Finding your niche – do you really need one?

A lot of Virtual Assistant Coaches will tell you “you must niche” from day one of your business.  As a consequence, I see far too many new Virtual Assistants stuck at the starting blocks, paralysed because they cannot decide on a specific niche. As a coach and mentor, I find this incredibly frustrating.

If you are ready to launch your business, finding a niche should not be your top priority. In fact, obsessing over it might be the very thing stopping you from earning. Here is the straight-talking truth about niching and why you need to move past it.

To Niche or Not to Niche?

There is an immense amount of pressure on new businesses to specialise immediately. But what is a niche? For most, it is just a tool to narrow down marketing—it does not define who you are or the quality of your work.

Market niches do not exist in a vacuum; we create them. They are simply a means to help us identify the needs of a certain group of people so we can provide a solution. My opinion is simple: niching is just one tool in your marketing kit, and you should not beat yourself up if you do not have one yet.

Your Niche Reveals Itself Through Action

When you are first starting out, you do not have enough data to make an informed decision about a niche. You do not truly know who you enjoy working with or which tasks you could do all day without getting bored.

Experience is the only real teacher. You need to experiment and trial different services with different clients. It is only over time, through actual billable work, that your preferred niche will reveal itself. You cannot think your way into a niche; you have to work your way into one.

It Is Never a One-Time Decision

Here is a news flash: your niche is not a “set it and forget it” decision. As your business grows, it will evolve. You will make mistakes, run failed experiments with products, and eventually get bored of services you once loved. What feels right today will likely not serve you in three years. Allow your business the room to breathe and change.

Passion Over Positioning

You are going to be doing this work every single day. You need to focus on what you actually enjoy. There will be days when you are demotivated—perhaps the kids were up all night or you are just feeling low. On those days, “market positioning” won’t get you out of bed, but a genuine passion for your work will.

There is no point in working for yourself if you are doing tasks that make you miserable. To stay sane and build an awesome business, follow the work that gives you satisfaction.

Stop Waiting for the “Perfect” Plan

If you are waiting for all your ducks to be in a row before you launch, you are procrastinating out of fear. You are afraid of getting it wrong. I am telling you now: you will get things wrong. You will make mistakes. That is part of the process.

If you put your business on hold until you have the perfect niche, you will never get started. Stop overthinking and start doing.

Focus on Solutions, Not Labels

Instead of worrying about a niche, focus on the services you want to offer. This is a far more constructive way to spend your energy. What problems can you solve right now? Once you know what services you are providing, you can start promoting them and actually growing your business.

Get Moving

You do not need a niche to be a successful Virtual Assistant. You need experience. It is only by working with real clients in the real world that you will learn what motivates you. This experience will naturally lead you to the right niche in the end.

If you want a no-nonsense environment to help you get started without the fluff, the VA Momentum Course is designed to get you moving. We focus on the foundations that actually matter so you can start being of service and earning an income.

As a long-standing mentor to Virtual Assistants, I know how frustrating it can be, not having all the answers. But if finding your niche is one of those answers you’re looking for, I’d thoroughly recommend you focus instead, on getting your business up and running.

If you’d like help getting started, I’d recommend you check out the following articles:

• Top Tips on How to Build & Grow Your VA Business,
• How to Become a Virtual Assistant? It’s Easier if You Focus! 
• How Important is it to Have a Coach or Mentor?  

If you know you are ready to launch your VA business, then I would love to be the VA Coach and Trainer that fast tracks you through the start up process – you can start our VA Momentum Course at any time, (that’s the beauty of it being a distance learning course) and to niche or not to niche is something we really focus on.