I need your help to serve you better. Answer these two questions to help me serve you better.
This will take a minute.
Most people screw up niching because they're playing darts in the dark.
They either choose a market that is too broad, leading to overwhelming competition, or they focus so narrowly that they end up selling ice to Eskimos.
Both suck.
Both kill your business before it starts.
I've spent seven years watching founders agonize over this. The question is always the same: "How narrow is too narrow?" And the advice is always useless: "Just pick something specific!"
Great. Thanks. Very helpful.
So I built something better. I call it the Niche Ladder.
It's dead simple. You create a list of at least five potential course or content topics, with each one being a narrower version of the previous topic. Start broad, then climb down the ladder until you hit the sweet spot.
Here's how it works:
Start with something massive. "How to package your expertise."
Then narrow: "How to package your consulting services."
Then again: "How to package your strategy consulting."
Keep going: "How to package your strategy consulting as a group program."
Then: "How to package your strategy consulting as a 90-day group program."
Finally: "How to package your strategy consulting as a 90-day group program for service businesses."
You keep climbing down until it feels absurd.
Then you step back up one or two rungs. That's your answer.
In this example, "service businesses" is too specific. But "strategy consulting as a 90-day group program" is perfect. Anyone trying to do that exact thing will buy immediately.
It's not a maybe. It's a hell yes.
The magic is in the comparison. When you see "package your expertise" next to "strategy consulting as a 90-day group program," the difference is obvious. One is noise. The other is a magnet.
Most people stop here. But here's where it gets interesting.
Once you've picked your rung, you can move horizontally. Instead of narrowing further, you swap one element. This is how you build a suite without diluting your specificity.
If your core is "strategy consulting as a 90-day group program," you can change "strategy" to create new products:
"marketing consulting as a 90-day group program"
"operations consulting as a 90-day group program."
Or swap "90-day" for "6-month."
Or change "group program" to "1-on-1 intensive."
After this you're not guessing anymore, you've found the pattern.
This is the difference between throwing spaghetti at the wall and architecting a product line. You know exactly how narrow to go, and you know how to expand without losing focus.
The Niche Ladder works because it forces you to see the spectrum. You can't pick the right level if you've only considered one option. But when you've mapped all five to ten rungs, the answer becomes painfully clear.
Reply and tell me: what's the broadest version of your niche? I want to see your ladder.
— Shashank
P.S.
If you're stuck at "too broad" or "too weird," you're not alone. But you're also not done. The ladder only works if you actually climb it. Build the full list.
The perfect rung is sitting there waiting for you to find it.