Save Yourself A Lot Of Stress by Doing THIS

The following is a transcription of Episode 7 of The Peaceful Entrepreneur Podcast! Click here to listen on all platforms!

AMY: Welcome to the Peaceful Entrepreneur podcast, where together we are finding peace in the process of everyday business ownership by improving one step at a time, how we think and what we do. I'm your host, Amy Stout.

Starting and running a business can be very stressful. So today I wanna talk about one practical thing that you can do to minimize stress.

So I have my amazing friend Courtney here who has started and run multiple successful businesses and brings an incredible perspective as well as a peaceful spirit to this conversation. So let's get into it.

All right, my friend Courtney is here for the podcast. Thank you for being here, Courtney!

COURTNEY: Happy to be here.

AMY: Courtney and I have known each other maybe about six months or so.

COURTNEY: Yeah, something like that.

AMY: But the second we met, I knew we were just gonna be incredible friends. We actually had a mutual friend connect us for me to do some work for Courtney. So Courtney actually started as a client.

COURTNEY: Yeah. And I loved it. It was, it was so wonderful.

AMY: And, um, and we just immediately clicked and connected. So I'm grateful that it's more than just that now. And we can just be buddies and sisters in Christ as well. So thanks for being here today.

And Courtney is also a much more experienced business owner than I. You've been doing this and you have had quite a bit of success.

So let's start out with just like a little bit about you as a human and then tell us a little bit about your business experience because you had businesses. It's not just the one.

COURTNEY: So me as a human, I majored in dance at UNCG, just graduated. And funny enough, I don't do anything related to dance anymore. I am a marketing director at a brand studio that's my newest gig, if you will. And full time, I own a social media marketing agency called Sovereign Socials.

And outside of all the business things, I love dance, I love coffee, similarly addicted as Amy. And I love Jesus and Netflix and all of the basic things that you're supposed to say in the beginning of the podcast.

AMY: And I'll also mention, I mean, you'll probably see this as we're talking, but Courtney is just a very calming and peaceful presence. So it's kind of perfect for the premise of this podcast because I just like whenever the cool thing is Courtney was my first and has been my only so far client that lived in the same town as I did.

And so we've gotten to have our meetings in person, which has been so sweet. And like just being with you has always been very peaceful for me. So excited to have you here.

So today we're talking about finding your niche in business. And I just want to first start out by saying that that is a strange word. And it has so many pronunciations. So I had to start out by asking how you say that word.

COURTNEY: I say niche.

AMY: Okay, great.

COURTNEY: I cringe at, what is it?

AMY: I Googled it and they are both, like technically pronunciations is the word. It's not like there's one right and one wrong. Like there's just two ways to pronounce it, but I'm glad we say the same thing. So we're not gonna be like battling between the two. It's like my husband always says aunt and I say aunt. So I'm going to have to like, I'm going to probably have to adjust. Cause his whole family says it and he has two sisters and they're both going to be aunts of our children. So I say aunt I'm team aunt. I think I'm going to have to convert anyway.

So glad that we're on the same page with niche, but I am excited to discuss this with you today because I think that, here's my hot take for the episode. I think that just having a niche, just the fact of having one is gonna provide you so much peace.

Because when I see such a distinct difference from before I established mine or before I narrowed mine a lot and how chaotic things felt and how peaceful things feel now because I know exactly who I'm serving. And we're gonna get into a lot of different details.

Like I feel like I have different niche clients for each of my services. So it's like, you don't have to box yourself in. We are gonna talk about that. But I'm just thrilled to just have this conversation because I think the whole thing just has the potential to bring you so much peace as a business owner.

So let's talk first, Court, about what even is a niche.

COURTNEY: The immediate definition that comes to my mind is who you serve, how you serve, and why you serve. Your niche is summarized in those things. And the more clear that you can get in your why and in your who, like Amy said, the more clarity you're going to have and the more peace that you're going to have because you know exactly who you're speaking to in your content.

You know what your mission is, you know why you're showing up. And it's just this thing that you can anchor around and you have plenty of flexibility to change it in the future. But just having it in the beginning can really establish that foundation that you need to grow in your marketing and your expression.

AMY: And I love what you even kind of wrote in our kind of brainstorm notes that that we were talking about before this, but you were writing that it's more than just who you serve and what you do. It's your whole mission. It's your personality as a person. It's your values. I really loved that point.

