Niching Down to Level Up Your Practice

Friends, it’s true what they say: 

“The riches are in the niches!”

It can be a hard pill to swallow (at first), but picking a niche is one of the best things you can do for your business & your patients. 

I know you came here hoping for some quick & simple business advice, and it feels like I’m telling you to change the entire trajectory of your business. Butttt I promise, that’s not the case – so keep reading!  

Picking a niche isn’t changing trajectories – it’s narrowing your focus – and it has a number of upsides. Picking a niche:

• Benefits your patients
• Makes marketing easier & more effective
• Sets you apart from other practitioners
• Helps you earn more money

More money, less work, better patient outcomes – what’s holding you back??

If you’re a wellness practitioner who’s opened your own private practice, there’s a good chance you’re not practicing under the umbrella of conventional medicine. That’s not to say you don’t believe in conventional medicine, but my guess is that you believe in treating your patients holistically. 

And this holistic view is often what holds some practitioners back from the idea of niching down, so I want to hash this out with you. 

When I tell you to pick a niche, aaaaalll the alarm bells might be going off in your head. Maybe you’re thinking: 

“Ronda! The body is a whole, interconnected system. I can’t pick one part or problem to specialize in!”

I get it. Now turn those alarm bells off – we don’t want any cortisol spikes around here, thankyouverymuch!  

Jokes aside, picking a niche is scary, and it’s normal to have some objections. But fears aren’t facts, and today we’re going to tackle those fears and look at the happy facts about niching down.  

What is Niching Down?

In simple terms, a niche is a specialty.  

In conventional medicine, a practitioner with a medical specialty only treats patients who present with symptoms of disease related to their specialty. If the patient has comorbidities, the practitioner refers them to another specialist.  

If this is your view of specialty practice, it’s no wonder you don’t want to pick a niche. But if you run your own business, you can have a niche without sacrificing holistic, person-centered care or turning away patients who present with unrelated problems.  

The truth is, your niche is more about your marketing than it is about how you actually treat patients. When you pick a niche, you’re able to create very specific messaging that speaks to your particular demographic (people with thyroid issues, people with fertility issues, etc…). Butttt you still treat that person from a holistic perspective – addressing their gut health, hormone imbalances, and everything else! 

Think of it like this: Your niche helps you stand out in the online sea of other practitioners. It helps you cut through the noise & position yourself as the expert you are. 

It’s marketing GOLD. 🥇

Myths About Niching Down.

👉 1. Niching down is incompatible with practicing holistic medicine.

Picking a niche is a bonus, not a limitation!  

Having an area of expertise in addition to a general body of knowledge enhances your practice and doesn’t prevent you from evaluating and treating your patients holistically.

👉 2. Niching down limits the variety of patients & conditions you can treat.

Wrong. 

You can still treat any patient within your scope of practice!  

There will be people who are referred to your practice that fall outside of your niche, and that’s FINE! 

The main underlying fear here is that niching down will leave you with fewer patients, but it’s simply not true. MORE people will reach out to you online when they see that you offer *exactly* what they’ve been looking for. 

👉 3. Niching down will cause you to lose other hard-earned knowledge and skills.

Again, nope.  

You’ll be using a broad range of knowledge and skills even if you primarily serve patients within a niche.  

That old adage about what you don’t use you lose? Not necessarily true. To the degree that it’s true, remember: No one uses all of their knowledge every day. That’s fear talking – don’t let it bully you!

👉 4. Niching down will pigeonhole you into one area of practice forever.

Nothing is forever unless you want it to be.  

If I can go from bookkeeper to health practitioner to business coach, you can change your niche – or your entire career! The sky’s the limit – and guess what, I’ll be here to support you if and when you decide to make those big changes!

👉 5. Niching down means you’ll have a lower patient volume.

Imagine for a moment you’re lost at sea with no food and no way to fish, aside from some material you can craft into a net. You can create a large net with a loose weave, or you can create a smaller net with a tight weave. The large net has a greater surface area, so you might think it will catch more fish. After all, it has the potential to reach all those fish! But the reality is, a large net with a loose weave won’t capture nearly as many fish. The smaller net won’t reach as many fish, but any fish it reaches, it will capture. Having a niche is a lot like having a tight-weave net.  

The Point? 

There are more than enough patients in any niche who will benefit from your services. The issue isn’t availability, it’s capture.  

Why Niching Down Makes Complete Sense.

Okay, now that we’ve tackled some common fears related to niching down, let’s get to those happy facts I promised.  

👉 1. Niching down makes you a better clinician.

You’re not a bad clinician if you don’t have a niche, but when you do have a niche, you are showing off an area of expertise you wouldn’t otherwise have. The field of medicine is huge, and it’s impossible to stay on top of every advance as a general practitioner.  

When you niche down, you’re able to provide the most up-to-date care in your field. Having a niche doesn’t make your practice smaller, it makes your knowledge base larger.

👉 2. Patients need experts.

Sometimes the best general medicine doesn’t cut it.  

For those difficult-to-diagnose and difficult-to-treat patients, a clinician with expert knowledge can be the difference between life and death.

👉 3. Patients are looking for experts.

Patients don’t just need experts, they *want* them.  

And wouldn’t you? Think of a health condition that affects you or a loved one. Who do you want to treat that condition? A general practitioner or a specialist?  

When your website positions you as a “holistic health practitioner” focusing on “diet & lifestyle” you’re not the expert they’re looking for. In fact, you become just like the dozens of other practitioners they’ve seen online that say the same darn thing. 

👉 4. Patients will pay more for experts.

Really, this is a stand-alone statement. People pay more for expert treatment. Period. 

If you’ve ever needed expert care, you know just how true this is. If not, call around.  Find out how much an appointment costs with various specialty practitioners. What you find might surprise you.

👉 5. Niching down drives organic traffic to your website & business.

When people have a health issue, the first place they turn is usually the Internet (ring, ring, Dr. Google, is that you?). And guess what, they don’t usually search for a doctor. They usually search for their symptoms or a suspected condition. When you have a niche, your website will be chock-full of the focused content they’re searching for, and Google will deliver them right to your virtual doorstep. 

Not only will you be at the top of local Google searches, but with enough focused SEO content, you’ll appear at the top of national searches. Want to offer a course or sell supplements?  

Picking a niche is a golden opportunity for growing your business and generating passive income.  

👉 6. Niching down helps you become a recognized authority in your field.  

It’s not easy to make a name for yourself as a general wellness practitioner.  

When you niche down and start building up your website with specialized content, you become a recognized authority online and beyond.

👉 7. And last but not least, niching down is marketing GOLD.

Fed up with increasingly extreme social media antics just trying to get your business noticed? You can put those days behind you when you pick a niche.  

Science tells us that learning occurs when the material is personally relevant and emotionally engaging. If you want your business and your marketing to be remembered, make it personal. In other words, PICK A NICHE! 

Identify your ideal client. Identify their pain points. Provide solutions. Show compassion. Imagine you’re talking to one person, and you will reach more people than if you tried to reach them all. 

And, if you haven’t already, head on over to my latest podcast and listen to me talk about hollering into a crowded room and the tricks you can use to make any audience tune in.

Questions About Niching Down & Support? 

You don’t have to make this journey alone, friend!

As a long-time clinician & business owner, I help practitioners get transformative results for their patients while building highly-profitable practices for themselves.

The best part? 

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No fluff, no jargon – just a business-savvy practitioner who wants to see you succeed! 🥳️

Better care for your patients.

Better profits for you.