This is something that hit me recently, after working with clients to help them identity their ideal clients, you can’t get this task right or wrong.
One of my clients started their journey with me and was so fearful she would get it “wrong”. I am here to help you understand that you can’t get this wrong. This is an activity that involves you deciding who you do and don’t want to work with. There is no right or wrong answer. You can come up with any weird combination of characteristics, circumstances, and ideas. And I promise you will find those people in the world if you go looking. Also, remember this ideal client will evolve with you and your business
Now even though there is no right answer, there are some questions or prompts that can help you move closer to this person.
Why should you niche your ideal client?
When you are looking to market or build a community, you will always run into trouble if you are too board with your message. You know the great saying – You can’t be everything to everyone”. Well, this is so true. If you have people that are at different stages, trying to go on different journeys or get different outcomes, it can be challenging to manage that alone. Check out my 60-second video on the topic for more
Things to consider
Firstly you need to decide who you want to work with and who you don’t, then you can flesh out that character in more detail and think about how you talk to them.
It is really important, to be honest with yourself, don’t think about where can get the most money, think about who you would love to work with. If you could earn your ideal income from your ideal clients – who would they be? So many of my clients, when doing this activity, release they have been working with people that drag them down, make them feel stuck, or suck their energy. So it is no wonder their businesses aren’t thriving.
Now lets explore these different areas.
Who you want to work with?
I want you to let you mind run wild, think about you best client (maybe you have one, or had one once, or maybe you have never had one). Think about this person and what their situation will be. How will it feel to work with them? What stage of their life or journey will they be at?
Who you NOT want to work with?
So many people don’t give this enough thought. It is really important to outline the type of people you don’t want to give your time too. Think about people you find it hard to work with currently. What are the characteristics you find hard to work with? What stage of the journey do you not want to work with? For example – if you coach people, do you want them in the trauma place, in the action taking place, or at breakthrough going to the next stage.
So many people I have worked with are attracting people at the wrong place on their journey because they aren’t clear enough. It will never bring you joy.
Then flesh it out
This is my favourite part, you want to go into loads more detail at this point. Some of these questions you might have answered above. But you want to drill down into the details now. So think about age barrack, gender, job titles, location, hobbies, what they read, watch, listen too. Think about what their dreams, ambitions, pains and worries are. Explore exactly how they might be feeling right now, what are they looking for in the world. Who do they look to for guidance at the moment?
Then what?
Once you have defined your ideal client, you then need to find a way to talk to them. This will include social media, guest talks, blogs, or podcasts. You can use your own website and push it with good SEO. It could also include paid advertising. You want to focus on putting yourself in front of a new audience each week. Focus on how you are always showing up.
You could also use online software to create an image of this person – this gives you a picture to help you visualise and talk directly to this person – you could try something like this Avatar Maker.
If you want to know more, I have created an epic ebook that holds the 7 secrets I wish I was told when I started my business. These 7 things would have saved me the pain of burning out in my business if I had known them sooner. So I wanted to share them with you now – click here to check them out