COURTNEY: Yeah, you are your niche. That's what I always come back to. Yes, it's what you do. It's I help XYZ do XYZ. Sure, like that's the very basic overview of what a niche is.

But more than that, it's also the unique way that you specifically do that.

Like Amy, the way that you care for your clients is very different from the way that another business manager might do it. You do it in a way that's very peace-oriented, that's service-oriented, that's like very heart-centered, and that is a part of your niche.

It's part of what makes you you, and it's part of what differentiates you from other people. So it's the unique essence that you bring to your work. It's a whole part of your niche. such a good point. And when I think about how I've approached thinking about if a, like when a potential client comes to me, if I think of them as, oh, they do this, I would be a good fit.

That's not actually the best way to think about it. You have to be like, this is how they are. This is how they function because you can have two people with the same exact profession and work with one and not work with the other. And it has nothing to do with the profession.

It's all about who they are and how they function. And if you jive, yeah, absolutely. They go down a whole rabbit hole. So what is your, what are your thoughts on when you need to find your niche in business and how narrow it needs to be.

And like all of those things, I feel like there's just so much grey area around this. So many differing opinions and I'm curious like what yours is too and how you would advise someone on that. But for me, I encourage you to start off with a general sense of what is it that you do and who are you most suited to serve?

So for example, I know nothing about health or wellness. I love health and wellness. I'm not an expert in it. So it wouldn't make sense for me to serve that target audience. No matter how lucrative it might be, no matter how many of those people are around me, it just wouldn't make sense because that's not who I am and that's not my expertise.

So what do you know really, really well? And then what do you also enjoy? What do you have the skill set for and what excites you? Take note of those things.

When I started, I made a whole list of like, this is what I love. How can I connect these concepts? How can I tie these together to create something that's really unique and that embodies who I I am. So start by just getting that sense of what it is that you do really, really well.

And if you don't know what that is, start working with random people, you know, like just connect with people and say, Okay, I don't like working with people who are maybe super type A or maybe I don't like this industry as much as I thought I did. You have room to experiment. So if you are just putting yourself out there, let's say that you're in the foundational stage of your business, let's say you're a social media market or whatever, I would say I am a social media market marketer for female entrepreneurs.

That's very broad, super, super open, and play with that for a few months, just see who you naturally attract, see who comes to you. Maybe you notice that you're getting a lot of creatives, or maybe you're getting a lot of photographers, maybe you are naturally attracting a certain type of person, take note of that. But it's okay to start very general, play in that for a few months.

But then I'd say, as soon as possible, do get focused and do get concentrated. So have that experimental phase. And then once you're getting a sense of what you enjoy, then you can start narrowing it down.

AMY: Yeah, that's so good. I think there's two sides to the coin because one part of me wants to say, go with your gut. Because you already know, like if you kind of do that thought experiment, like you're talking about, like write out what you're good at and write out what you're passionate about and see where they intersect. You're probably going to already know that right at the beginning of business.

And I have found that my true niche that I'm in now two years in is pretty reflective of things that I already knew about myself at the beginning. So trust your gut because I'm such a perfectionist. I'm like, "Oh, well, I still have to try all the options and I have to see." And I think that I waited a little bit too long to get super specific and I could have saved myself some stress if I had niched down sooner. So I'm with you there.

But the other side of the coin is like at some point you do just need to experiment. Because there are things you're not going to know until you do it. Like that's how I was with trying on a wedding dress.

Like I had a picture on my Pinterest for seven years. And then I tried that dress on and And I was like, oh, that's not really the vibe that I'm going for. It's not actually, like it's pretty, but it's not doing for me what I thought it would. So you do have to have an experimental season and see what kind of personalities you like to work with. And to speak to an experience I've had, I'm extremely type A.

And I know that about myself and I embraced that. And I kind of like the little tagline of my business, like I'll be the type A to your type B.

COURTNEY: Love it.

AMY: But there has to be a caveat because there's a spectrum of type A and type B. And if you're all the way on the type B, I tried. I just can't, like there's a certain limit.

COURTNEY: There's a limit.

AMY: So I work really well with creative people, but I still need a certain element of like orderliness. So, and I had to go through the trial and error to figure that out. And you have to experience it to know what to look for in the future, like when you're talking to clients initially.

So yeah, I think there's two sides, but I'm going to just circle back to what you said of don't wait too long, like trust yourself. Yeah. And then there's also the fact that you can choose a niche in the very early stage of your business. So again, let's say that you have that I help statement of, you know, I help type B creatives become type A.

