When creating an online business or becoming an entrepreneur, the first step you’ll want to take is finding your niche. This should happen before you create your resources (and will help you shape the resources that you plan to make).
Have you ever heard the expression “the riches are in the niches?”
The top strategy for success is to focus on catering your services or products to a small market for better sales. When you try to sell to everyone, you sell to no one.
Identifying your niche is vital when creating a TPT store, building digital courses, or providing a service. Why does this strategy work? Simply stated: the market is oversaturated, but you still have space in it.
With all of the other products or services out there, we tend to have option overload. Your target audience should be able to see your product and service and identify that it is made specifically for them. Here’s an example: there are a lot of planners and calendars on the market today and I don’t know which ones are a good fit for me. I discovered a planner that was specially created for bloggers to assist with scheduling blogging content. I immediately had to have it, knowing it was something made specifically for my needs.
You don’t need to have a product just yet – but you need to have a niche to define your product. And after you’ve picked up momentum, built fans, and connected with that audience you can start to expand into other niches!
With both of my businesses, I’ve had a lot of success with this strategy. Here are some tips for getting started:
Finding Your Niche with a TPT Store
When you are starting to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers, finding your niche can start off simple by asking yourself a few questions:
- The grade / subject I taught.
- What did I enjoy teaching the most?
- The content I created that was unique.
TPT has thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of other sellers you are competing with. You’ll build your own audience, so you’ll want to stock your store shelves consistently so customers know what to go for you for. For example, if you saw a 1st-grade lesson in my store, you’d expect to find more 1st-grade curriculum. It would be strange if you returned to my store and all I had was advanced High School Business curriculum.
If you want to check out this strategy in action, check out my TPT store Kitten Approved Curriculum. It’s easiest to start with the grades and subjects that you have taught and you are familiar with because creating content outside of your area takes more time. I’d wait before creating a curriculum for grades you are not familiar with. The curriculum I create is between grades 3-6.
I developed unique games and project-based learning, so my customers identify my store with those specific resources.
Finding my niche came naturally through trial and error of what worked and didn’t work in my store. As you build more and more resources, you’ll be able to identify what works for you.
Niches For Products or Services
When thinking of products or services to offer, finding your niche will differ from the TPT strategy given above. Use the following framework to help you identify your niche for a digital course, coaching, or physical product.
- Skills you are particularly good at or an expert in
- Things that you really enjoy doing and would love to learn a lot about
- What people will pay money for
When advertising in the digital world, you’ll want to niche it down to help you focus on a specific demographic. For example, if I was scrolling through the internet and saw a weight loss program, I may not even click on it. There are SO many weight loss programs out there, I may not be interested in learning more. However, if this weight loss program was for brides-to-be or for a vegan diet I would be more inclined to click.
Your audience should be able to see your product and know “that was made specifically for my needs.” In addition to this, you’ll be able to WRITE to your audience and address their specific pain points.
I’ve specifically made my resources to support teachers because I saw a need for the service and I am a former teacher. While my career transition course and business resources may be applicable to many others as well, my language and examples are all from a teacher’s view. When you first found my resources you knew it was something that was built JUST FOR YOU.
Let’s say that you are considering doing a productivity blog and eventually an e-book or digital course.
- Productivity for teachers
- Single moms struggling with productivity and raising a child
- Productivity strategies for those suffering from depression
I’d steer clear from creating an entire business model around something that is time-sensitive – such as “productivity during COVID-19.” Teachers, single moms, and those suffering from depression will be around forever.
When you are working on finding your niche, you may change your mind a few times. That’s completely normal! Just play around with your content and see what people engage with.
Building a business is a lot of trial and error, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and gauge interest first before committing to anything.
