You may or may not know this about me, but I started out in the fitness space! I’ve always loved being active. I was a marathon runner, always loved hiking, and enjoyed working out. I sort of fell into that niche in the online world when I joined a Facebook group for a fitness program I was in after I had a baby. It really was my passion for a time after that. I truly wanted to speak to other moms through the use of health and fitness because it had made such a difference for me. This is how I ended up creating Abs, Core, and Pelvic Floor, my top selling eBook.
Since then, my niche has shifted away from fitness and into the business world. Weird, right? As things sometimes do, my passions started to shift. If you really dug into my passion for fitness, you’d find my true passion of helping others. And the one thing that dramatically changed my life was my business. And so, my brand started evolving into what it is today!
Can you change your niche? You absolutely can. I’m proof of that. But let’s get into the why and the how. The positives and the negatives. The real question behind feeling too scared to commit to a niche for fear you change your mind later on.
You CAN Change Your Niche
The short and sweet answer to this is YES. You can change your niche. In my business courses, Base Camp and Peak Business Academy, it’s one of the biggest struggles I see. People have SO many concerns about their niche! Can it change? What should it be? Am I niched down enough? Is this niche enough to fulfil me? The first thing I want to say is not to let the fear of making the wrong decision stop you from choosing a niche and creating a product. The faster you can decide on this, the faster you’ll be profitable!
People change their niche for a lot of reasons. Maybe you’re feeling your passion shift like mine did. Maybe you’re not seeing the success you wanted to see in that niche. Maybe you have an idea for a product that doesn’t fit exactly in your niche. These are all valid reasons. But rest assured, it’s possible. So if you want to make a cookbook, but you’re worried cooking won’t be your thing later on, just make the cookbook and allow your business to evolve and see where things go!
It’s much worse to be paralyzed with the decision and to never make a product or create your business than it is to start a business and change your niche later. Don’t overthink it! I’m SO glad I started in the fitness space even if that’s not where I ended up.
Will Changing Your Niche Hurt Your Business?
People worry that changing their niche can hurt their business. It’s true that the community you’ve created might not translate into your new niche. I’m certain that I lost followers when I started posting more business-related content because many people were following me for fitness content. But I gained a whole new audience that did fit that niche, and plenty of community members that stuck around! Will you lose an audience you worked hard to create with your first niche? You certainly will lose some. But you’ll gain plenty of new people in your community with time.
Instead of looking at it as a loss, look at it as a shift. Your audience will shift, but that’s not necessarily a loss or something that will hurt your business.
If you’re changing the name of your business as you shift your niche, you’ll experience some financial dips as you change the name legally. You’ll have to do a lot of new branding and creating new content. There will be dips, but I wouldn’t say these things will hurt your business. You’ll have to decide if changing your niche is worth it to you. Will there be financial dips, a loss of customers, and lag time as you shift? Yes. But if you’re more passionate about a different niche, then maybe you’re willing to go through the down slope before going back up.
And let me tell you, you’ll do more work and be happier in something you feel closer to.
Creating a Diverse Brand
One great way to avoid doing a hard niche change later on is to create a diverse and well-rounded brand to begin with. For instance, say you want to write a cookbook now, but you’re worried you won’t want to make products related to cooking forever. Create a brand like an umbrella with 3-5 different topics underneath it. For me, I’m my brand. That’s not true with everyone, but I couldn’t think of a good business name! So I stuck with Natalie Hodson. For that reason, my hobbies and personality have become my subtopics that I can create my brand and products around.
My example:
BRAND: Natalie Hodson
Main topic: Business
Subtopic 1: Outdoors/Nature
Subtopic 2: Health/Fitness
Subtopic 3: Mom life/Motherhood
Subtopic 4: Gardening/Homesteading
Subtopic 5: Mindset
I have products I sell related to business, health and fitness, and mindset, but nothing on the outdoors, homesteading, etc. right now. But if I did create some products surrounding those, I wouldn’t have to do a hard niche shift in my business.
Here’s another example:
(This is totally made up.)
BRAND: A Happy Home
Main topic: Cooking
Subtopic 1: Eco- friendly cleaning
Subtopic 2: Minimalist decorating
Subtopic 3: Homeschooling
Subtopic 4: At-home workouts
So instead of creating a cooking brand, it’s a brand that’s a little more diverse that encompasses a niche of home-related interests. That way, you can still write that cookbook but also make room for other interests. Plus, it allows your audience to see a ton of sides of this brand and your story. Even if your brand isn’t your name like mine is, you can still tell your story through this umbrella of subtopics that will allow them to feel connected to you. (And I always say that connection marketing is the secret sauce of selling your product!)
One More Example:
(Also totally made up.)
BRAND: A life of Adventure
Main topic: Unique at-home cuisine
Subtopic 1: Travel
Subtopic 2: Backpacking
Subtopic 3: Motherhood
Instead of creating a brand about cooking, it’s a brand about adventure with cooking as its main focus. This makes it so you can create your first product without fear of changing your niche later on. If you decide you want to move from an eBook about unique at-home cousine to a course about backpacking, or eating authentically when you travel, you won’t have to make a hard shift since it already fits in your umbrella.
Moving Forward
Making a decision on a niche is scary for so many. I see it all the time! But just remember that your passion should fuel your decision making. It’s not impossible to change your niche, so just go with what feels right right now! And take comfort in the fact that it is possible to change it later on. And if you create a well-rounded and diverse brand to begin with, the shift will be even easier.
I’ve done it! I wouldn’t take back being in the fitness space. I wouldn’t take back shifting into the business space! I’ve done it and so can you.
Don’t be paralyzed by the decision to pick a niche.
You’ve got this!
Best,
Natalie
P.S. If you want a course that can help you find your niche, check out my introductory business course called Base Camp! You won’t regret it! Find it HERE!