You can still work with that. And maybe, you know, someday somebody reaches out to you and they're not that target audience. They're not that ideal client. You can still take them on just because you have that I help statement and your bio doesn't mean that you can absolutely not work with anyone outside of that. And still people reach out, people are interested in you.

They're going to reach out even if they don't fit your quote, unquote, niche. It's okay. You know, there's going to have that room for experimentation, even if you have that bio, it's not chaining you down. It's not, you know, locking you in there. You can still evolve within that.

Because me being like such a perfectionist rule follower, I would get too caught up in like, "Oh, well, I already decided, so I can't do this." Speaking to, yeah, let's talk a little bit more about how to avoid being boxed in and how to use the niche as a helpful tool for growth and peace and clarity, but not get boxed in. What are your thoughts there?

COURTNEY: So if you're someone who's multi-passionate and you know yourself and you know that you are kind of back and forth, you have so many interests, so many people that you know, you can serve and you're kind of stuck between certain audiences.

You're like, okay, I could really resonate with working with photographers or I could also resonate with working with wellness coaches or whatever it is. You have these two different personalities and audiences that you can serve. How do you encompass both without trapping yourself or feeling stuck?

I personally was this kind of person. I wanted to do everything and do all of the things and I didn't know how to to do that without confusing my messaging and my marketing. So a way that I navigated this was to focus on the personality of the person I wanted to serve.

So photographers do this really well. If you're hiring a wedding photographer, a lot of them will say, "I serve fun and like wild and free couples," versus some will be like, "I serve timeless and traditional couples." So they're not boxing themselves in as like, "I only shoot for barn weddings," or "I only shoot for luxury hotel weddings. They're instead choosing to go for personality.

So that creates this range of some couple might reach out and they're having like this wild destination wedding, but they're also super relaxed and timeless and chill. That's, you have all of these different options. And so I think that leaning into personality and the personality of who you want to serve versus what they do, who they are exactly, what they're struggling with, that can create that sort of freedom that you're craving while still also having that clarity in how you speak and how you communicate and how you market.

Another way is to focus on who you are as a person. So things that make your brand unique are things that you may not even think to showcase. So for example, I'm thinking of Amy and her coffee. We had a conversation before we started recording about how she wants to do reels and TikToks with these aesthetic coffee videos. That is totally her. Like that's kind of her niche in a way. Like, no, she's not marketing coffee. You know, she's not like selling coffee or anything, but it's a part of who she is. And so if I were to see this aesthetic coffee video pop up in my feed with like business quotes, I'd be like, that's Amy. Like that's who she is. That's her unique essence.

And if I were in ideal client stepping into her space and I saw, oh, she likes coffee as much as I do, or she likes plants or whatever it is, that small detail, that's going to make me cling to her. I'm going to be attracted to that because I'm similar. So anything about you that is unique, maybe you like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or whatever it is about you, those small details, people will recognize that humans psychologically were very tribal oriented.

So we want to choose and work with people who we associate ourselves with. And so those details that we can associate and relate to our ideal clients with, those are huge, those are small things, but they're really add up in the long run and they build this unique brand that attracts exactly who you want it to attract.

AMY: That is all like gold. That is so good. Oh my goodness. You're absolutely right. And that's going to like take you so much farther than just this standard. I do this for these people. Like it's just that extra element of connection. It goes a long way. Because it It really, I feel like it comes down to connecting with your clients, either like having a connection, you know, referrals, gold standard, great way to go business, or just like how you can authentically build that connection.

COURTNEY: Absolutely.

AMY: So tell me about how you have done this in your businesses.

COURTNEY: Yeah, so I have been so back and forth with my niche from the time that I started in 2016 when I had my first business to now, I've changed my niche probably 10 times within that timeframe. I've also changed my products and my services and that's just natural. Like that's a part of growing in business is that things are gonna change as you change as a person.

Who you wanna work with, how you work with people. It's gonna change, that's totally normal. And I think I also tend to be a bit of a perfectionist in this area like you, Amy. And so sometimes when I can feel things changing, I'm like, oh my gosh, people are gonna think that I'm like wishy washy, people are gonna think I don't know what I'm doing. Like I feel this guilt over changing my niche or changing who I'm serving or even just changing small things about my messaging. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is the end of the world. It's really not.

