Practice Building refers to the set of strategies you use to attract clients and build a strong psychotherapy practice
. Finding your niche is one aspect of targeting that some therapists have difficulties with.
When I work with therapists to help them find their niche, there are a few recommendations I give them- and I believe these will be helpful for you, too.
Remember, niching is important, but you can always adjust your niche as you get more information and discover more of your own strengths and talents.
You are not married to this niche.
It is easy to think that picking a niche is a huge decision on par with picking a mate. Truth? You can change your niche whenever you find it isn't serving you. Many therapists, coaches and healers will change their niche several times. Make sure you give yourself some time with it if you love it, but if you find it isn't working for you, don't be afraid to move on.
Fail quickly and let go.
Some of the fear around picking a niche is that it might not work out - and thus be considered a 'failure'. Any good business person will tell you that failing is a part of the process. Remember Col. Sanders? I've heard that he was turned down over 1,000 times before someone offered to have his chicken in their restaurant. Failure is a part of good business.
While I admire Col. Sanders for sticking with his passion - and what turned out to be a mutli-million dollar business - you simply don't have to these days if you don't want to. And in the online world with multiple streams of therapy income, it is easy to quickly test a market before spending many hours creating products. You can fail quickly and inexpensively while moving on to the next best thing for you.
You have to thoroughly enjoy your niche.
This is pretty much non-negotiable. You can't market to a niche you don't enjoy. That might seem like a no-brainer but I have seen private practitioners pick niches that seemed lucrative only to be unsuccessful. Pick what excites you. Choose people that you really enjoy. Find the message that you are called to share.