was that I was attracting another group, like the actual clients that I was working with, the people who were paying me, they were kind of coming in various ways. You know, a referral here, a referral there. Someone who was just kind of silently lurking in my community and then would wanna become a client.
Well, who were they? They were not these young moms, they were women in corporate jobs. Uh, these like high-stress type positions. They were a little bit older. They had a little bit more disposable income. They weren't changing diapers anymore. Maybe they didn't even have kids at all. And that was tied to me in a different way.

I mean, I wasn't in that part of my life at the moment, but that's where I came from. Right? I used to work in that stressed-out corporate setting, so there was still a connection there. And those were the women that wanted to hire me. So making that shift was really, really smart. Like I said, I was still rooted in my story.

It wasn't random. I wasn't like suddenly trying to target astronauts. I was just like, okay, who is coming to me? Who else can I form a connection with, even if it's not who I thought it was gonna be in the first place? So you can absolutely pivot gracefully and just kind of test new angles. I didn't do it because I made one offer and it didn't go well.
I mean, I am telling you, I was running a community of thousands and thousands of these young moms. I was emailing every week. I was running challenges and putting on events and doing like all the things to engage with them. And they were engaged. And they were engaged, and they were engaged. But after that period of time, realizing that they just were not ready, willing, and able.

That's when I knew I had to pivot, right? So you can't, uh, you can't jump so soon. You can't say, oh, the first thing didn't work well, you know, see if you're getting traction. Like I said, see if the energy's there. In my case, it was there, but then it push has to come to shove. You are asking people to spend money with you and spend time and spend energy with you.
Can they, and for those of you who are like, oh no, I'm targeting young moms. This was my experience. It's not like written in stone. It's not a law that you can't work with young moms. It was not working for me, though, at the time. That's all. Let's see what Ashley's saying. She says that's discouraging. I thought moms could really use support and health coaching because we have so much to offer, but that makes sense.

Maybe focusing on the corporate moms, I can also relate on both ends. Super helpful. Oh, I'm glad, Ashley. And you're right. Often, it's not just moms. Think of like, um, we have a lot of coaches who wanna work with caregivers. You know, maybe they're, I'm taking care of their elderly parents. Maybe they are working with those who are, uh, chronically ill, I don't know, uh, or even like nurses, or we often wanna support the people who are supporting others. And moms fall into that category for sure. But those people right now, when they are in the middle of it. It's very possible that they just aren't ready, willing, and able, and a person has to be, in order to invest in themselves, they have to be, you know, just personally ready to do it, have the time, have the space, have the resources in order to go all in like that.

So what I want you to do, if you've been working with a niche and you're not. Sure about it. First, sharpen your marketing skills. You have to do that first, 'cause if you're not doing, uh, smart marketing, if you're not effectively marketing yourself, it doesn't matter who you're targeting, right? So stick with who you have.

Learn how to better communicate with them. Create a better offer for them, something that they actually want. Learn how to sell it to them. Show up with that. Then you can assess better. If it's the niche itself, that's the problem. And I do wanna address those of you who may be stuck on choosing a niche at all.

Is that anybody here, by the way, who maybe you don't have a niche, haven't chosen one yet? It's easy to get stuck there too, because that's all you hear is you have to pick a target market. You have to pick a target market. And I know for many years I was beaten that drum too. Don't get me wrong, it helps, it certainly helps to have a target market, but in the beginning, it's not always the thing that you wanna get hung up on, and then you don't move forward, right?

Sometimes you just can't choose a niche yet, and that's why inside Fast Track, I teach three different approaches to moving forward with your marketing, right? Three different target market approaches. So the first would be you have a specific niche. Great. Like I said, let's get into some really smart marketing skills.

Let's go all in. Let's find out. If we don't already know, is this group ready, willing, and able? So that's one option. The other is that maybe you kind of have an idea who you wanna work with. General direction. Great. You'll refine it as you go. You can still move forward. If it's not super specific, they always say pick that super specific target market.
I see better results when our clients just move forward. If you're like, I wanna work with women still very, very broad, fine, move forward with that for now. It will become more clear over] time. And then for some of you, you may have no niche yet at, at all, or you thought you had one, and then you realize, oh gosh, maybe I don't have a niche after all.
That's okay. You probably need more experience, like actually working with people. So no niche. I say, no problem. You can still get out there. You can still be talking to people about health and wellness topics. Let's get you working with anybody in any capacity, just to get that experience underneath your belt.

So here's a real example from Natasha. So Natasha started fast track with us. She had a very specific niche. She wanted to work with women who had low thyroid function. This is always another really interesting one. It's tight, it's specific. I love it. But when your audience is small and you're just starting out, it's hard to find those women, especially when you consider that a lot of women who have low thyroid function, they don't even know it.

So if you're like, I'm looking for women who have low thyroid function, they're not gonna raise their hand. So, what do you do instead? Back it up. Broaden the target market. Be a little bit more general. And that's what Natasha did because any woman who has low thyroid function, if we kind of like expand out from there, you're looking for women who are feeling tired, feeling sluggish, right?

So that's what she did. And Natasha filled her five-day program, and she signed a private client right away. She didn't get like all stuck and hung up on picking the perfect word for her perfect target market. She was like, okay, good enough. Let's move forward. And it worked. And if it hadn't, well then she would've learned one of those 10,000 ways that aren't going to work.

But I can usually help you guys from like a bird's eye view, go, that's probably a good direction, or that's probably gonna be something that you have difficulty with just because I've been through this with so many health coaches and with myself. So the point is. You don't need a perfect niche to make progress.

You do need some momentum. You need that positive energy that keeps you getting up in the morning and excited about doing this work. You need to keep showing up. You need to experiment a little bit. And if you wanna use the same system that Natasha used, you can get my free 90-day blueprint for health coaches.

It's at health coach power.com/blueprint. Thank you again to Danielle and Erica for great questions. Thank you to everybody who joined me live today. Keep those questions coming again. You can send them to me at healthcoachpower.com/text. And I'll see you next time.

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