So first of all, if you were in that position where you're like, maybe I need to pivot, fully give you permission to do it. I've never had anybody, you know, judge me for it, or I've never had that like dramatic scenario in my head where I'm like a client is gonna leave if I change this. It hasn't happened. That's not to say won't ever happen. If it does happen, guess what? That person probably wasn't meant to be in your life and in your business anyway. So that's totally fine. Pivot if you need to, change your niche if you need to, know that it's not set in stone.

So that's the number one thing that I learned and that I gave myself permission to do. And then how I kept centered around my purpose and my mission and who I wanted to serve was number one, constant reflection.

Like just constantly asking myself, what is it that I am gifted with? What skills do I have? What unique skillset do I have? How has the Lord equipped me to serve? And who has he equipped me to serve? Spending time in prayer, journaling over it, really just thinking and investing time and like planning and taking that time to plan. so important. So I thought about it a lot, like an obsessive amount in the beginning, like I wanted to get it right. And I think that could be hit or miss, like don't spend forever, like don't delay taking action to plan something. I do think I was guilty of that a little bit in the beginning.

But I do appreciate that I took time to be thoughtful about it, because then when I was ready to do it, I knew who I was talking to, I knew who I was speaking to, and the effect of that was so powerful and increased my reach exponentially from the very start because I had that clarity.

So I'm grateful that I took the time to think about it and I encourage you to do the same. And yeah, I think that was my foundation for how I started evolving in my niche and figuring out what my niche was, was just asking myself a lot of questions and taking the time to thoughtfully reflect.

AMY: Absolutely. And I think that this goes back to your main thing that I'm pulling out of of this conversation, which is you've had these slight changes along the way, but you as a human are still Courtney. You still have the same personality and that's what's important. And the changes feel a lot bigger to us than they actually are.

So that's something that I have been chuckling about recently because I'm going to second the push to journal. I started a journal at the beginning of when I first started thinking about my rebrand. So maybe about seven or eight months into business, I started this journal and I would just write my thoughts and my visions for what the business would be like. And I am not a super consistent journaler, but I would at least come back to it every few months.

And a couple of weeks ago, I went back to the beginning and I read through it. And I realized that my perception was so off because in my head I had felt like I was drastically changing things every three months. And I go back and I look and I'm like, I was saying the same things a year and a half ago.

Like the core of this has not changed. It's just like fine tuning. So I'm having to kind of retrain my brain of like the changes are fine tuning. The changes are not like this drastic huge thing. And I love the connection of like, you are still you. And that is what your niche like truly actually is. So I'm with you on journaling.

So tell me about how finding a niche and like getting down into it has affected your business and how it's like the positive effects on your mindset and on your business performance.

COURTNEY: I think the biggest thing is having confidence and like, okay, I know what I'm doing. And I think not having any sort of anchor, like your niche really is your anchor. It's like what you can center around and what you can keep coming back to, even when things feel really messy.

Without having that, I wouldn't be able to show up confidently and consistently in my business. I wouldn't be able to create a content strategy 'cause it's really hard to create any sort of content or marketing strategy if you don't know who your audience is or why you're creating what you're creating.

So without having that niche or at least some sort of sense of your niche, it's really impossible to move forward consistently and creatively and confidently. So I think the peace of mind that you talked to in the beginning is so big with niche. Like when you have that, you're able to just lean back and get a bigger sense of what the vision is.

So that that's the biggest positive effect that niching has had on me.

AMY: And I feel like the distinction that I mentioned at the beginning of like having different target clients for different pieces of my business has actually been really peaceful for me, because I mean, your niche is a boundary for you. It draws a line for you.

So when someone comes to you and you don't feel, you know, peace about them, it's probably because they're not within the niche that you've determined. And so it's an easy, like, actually, we really just serve this kind of people or we really only offer this and you can be more confident. Like you're saying in saying those things, because you've already predetermined where you're at. Um, but you don't have to be boxed in.

So here's the practical example for me is we have done for our services that are honestly like outsourcing for content creators, influencers, anybody in that realm. And I feel called to be very specific to them because I can develop services that are centered around things that are going to serve them and I can get really good at those things. that is going to be so much more peaceful for how I run my business and profitable because those people know exactly what they're getting when they come to me and then they can easily tell other people about it because they know exactly what they're going to get.

COURTNEY: That's another thing is having the confidence in your ability to carry out the skill. When you have a niche, you become an expert in that thing and people really trust you. I've noticed this in the agency that I work with, the branding studio I work with is we kind of naturally carved out a niche for interior designers. So we do branding for interior designers, which is very specific.

