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Jack of ALL Trades, MASTER of NONE |
| | One of the challenges that business owners face as they develop their business is identifying the importance of specializing their work; this couldn’t be truer for counselors when they cultivate their private practice. To be perfectly honest and candid, when you work with clients that you don’t find joy in working with them you open yourself up to burnout, a less satisfying work experience, and most detrimentally poor service levels for clients. A vital question to ask yourself, whether you are a business owner or not, is this: What do I want to specialize in (i.e. what is my niche)?
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A niche is a position or activity that particularly suits somebody’s talents and personality, or that somebody can make their own. We all are born with gifts and natural talents and it is important for us to tap into them and use them on our life’s journey. These gifts were placed in us to make us unique, successful, and beneficial in the world.
I’m going to reference my personal journey as a counselor and share some nuggets of knowledge I learned along the way that taught me the importance of identifying my niche and is leading me towards specializing in a specific area of my practice. It is my hope that you’ll gain some insight that will help illuminate your path in your life (whether you aspire to be a counselor or not.)
Many counselors may remember learning in school that it is important to work with a variety of clients as to not limit yourself. If not, at least that was my experience as I matriculated through graduate school. I have found a majority of the counselor’s that I personally know have a difficult time cultivating a niche area and find it even more challenging to zero in on their specialty areas after working with clients for many years. This has been a challenge of mine as well and so I wish to share with you a few good reasons why specializing in a specific area is impactful to your business’s bottom line and your client’s success.
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| | The Steps to Developing YOUR Niche in your Private Practice |
| Step 1. Become a Counselor who is focused- Early on in my practice I felt like I had 20 arms going in 20 different directions and today at times I still feel the same way, but what has changed for me is that I have identified a specific area to focus on developing and I'm beginning to utilize my energy and efforts to cultivate that area. Am I perfect at it No, but I am clear on how I spend my time. Spending time focusing on a particular area you totally love creates opportunities for you to build a brand and market effectively. If you are all over the place, so will your brand and marketing, and so will your clients. Without a focus, you won’t know how to tailor your brand to meet your potential clients because you won’t have a specific type of client.
Step 2. Become a Counselor Who is an Expert- I firmly believe that clients desire the assistance of someone who has specifically studied their craft and have some tried and true experiences in the precise area in which they seek help. Consider someone who needs open heart surgery; would they prefer to go to a general surgeon for the procedure or a heart surgeon? The answer is overwhelming the latter. By working to become an expert in a particular area you create a uniqueness and demand for your private practice that no one else has. You will then be able to drive traffic to your business and assist your clients better. Also, as an expert and specialty provider you’ll be able to offer more to your clients as you will have the ability to give them specialized attention and you’ll receive more in return as well.
Step 3. Become a Counselor Who is a duplicator- It is much easier to duplicate your work if you have a niche area. You are now the expert and you can develop trainings, webinars, books, podcast and numerous other products and services that you can turn around and duplicate. As people begin to seek you out as the expert you’ll have ample tools to offer. Now you will open yourself up to serve a larger population; Not only will you serve clients but you can begin to serve other counselors who wish to gain insight from your expertise.
Step 4. Become the Counselor who is satisfied- Work satisfaction not only comes from revenue it also comes from the passion you have about the work you do. The counselor who is satisfied ultimately provides a better experience for clients, which is our ultimate goal as clinicians. I do understand that you are in business for yourself to make money and you may not feel completely satisfied if you aren't meeting your financial goals. I’m here to tell you, that tapping into your natural gifts and talents to hone your niche will provide an internal satisfaction (because you aren’t working as hard, your work won’t feel like work at all) and happy people emote positive energy which in turn draws people (clients) to you. |
| | I’m sure you may still be a little hesitant about this entire approach because you may feel that you are alienating a cluster of people and (to be perfectly honest) losing potential revenue by not servicing the general population.
It is now that I urge you to remember the example of the surgeon. Sure the general surgeon will see many clients and gain revenue from various types of clients, but that surgeon is working so hard at trying to keep up with the trends, advances in medicine, and an ever changing population. That surgeon is headed towards total burnout and reduced zeal for the practice of being a surgeon. I’m sure there is a level of excitement in continually working on different types of cases so that ‘boredom’ doesn’t sit in. But I’m here to tell you, that fatigue will set up camp and break you down quicker than any type of potential ‘boredom’ will. On the flip side, that heart surgeon who has become an expert will be rewarded greatly and regarded with respect as an expert as well as gain not only a demanding clientele (demanding as in, supply vs. demand: which transcends to career stability) but a new clientele made of up from peers who are willing to pay for expert advice and assistance.
So in the long run, the little money that you may forfeit by being a general practitioner doesn’t even compare the influx of revenue you’ll receive as a specialty business owner.
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