How To Know If You Chose The Right Niche

Kinsey Machos: 00:01

I'm Kinsey Machos, your host and founder of the category Queen. Welcome to the podcast for coaches, consultants, and course creators who don't just want to dominate their niche, but they desire to play in their own league. My mission is to help you unlock the power of your unique brilliance and use it as a vehicle to gain recognition, reach more people, and make more money. Not too long ago, I took a bold leap, leaving behind a six figure corporate salary with nothing more than a used MacBook and a burning desire for more freedom. Today, our brand has become globally recognized, helping thousands of female founders to become industry leading experts. Join us each week as we go on a journey together to discuss mindset, marketing and money, and more importantly, the real life discussions about balancing success with motherhood and marriage.

Kinsey Machos: 00:56

Because we're a community of women who build and scale impact driven businesses, but do it without sacrificing the things that matter most to us. Welcome to the category queen show. Hello, my fellow category queens. So good to be here with you today. I am going to jump right in. I'm excited to answer this question, and I know that many of you are going to be able to resonate with this. And we see a lot of questions related to this, maybe not asked specifically this way, but it is 100% such a big topic as it relates to your business. Obviously, this is something that is a core pillar of the category in your category niche. But the question here is, how do I know if I've chosen the right niche?

Kinsey Machos: 01:41

Some additional questions that we see in here are, which niche do I choose and or am I, you know, have I outgrown my niche? So I want to get to the bottom of this, because whether you're just getting started or you're more seasoned, I see this as a core component that keeps women in a box and also in patterns of self sabotage. So in any regard, even outside of the parameters of choosing the right niche, when we are putting pressure on ourselves to make a right or wrong decision, I don't believe that we can ever empower ourselves to make a decision that's aligned with our truest desires. And so, first of all, what I want to note here is that black and white thinking to any decision you're making is never going to serve you in the way that you might think.

Kinsey Machos: 02:41

There is no right or wrong answer. I think this is something that we have heard as children, maybe, and also as adults. But then if you think about it societally, like, we don't really encourage that, right? Everything's kind of like a grade or it's a. If you think about even all of the testing systems in the computers, right? If you don't get the right answer, you get it wrong. It's right or wrong. And if you don't, you know, if you apply for the job, you either get it or you don't get it. You've succeeded or you failed, right?

Kinsey Machos: 03:20

If you passed or you failed, like, there's all these scenarios in society that also promotes this way of sort of black and white thinking, or can lead you to believe there is a successful way of doing something, and there's is a not successful way of doing something. But one of the most powerful exercises you could do with yourself anytime you're faced with a decision is to first see that all decisions lead to success. So when we are making decisions out of fear of doing something wrong, this is what really clouds our judgment and also suppresses, like, those core desires. But if we believed that all roads led to success and then made the decision from that space, that is going to give you such a powerful roadmap to what's next for you.

Kinsey Machos: 04:15

But if you're doing it through the lens of what's right or wrong, what do other people say I should do versus what I feel like I should do? Or feeling like there's only one way to create success, I'm telling you, that is gonna create so much unnecessary resistance, not just in your business, but in your life. So that's the first point that I really want to drive home is getting out of black and white thinking, also known as box thinking, and really offer to yourself anytime you're in a decision, right, aside from even your niche, offer yourself, offer your brain the option to know that all roads lead to success in these decisions. And assuming that all roads lead to success, which one would you choose? But the other component to this is also really about this niche, right?

Kinsey Machos: 05:11

Because it's not really about the niche. When we think about a right or wrong niche in the context of how do I know if I chose the right niche? It's not really about the niche. If you think about a niche, especially in the terms of category niche and how we teach it in the category queen school, it's the who, what, how it's who you serve, how you serve them, and how you uniquely are solving that problem. And the truth is, when it comes down to that, if you are again choosing a particular person, if you have a particular person in mind that has a problem, and you know that they are communicating this problem to other people, they are already investing in solutions to solve this problem. It's not a niche problem.

Kinsey Machos: 05:58

What it is that the messaging that you're using isn't resonating with that type of person within this little sub market that we're talking about. And so first of all, just kind of eliminating the idea that it's a wrong niche through the lens of it's not successful. It's not that you need to pivot and pivot your niche. It's likely that you just need to dial in your messaging and how you're communicating to your audience so that it resonates with them. But I'm guessing through the lens of this question, how do I know if I chose the right niche? It is, again, through the thought that it's not working, something's not working in your business, so it's causing you to believe that it's your niche. I have conversations with clients and students about this literally every week, my friends.

Kinsey Machos: 06:51

And again, it's never really about the niche. Now, strategically, again, it's likely more about the messaging and the marketing. But what we want to get underneath even further is how you're thinking about your niche. Because when we start to unpack this, what we find is that when you start to dial in your message, your offer, your premium client and your content strategy, naturally, when you set an intention, especially a new one, that's different than what you're used to setting, you are going to see resistance because you're doing things you've never done before. You're putting yourself out there. You're growing into a version of yourself that you haven't been and that can be uncomfortable, create some uncomfortable feelings. And so what happens in those particular seasons is we just go straight to the strategy.

