Your “marketing niche” is the combination of the people you serve, and the specific problem you solve for them. But there’s one other piece to the puzzle.

Webster defines “niche” as:

A specialized but profitable corner of the market.

Did you catch it? That’s right: profitable. A niche market that is not profitable is, by definition, not really a niche.

Narrowing your focus to a particular market is an important part of creating your dream business. But you DO NOT have to have your perfect niche figured out to go out and get clients. (You really don’t want to wait!)

That being said, the truth is you cannot be all things to all people. Not everyone will want what you offer or resonate with your message. Secondarily, no one has the budget or reach to market to everyone. (Not even Walmart).

So how do you determine a great niche for yourself? Here are some tips that can help you get clarity around this issue.

Start With Your Own Life
Service-oriented entrepreneurs often discount and undervalue their life experiences. But that’s exactly where you should start! You want to ask yourself:

What problems have you struggled with and overcome?

What have you accomplished – built a business, lost weight, conquered depression – that others might also be wrestling with?

What has your life been a unique and powerful laboratory for?

Your clients want to work with someone who has been there — someone who has walked the walk. It is your experience and insight that is most valuable to them.

Don’t Be a Pioneer
Some are called to be trailblazers, that is, to go where no one has gone before, build something no one has ever built. And god bless them!

But for most of us, we want to choose a niche where there are people who are already successful. It’s an uphill battle to get people to buy something they’ve never even thought of buying.

A niche market is not one that you alone own. Dominate? Absolutely. But as someone joked, pioneers usually end up freezing to death, starving, or eating each other.