How to choose a coaching specialization?

Table of Contents

Slide
You’ve decided that you want to become a coach and are ready to take the next step – which is to pick a specialization. Or you could be a generalist coach as well, popularly known as ‘life coach’.

Butwhy do I need to specialize? You might wonder. There are other important questions to ask as well –

  • What are the coaching specialties available for you,
  • what coaching specializing is in demand,
  • where can you make a great career,
  • what coaching niche suits you best, and so on.

We’ll get to all these in the blog to make your decision-making process easier.

Let’s begin by answering your first question, why do you need to specialize or stick to a coaching niche?

Why do you need a coaching niche/specialization?

People are sensitive and tend to be careful when choosing a coach as it’s very personal to them. They tend to choose someone specialized or an expert in a certain field they are looking for.
Specialization also helps you in developing a strong personal brand and establish yourself as an expert in the field. Thereby, making the customer acquisition process easier and more profitable.
Let’s understand it with a few simple examples. You are in a town that has 100 doctors but only 1 dentist. You have a toothache. With whom will you connect? Consider, you are about to decide on a major career change, and you decided to go for a coach. You know a life coach, a business coach & a career transition coach. With whom will you connect? This is how a specialized coach makes it easier for the client to better connect and make the decision-making of the client easier.

A few highlights of picking a coaching niche:

  • Strong personal branding and business establishment
  • Specific and clear messaging makes marketing super easy
  • Set yourself apart from the competition
  • Help your potential clients easily identify the value you’re providing to them
  • Grow your business and thrive

Now that we’ve talked about why a coaching niche, let’s get to the next part – What types of coaching and mentoring niches are available and in demand?

Here are some popular coaching specializations in 2023:

  1. Relationship coaching (as a sub-set of Life Coaching)
  2. Couples / Marital coaching,
  3. Health & Wellness Coaching,
  4. Career coaching,
  5. Transition coaching (involving career change/career progression/employment to entrepreneurship),
  6. Executive coaching to mid-management level executives
  7. Executive coaching to senior-management level executives / CXO coaching
  8. Business coaching to start-ups
  9. Business coaching to family-owned businesses
  10. Business coaching to small/medium size businesses
  11. Team Coaching
Deciding to specialize in coaching can be difficult for new coaches and might involve some experimentation during the early part of their coaching career.

At MasterMyLife (MML), an ICF level 2 accredited global coach success ecosystem operating in 19 countries across the globe, we recommend all our students an effective 2-step process to help them decide their coaching niche.

Step I:

If you’re familiar with the Japanese concept of Ikigai (there’s a popular book on that you could read when you get the chance), this step will be easier for you. If you haven’t, no worries; we’ll break it down for you.

The concept involves asking yourself 4 important questions to find your passion; in this case, niche –

  • What you love
  • What you’re good at
  • What people will pay for
  • The problem you help people solve
Screenshot

Find a sweet spot within your passion, your core values, your core strengths, your life / professional experience, what specific problem you can solve for your target clients with your expertise, what specific solution and services you can offer, and whether your target clients have the priority to solve that problem and are they willing to pay for it?

Write down answers to these and you’ll find your answer to ‘How to find your coaching niche?’.

Step II

This takes you further deeper and involves qualitative and quantitative surveys.

A qualitative survey involves having a structured dialogue with a few of your target clients to identify their needs and aspirations.

We understand it might be a little overwhelming. Find someone in your circle, friend list, acquaintances, or family to interview.

A quantitative survey involves an open survey on social media along with the lead magnet (i.e. incentive to the clients to respond to your survey).

Surely, you’re part of a few communities or groups on social media. Leverage this asset and ask your folks to help you out. You could also incentivize them for their time to show respect and gratitude.

Why these surveys? What will you gain from them? These survey results will

  • offer you insights,
  • either validate or will call for modifying your earlier decision on the choice of your specialization
  • your target audience/client group

It’s not something you nail in the first go, we understand. If you’re still unclear or need an expert’s help to niche down, we recommend hiring a coach to help you decide.

If you already possess an ICF credential, YouMeAndLife Coaching Mastery Consortium (YML CMC offers such coaching and mentoring services for upcoming coaches.

Not yet certified by the ICF-accredited coaching institute? We, MML, have helped 100s of aspiring coaches become internationally certified and recognized coaches. 