Kinsey Machos: 07:44

We go straight to believing that it's something outside of ourselves that we can control. Like our niche, right? It's like, oh, this isn't working. I wonder if it's my niche, but I want to offer that it's never about your niche, but rather you thinking about it. So what happens is something's not working. So we have to place blame somewhere or we're having uncomfortable feelings. So again, we have to place blame somewhere. And a lot of times it goes straight to your niche, right? And so we start to think, oh my gosh, it's my niche. And so then the result cycle starts to unwind. And if you go back to unblock, to breakthrough, and you understand your result cycles and your thought protocols, this is where I. The error starts to occur. Because we first offer our brain that the problem is the niche.

Kinsey Machos: 08:41

And so we continue to think that way. Oh, it must be the niche. Have I chosen the right niche? This isn't working. And so it's going to drive the rest of that result cycle. And so as, you know, as that thought protocol starts to unwind, your actions and your results are just going to affirm your initial thought of your niche not working or you not having the right niche. And it's that constant spiral. So guess what? You change your niche. But those same problems, those same thought errors are going to carry you over there as well. It's never really about the niche from a strategic perspective. Again, I'll just reiterate that there likely is just a messaging or a marketing disconnect. I've never seen somebody in an actual niche that is not a profitable niche.

Kinsey Machos: 09:35

It's just how you're showing up, the messaging you're using and also the disconnect between you and your premium clients. It's almost always, I know that's counterintuitive, the thoughts that you're having about it and how that's creating your results. And so if we eliminate that altogether as an option and you believe it, I know I chose the right niche. And your brain starts to want to look for answers as far as, like why something isn't working. I don't want you to go to your niche. I don't want that to be the problem. If you want to start understanding where the problems might be hiding, maybe if something's not working, building a hypothesis about that, and maybe I'll do another episode about that.

Kinsey Machos: 10:21

But if we just assume it's not your niche, it'll allow you to move out of that results cycle into a new one and it will allow you to problem solve at a much higher level. Because if you're just solving for your niche, you're not actually solving a real problem. Maybe it's your content. So we can solve at that level and we can really fine tune your content to get that to work. But I don't want your brain to go there of my niche isn't working because that is going to create a result you do not want. And so if you are wondering if you chose the right niche, again, I'm assuming that something's not working in your business and so you're wondering if it's the niche.

Kinsey Machos: 11:03

This also comes up if you are feeling a little bit out of alignment or disconnected from your niche, but it's through the byproduct of working with clients that are not your ideal clients. And that, again, isn't necessarily a niche problem. It's just that your messaging and your marketing is attracting a lower level client or a misaligned client that's for you. And so we need to figure out, okay, where is the gap? And if you tell yourself you don't know, right, I hear this all the time. I don't know. And I'm like, but if you knew the answer, what would it be? And almost always, people can discover what that answer is. And so if this question is stemming from, again, the results of attracting clients that are not your ideal clients, then that's where we want to go.

Kinsey Machos: 11:53

And figuring out, okay, what is the messaging that I'm using that's attracting this type of client versus the type of client that I actually want to attract. And if I focus on the type of clients that I actually want to attract and there's a disconnect in my messaging, then I need to figure out what it is. And that might mean having conversations with those type of types of people. It might mean going back to your research. It might even just mean showing up at the highest version of you. Right? If you are constantly thinking, did I choose the right niche? You are not showing up in your full power, which means the actions you're taking are not either. And so it's, again, creating a result you don't desire that's aligned with this thought that you keep thinking about choosing the wrong niche.

Kinsey Machos: 12:39

So I just want to offer a couple little nuggets in relation to that because I see this problem come up time and time again. And if it hasn't come up for you, it likely will in the future. Because like I said, I noticed that seasons of growth also bring more maybe insecurities or doubt sometimes. Because when you're growing and you're elevating again those, that brings on uncomfortable feelings. And so naturally our brain looks for the problem is like, okay, instead of feeling these feelings and just understanding this is a part of the process, I need to associate this feeling with something that's not working or something that is that I can control or not control. And it creates a lot of self sabotaging cycles.

Kinsey Machos: 13:31

And so every time you're at a new season of growth, you will find that some of these things will resurface, not just about your niche, but about your messaging, about your brand, about yourself. Right? I've had so many seasons of big growth where I've just noticed all these new insecurities come through, and I'm like, dude, I thought I handled all of this. I thought I took care of this. Right? But that's just part of the journey. As you grow into next levels, right? You will see those darker parts of you again in either different ways, same flavors, or not. But you'll notice it and feel a little frustrated because like I said, you.

Kinsey Machos: 14:14

You might have already felt like you worked through it, but the quicker you can move through it and become aware of it and not let it derail you with old result cycles, unintentional result cycles, and you do those thought protocols to move you into intentional result cycles, I promise it will serve you so well. So although this question was related to niche, I think you could absolutely, I know you can absolutely apply this to anything that you're questioning in your business or your life. And if you don't want to stay stuck and you want to create a new wave of momentum, it's going to require you to think differently about the circumstances. It's going to require you to shift into a new result cycle. And so think about what that would look like for you. All right, my friend, I hope you enjoyed this.

Kinsey Machos: 15:04

I will see you next week. Hey, if you're ready to stand out online and get paying clients consistently without having to fumble your way through tech run ads or create complicated funnels, I want to invite you to join us in the category queen school, where you're going to learn my simple, proven formula for getting clients online. It's risk free. You either make your money back or we'll give you a refund. Just head over to kinseymachos.com/thecqschool and join today to get instant access. We'll see you inside.