The benefits of niching down
5 lesser known reasons to get specific on your offer
Read time: 3 minutes
Here’s our TTT for this week on how to grow your online teaching business.
What is TTT? A Tip, Takeaway, and Task. On Thursday.
Enjoy!
Have you joined our free teacherpreneur community?
Network with others on a similar trajectory.
Tip: A niche offers more than it seems
The word “niche” is pervasive in our industry. It’s also very misunderstood.
A niche isn’t something binary that we just choose or that chooses us. It’s not a menu item at a restaurant. Rather, it’s more of a relationship, one that evolves and grows over time. And similar to any relationship, sometimes that growth isn’t linear and changes in behaviour are needed.
Many people ask us about our niche. How did you choose it? What was the process? How did you find your niche?
A quick story here about our niche journey. We started LYE just like most companies: with a vague idea of what we wanted to do. We sat in rooms for months talking about our ideas and never actually did anything.
Then we decided to take action and learn about the people we wanted to help. First, we started doing in-person workshops for language schools in Toronto.
Our supposed niche?
“Helping teachers develop in the area of English language teaching and learning.”
A pretty vague that really doesn’t mean anything at all. It doesn’t reveal anything about what actually happens.
But we were very pleased with ourselves at the time. Looking back, no wonder we didn’t have much success.
Then we niched down further, turning into helping freelance teachers use a task-based approach in their classes.
And now, we help teachers design and sell their first online course from a task-based perspective so they can have a business their proud of.
And it will likely be tweaked again.
Like any good relationship, it depends on the wants and needs of both parties involved. And as you learn about each other, you grow together, on a similar trajectory.
But you have to start in order to learn. Don’t learn, then start.
Here are 5 reasons to niche down.
Takeaway: Let’s examine some examples
Before we dive in, if you have a negative reaction to the word “niche,” that’s perfectly normal.
It’s used at nauseam and is rarely explained or extrapolated on.
Many teachers ask questions based in skepticism that all mean similar things:
if I niche down, won’t I lose clients?
if I niche down, won’t it be more difficult to find clients?
Logical questions, to be sure. And the answer is “no.” This is short-term thinking that derails the long-term plan.
So, let’s get into the five advantages of niching down.
1. No competition
The main reason to niche down is to eliminate competition. We like to say you need your own corner of the internet. This is where you and your community live. In this space, there is no one else who does what you do.
No competition means a competitive advantage.
On the other hand, if you play in the “conversation classes” corner of the internet, everyone and Chat GPT is your competition.
2. Scarcity
When you have your own corner of the internet, you’re the only one who ca n help people. This creates scarcity.
When there’s scarcity, there’s pent-up demand.
3. Expertise
When you spend 100% of your time learning and perfecting one thing, the knowledge you acquire is astounding.
Conversely, if you spread yourself thin by learning this, that, and the other, you have surface level knowledge only of a wide variety of things.
You wouldn’t want a specialist doctor to say “oh wow, that’s a new one. Let me do some research and get back to you on that.”
4. Referrals
Referrals are a big part of a thriving teaching business. However, in general referals, a price tag comes with it. If one teacher refers a student to you, the student brings what they’re accustomed to paying with them.
There’s no differentiation.
When you become known for one specific thing, referrals not only come in higher volume, but you can charge your rate, too.
5. Higher rates
When you put #1-4 together, it results in much higher rates.
You:
have no competition
are the only one who offers this
have expertise in a specialized area
gain referrals from other respected professionals
You’ve moved from the general practitioner to the leukaemia specialist for kids.
Task: Reflect on how you can niche down
Important disclaimer: don’t worry about losing current clients. That’s a blip on the radar.
By niching down, you’ll grow an entire new audience who loves you and will pay 5X more.
This week, use these five aspects to help you niche down:
competition
scarcity
expertise
referrals
increase rates
Hope this helps.
When you’re ready, here are 3 ways we can help you:
1. Our free Business Foundations Training for Teachers (260 teachers)
2. TBLT Made Easy - use tasks in your class right away (116 teachers)
3. A free consultation with us to talk about taking your business and teaching to the next level (first come first served)