Having an ICF credential makes it easier for you to develop your coach competencies and establish your profitable specialized coaching business. Feel free to register and attend our 2-hour online event if you need more clarity on how to become a successful ICF Coach.

If you are looking for an in-depth process of finding a coaching niche, please watch this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv11VZ-KVCk

Wish you all the best in developing your specialized coaching practice.

Choosing a coaching specialization involves gaining a lot of clarity. Have more questions? Have a Clarity call with Expert Coaches

MML is an advanced learning and development ecosystem that supports people aspiring for:

career growth | career transition |  career risk management |  financial stability |  work-life balance |  development of life and leadership skills | self realization & spiritual growth

MML provides solutions and support to the growth of people who are looking for:

Executive coaching |  career coaching |  leadership coaching | business coaching | life coaching | relationship coaching | mindfulness coaching | health & wellness coaching | spirituality coaching | team coaching

We have a global community of 2,000+ coaches who are successful and happy in their personal, professional, and spiritual journeys.

Pro Bundle Rs 3999
6 workshops

[contact-form-7 id="41247" title="Woo 6 workshops User Details Form"]

MasterMyLife ICF CCE MasterClass Workshop

[contact-form-7 id="35538" title="Get Brochure Masterclass Form"]
Deepak Varma
Founder and Director

Deepak Varma is the creator of the accredited diploma in Speakology™ program. An Ikigai™ Coach, Deepak is a renowned keynote speaker and also a healer who has developed the healing technique, “Healify” which taps into the subconscious of the individual to holistically heal his clients. His free e-book on Ikigai can be downloaded at bit.ly/iki-ebook

He has conducted more than 3000 workshops across 10 countries, trained 35000+ individuals from more than 75 organizations. He has authored the best selling book “The Joyful Quotient” in 2019. Deepak is a master Udemy trainer with 4000 students, and growing every second, spread across the globe. He is also the co-founder of Entrepreneurs International, a learning and networking platform with executive members from 30 countries across the globe.

His Free and Paid learning courses can be viewed at www.deepakvarma.in

Associated with MML : Faculty Member
Organization Name : Technospirit Consultancy
Focus Area : Ikigai™, Speakology™, Healify

Anita Sachdev
Director

Anita Sachdev is an Intercultural consultant, leadership coach and a thought partner A globally seasoned business professional and an Award Winner ICF-PCC certified coach. Anita’s versatile leadership experience spanning over four decades across multiple industries, countries, and cultures to enable coachees to bust through their mental blocks and transform them into dynamic, confident decision makers. Besides coaching business leaders, I support clients during life transitions, ignite ambition, and propel growth by freeing  their minds to boldly embrace new opportunities with unwavering certainty.  My  group coaching programs support “Career Pathfinders” and Women to “Step into the Spotlight” have gained global recognition.

Associated with MML : Faculty Member/ Coach
Organization Name : I’ve Made it
Focus Area : Executive, Leadership and Career Coach, Cross Cultural Cultural Consultant

Masters in Emotional Intelligence & Human Relations

Become a future-proof professional with a 2 years professional masters degree.

Download Brochure of
Masters in Emotional Intelligence
& Human Relations

[contact-form-7 id="30912" title="Get Brochure MEIHR"]

Get in touch

Masters Degree in Emotional Intelligence & Life Coaching

[contact-form-7 id="34384" title="Get Brochure EILC"]

Download the ICF CCE Certification Program Brochure to know how to start your journey!

[contact-form-7 id="35627" title="Get Brochure ICF CCE Emotional Form"]

Basic Rs 999
1 workshop

[contact-form-7 id="41227" title="Woo User Details Form"]

Download Brochure of
NLP Coach ICF CCE
Certification Program

[contact-form-7 id="35648" title="Get Brochure ICF CCE NLP Form"]

Download Brochure of
Positive Psychology Coach
ICF CCE Certification
Program

[contact-form-7 id="35665" title="Get Brochure ICF CCE PP Coach Form"]

Download Brochure of
Positive Spiritual Intelligence
Coach ICF CCE Certification
Program

[contact-form-7 id="35673" title="Get Brochure ICF CCE PSI Coach Form"]

Request A Quote

[contact-form-7 id="36993" title="GCCP Request Quote Form"]

1 Workshop

International certification by ICF

MML Logo

This site uses cookies to offer you a
better browsing experience.