And people love that though, because they're, they trust that, okay, clearly they know what they're talking about because they have worked specifically with these people for years. And so So they have that peace of mind when they're working with us that they know that we know their industry really well, we know what they need. And it's just overall a more cohesive and trust building experience for our clients.

And then also for us, because we do know what we're talking about. And we do have that peace of mind as the specialist.

So that's a really good point, Amy. I love that.

AMY: And that is like, I need to have that specific target with my done for you services. But kind of the beauty is I have two other elements of my business. I have the consulting elements and then this podcast. And I feel like those two share a niche, which is just any entrepreneur.

Because I just have a passion for entrepreneurship and collaborating with others. And so this podcast, like our conversation could apply to anyone doing anything as long as they're building it themselves, right?

And then for the consulting, I mean, I wanna hear your dreams and your hopes and no matter what your business is, I'm gonna be able to kind of help you narrow down a plan, narrow down your priorities and come up with a way to execute it. So the people who do my consulting program don't have to be this specific content creator person.

So like you said, there's room within a niche. And another idea that I've been thinking about as we've been talking is you can kind of choose an area of your business to niche in. So it's like you can niche in a personality, very specific. You can niche in a very specific career like interior design, or you can niche into a very specific service and have a broader client base, but you only do one specific thing for them. So I think there's freedom within that, but the overall is you need to have a specific something.

COURTNEY: It's just, it's just important at the end of the day, like it just creates that security for everybody involved. And it also helps you out on the marketing front so much because let's say that I am looking specifically for someone who can do website design for business coaches. If someone has that in their bio and that is what they specialize in and that's what I need, I say, okay, cool, that's a simple, easy choice.

First, if I go to somebody who does website design and copywriting and I don't know, like everything in between and everything, that could be really good for someone if they are needing all of the things, but if I'm just needing one thing and I need somebody who can do it really well, I know who I'm going to and it makes my choice super easy. So having that specificity in one aspect or another is very important.

AMY: Such a good point. And let's just debunk the myth right now that niche cuts out opportunity because that's the natural thought progression, right? But it's actually exactly the opposite. And I found the more that I get specific, the more business I get.

COURTNEY: And the more that you make it easy for people, the more they're gonna wanna work with you.

AMY: Yes, and the point that you made about security for everybody involved is so key and exactly like this overwhelming piece that I'm talking about. So it's not only giving you as a business owner piece, but it's giving your clients peace.

And it's then trickling into the other areas of your business, like your marketing. That's such a good point and that's something I've been going through since dreaming up this podcast is, "Oh my gosh, this gives me so much more direction in how I can show up online." And it's like it was the missing puzzle piece. I felt like I was just pulling out of thin air for my content before and now I'm like, I have something specific to post about that like I'm pumped about and that people will hopefully want to hear and like jump on board. So yeah, that's so good.

Do you have any final thoughts as we're kind of wrapping up this convo?

COURTNEY: Final thoughts, key points for you to take away. Your niche can change. It's okay. Just choose one. You can change it later. But for your sake, for your clarity, for your peace of mind, just choose one, take the time, plan it out and then take action on it. Don't get stuck in the planning.

Another key takeaway, you are your niche. Don't neglect little details that make you you and fuse that into your marketing and fuse that into your branding. It goes a really long way and also don't be afraid to be a specialist. It doesn't mean that you're not going to get other clients. It doesn't mean that you are trapping yourself or limiting yourself. Being a specialist can be a really good thing.

Those are my key takeaways for everybody listening.

AMY: I love it, Courtney. Okay, I have one final question for you that I ask all of my guests. And this can be related to business or it can just be like in general in your life. What is bringing you peace right now?

COURTNEY: Ooh, what is bringing me peace right now. I love my little workstation that I have here. I always have a cup of coffee. I have this huge window in front of me right now, natural sunlight just pouring in. I just love having a peaceful workspace. It's just everything. It makes my day so much more productive and light and airy and fun. And I love having a space that I actually want to be in to work.

So this is bringing me peace right now.

AMY: I love that. Beth and I were literally just talking about like, building out our dream peaceful office.

COURTNEY: So good. It's worth it.

AMY: Yay. Well, thank you so much for being here. This has been such a great conversation. I can't wait to have more in the future.

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. We look forward to connecting with you more, whether that's on Instagram, TikTok, or our email list. We'd love to hear what you thought of today's episode, and if you have any additional tips to add. We will see you next week with more tips and tools to becoming a peaceful entrepreneur. Bye for now.