Best Life Coaching Niches; How To Choose Yours

If you want to have a profitable, sustainable coaching practice it’s vital that you choose the right niche for your business. Today we’ll focus on selecting the best life coaching niche(s) for you. This is more important than you might think. It’s not only about you; it’s about those you help and God’s unique plan for your life.

It may surprise you to learn Christian coaching is not a niche. Rather Christian coaching represents your worldview and how you operate.

Your niche is the group of prospective clients who need the solution you offer to their pervasive, persistent problem. It's the issue that probably keeps members of this group up at night. If the solution you provide is not as critical, you may be experiencing a tough time getting paying clients.

Specialize in your specific area and you’ll be able to hone in on your calling and do what you love, instead of losing focus as you try to keep everyone happy.

You’ll also strengthen your reputation as an expert and stand out from the crowds of other life coaches out there. You’ll build a greater sense of trust between you and your potential coaching clients and find it much easier to find and offer solutions to your target market.

And you’ll also be able to focus on what your clients really need, solve their exact problems to streamline your business so you continue to offer them yet more value. It’s a win-win situation.

In this article, we’d like to help you figure out which is the right life coaching niche for you so you can build a sustainable and profitable coaching business. When you are aligned with your divine calling, your gifts will flow from you to others … and you’ll feel like you’re living the life of your dreams.

Why is it so important to choose a niche?

Choosing a coaching niche can be difficult. It can often feel like you’re dismissing prospective clients and sources of potential revenue, especially in those early days when you’re focused on getting your business off the ground and start attracting paying coaching clients. 

Though it may feel counter-intuitive, actually the opposite is true.

People are wired to want specific solutions to their problems and will always choose a specialist over a generalist.

Think of it like this. If you wanted to get rid of a toothache, you wouldn’t go and visit your family doctor, would you? You’d head to a dentist.

It’s the same when it comes to life coaching. Specialization is key.

Also bear in mind the fact that life coaching covers a broad spectrum of skills, expertise and niches. Many people often won’t understand what a ‘life coach’ is or what a life coach does, so they may not see how you could solve their problems.

Not defining your niche could end up costing you clients, or even your business. 

By getting clear on what you offer, you’ll not only focus your own efforts but also offer clear solutions to established problems that your clients are facing. You’ll also help improve people’s lives and you’ll make a profit doing so.

How you can determine your coaching niche

Finding the right niche for you can be easier than you think. You just need to find what people call your ‘sweet spot’. In spiritual circles it may be referred to as your area of anointing.

This is a natural overlap that happens between your God-given passions and interests, your life experience, education and expertise. By virtue of its definition, your offer will also be a solution that your potential client is willing to pay for.  If not, we can’t consider it an actual niche or business specialty. If there is no value for value exchange, it can’t be considered a business enterprise … a hobby perhaps, but not a business.

For example, you might love writing short stories and you’ve been doing so for as long as you can remember. You’ve also published a book (or two) and received a Master’s degree in creative writing. There’s your credibility.

If you can find clients who are willing to pay for your services to coach writers, you might have found your niche.

Ask yourself the following questions if you’re feeling stuck and struggling to work out your niche:

What do I love? Brainstorm your thoughts and ideas, then write them down on paper. Be sure not to leave anything out- you might have a golden nugget of brilliance in there somewhere.

What skills and knowledge have I gained in my work life? Consider what you’ve learned through your career(s) and consider it all!

What skills and knowledge have I gained in my personal life? Do you have any niche hobbies or interests?

What circumstances have I personally overcome? No doubt you’ve learned some important strategies others in the same situation may not know. Remember, God wastes nothing. If you have experienced it and grown from it, there’s a reason greater than your own outcome.

What do you love helping people with the most? What problems do people come to you looking for help with?

What are you good at? Ask friends and family for their input too.

Then go through your list and highlight the ideas that really stand out.

Could you combine any of these to find paying clients and define your niche?

Don’t feel like you have to rush the process because it can take time and careful though to find the niche that best works for you and your business. It’s perfectly fine to ‘tweak’ your niche throughout your career to fit the ‘season” God has you in, to suit your clients’ needs and also your own personal growth. You’ll know t’s time to transition as the Holy Spirit leads you.

