One thing that most of the people on the internet agree on (a rare occurrence) is that it is beneficial to niche down. But at what point does niching down become discrimination? Particularly if your niche focuses on a protected characteristic like gender, race, or religion, it can seem like you are walking a fine line between having a niche and discrimination.
Here is some reassurance that your niche is not discriminatory.
The Purpose of Your Niche
The purpose of a niche is not to exclude particular groups of people from your coaching services. It is to allow you to tailor your coaching to be more effective for your favourite type of client. As long as you’re using a niche to make your coaching more efficient and effective, then you are not committing discrimination.
Some coaches will focus their niche on a particular gender, race, or religion. For example, there are plenty of business coaches who only work with women. Different genders face different barriers when starting a business. It allows coaching clients to seek out a coach that understands the struggles they face. Alternatively, they can stick to a general coach.
Our advice is to only specify a protected characteristic if you work with the minority group. A men’s only or white’s only… well anything sounds problematic. You’re also likely to attract some unsavoury types to your coaching. The exception would be if you are addressing an issue that the privileged group experiences at a higher rate. For example, emotional intelligence coaching for men.
Religion is slightly different as religion is usually only specified if the coaching is intertwined with faith-based practices.
How You Deal with Enquiries from People Outside Your Niche
How you deal with enquiries from people who don’t fit your niche will determine if you are serving a specific niche or discriminating against a demographic.
If you are serving a particular niche, then your response may be something like:
- My coaching program looks at business through the filter of Christian teachings. We incorporate passages from the bible and examine Christian business case studies. If that doesn’t match what you are looking for, let me know. I would be happy to recommend non-religious business coaches.
- My coaching program has been tailored to help Black women achieve financial freedom. Most of the grants and programs I recommend are only available to members of the Black community. Plus at least 25% of the modules deal with issues that are prevalent in Black communities. Because my program is so tailored to Black women, I am worried that so much of the program won’t be relevant that you won’t achieve the results I offer. Let me suggest some other coaches I feel will be a better fit.
You risk coming off as discriminatory if you phrase your response in these ways:
- Sorry, I only work with women
- You don’t fit the kind of client I am looking for
- My program isn’t suitable for you
These responses are a little too blunt, and people will end up inserting their own explanations for why you are saying that. The best approach is to kindly explain why you think you or your program may not be a good fit and point them towards coaches who might be a better fit.
Can I Serve a Niche Outside My Demographic?
Absolutely, but you will need to pre-emptively explain what expertise or experience makes you well-positioned to serve that demographic. Your ideal coaching clients will be wondering, so beat them to their questions. You could share:
- Qualifications
- Research papers
- Work experience
- Relevant experience
- Personal experience
It’s not enough to explain why you are working with that particular demographic. You need to explain what expertise you bring because you don’t have the lived experience to bring to the table.