Getting paid for coaching

Have you heard any of the nonsense that Christian coaches should not be paid? They often take out of context the advice, “freely you have received, freely give”. You as a Christian life coach, provide a valuable, life-transforming service. You are a professional, who happens to be a life coach and a believer. There are Christians who are physicians, accountants, attorneys … and yes life coaches and counselors. All deserve to be paid for the professional services they provide.

Pastors, church secretaries and administrators, music ministers, etc. all get paid. You too are entitled to good pay to support your family and home.  And the more of a giver you are, the more God can bless you with.  We don’t just receive pay for our personal needs, we also receive pay so that we can bless others in need.

It’s in fact our duty to allow God to greatly bless us so that we can greatly bless others. Closing ourselves off to God’s greater resources to focus only on our own needs is, as a famous bible teacher stated, more than a little selfish.

Here are two important reasons To be paid

First, it’s not all about you and your needs. You are paid well so you have stability and security as well as so you can sow back into the Kingdom. If you have just enough or less than enough, you can’t help anyone much, not even yourself.

Second, your coaching client needs to have some “skin in the game”. They need to care enough about their own outcome to invest in it.  If there’s no value exchanged, you may be wasting your time. They generally will not take the coaching or your time investment seriously. God charges us to sow into fertile soil. Those who either don’t care or don’t care enough to take action … are not fertile soil.

The best life coaching niches today

To help you narrow down your ideas, we’ve gathered together a list of the most in-demand, profitable coaching niches right now. Bear in mind that this isn’t an exhaustive list- you can probably think of other niches to add to this list.

The ones highlighted with a link have certification courses available from our schools.

Health and wellness coaching niches

Weight loss
Stress/ anxiety 
Fitness
Holistic/natural healing
Raw, vegan or vegetarian
Weightlifting or bodybuilding
Sports performance
Diet-specific coaching like Keto, Paleo, low carb, gluten-free, etc.
Addiction or substance abuse 
Eating disorders
Health / wellness coach

Relationships and dating coaching niches

Dating 
Relationships/marriage

Parenting (plus many sub-niches including Attachment Parenting, Natural Parenting, etc.)
Grief 
Assertiveness 
Divorce/post-breakup 
Sexuality/intimacy 
Aging parents/eldercare 
Adoption 
Social anxiety 
Funeral
Conflict

Emotions, thoughts, mindset coaching

ADHD

Autism

Happiness

Arts and creativity coaching

Creativity

Creative writing

Singing

Dancing

Acting

Music

Business and career coaching

Business (including starting a new business, growing a business, managing a large business)

Small business

Entrepreneur skills

Negotiations

Conflict

Mediation

Marketing

Business planning

Public speaking

Image

Public Relations

Employee (helping employees excel or overcome performance problems)

Corporate

Real Estate

Career/career transition

Interviews

Job search

Executive

Management

Sales

Grant writing

Financial coaching

Investing/retirement

Money mindset

Time management/productivity

Finding your passion/purpose

Transformation/creativity

Leadership

Peak performance

Educational coaching

Academic

Admissions to college, medical school, law school, dental school, business school, and other professional schools

Scholarships

Standardized tests – SAT, GMAT, LSAT, GRE, and other tests

Dissertation

High school

Where to begin

Begin with a general coaching course so that you understand life coaching thoroughly before adding a specialty. You’ll find the Christian Life Coach / Professional Life Coach certification course to provide the best foundation for those who profess the Christian faith. PCCCA’s course is ideal for anyone who believes the Holy Bible. It does not contain any denominational doctrine nor is it integrated with psychology or new age philosophies.  It is pure life coaching as modeled by Jesus and taught in the scriptures. Regardless of your denomination, it will be right for you. Just bring your preferred Bible translation. We provide everything else.

Before you launch your coaching business, pray about your direction. It’s vital that you choose your niche and focus on building a coaching practice that keeps that spirit-inspired flame of passion alive within you.

Which coaching niche will you choose? And why? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." ~ 2 Timothy 2:15