NICHE FINDER: Interests & Talen

Nichefinder

start

Create the perfect foundation for your course by defining your unique niche, where your passions and talents meet market needs.

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Course Design 101

Part 1: Interests & Talent

Course Design 101

Throughout this course you will get to:

LET'S BREAK IT DOWN

Identify Your Talent

Explore Your Interests

Define what a niche is

Choose Your Audience

MATERIALS

• Pen & Paper (recommended)
• Digital document

• Your beautiful mind

Think of it as your own corner of the market where what you love meets what others need. Just like there are communities around specific hobbies, a niche is a specific community within a larger group. Check out the next diagram and explore the niche example!

1. WHAT IS A NICHE?

In this mini course, we will explore your interests, talents and the people you'd like to share your wisdom with. First up, let's take a look at your interests.

Course Design 101

Your Interests🤔

YourTalent💡

World Needs 🌎

Your Niche 🎯

2. YOUR INTERESTS

Let's explore what truly interests you! Your passions and curiosities are what drive and inspire you every single day. They're the activities and subjects that energise you, that you can't get enough of.When you are passionate about a particular subject, it will show in the quality and authenticity of your course.

ACTIVITYIn the next activity, you'll explore a series of questions designed to uncover the essentials in your life—those interests you simply can't live without.

Course Design 101

What topics could you read 100 books about?

Once you've answered these questions, you'll likely have a bunch of ideas swirling around. Do you notice any repetitions or themes emerging? Take your top 3 interest forward.

YOUR INTERESTS

It's time to reflect in all of the things that inspire and motivate you. Take some paper and brainstorm all of the responses to the following questions. The more the better!

What’s are some topics you love talking someone you just met?

What do you like to do in your free time?

What hobbies or projects are you passionate about?

Course Design 101

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3. YOUR TALENT

ACTIVITYIn the next activity we are going to take a trip down memory lane and look into all of the skills and knowledge you've developed throughout your career.

Time to tap into what you do best! Your talents encompass all the skills, knowledge, and abilities you've accumulated throughout your life. They're unique to you, shaping your identity and defining your strengths. Remember these talents aren't limited they keep on evolving throughout your professional journey. What are your hidden talents?

Course Design 101

WINS

PASSION PROJECTS

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What achievements are you most proud of and why?

What skills shine bright when working on a side project?

EDUCATION

What topics, in long or short courses, have you genuinely enjoyed?

WORK

In what areas of work do you consistently exceed expectations?

Do you notice any patterns or synergies with your previous interests? Identify your top 3 areas of expertise/skills and carry them forward to the next activity.

Course Design 101

YOUR TALENT

Take the time to answer the following questions and discover the unique insight and perspective you can offer in your course.

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TIPS

Topics

Identify trends

Listen to the community

Spy on your competitors

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WORLD NEEDS

Let's round up all your findings first and then narrow down to your top three niches. Feeling any special confidence or excitement about one in particular?

With at least 3 niches in hand that fit your interests and talents while also holding promise in the market, let's decide which topic you think would be the most suitable and attractive.

Course Design 101

Learning Design 101

Learning Design 101

CONGRATULATIONSON COMPLETING THIS MINI COURSE!

It's time to start researching your chosen niche! Start gathering all that amazing knowledge, thinking about who are your ideal students and understand how they learn.

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Nichefinder

start

Create the perfect foundation for your course by defining your unique niche, where your passions and talents meet market needs.

🔎

Course Design 101

Part 2: World Needs

Course Design 101

Throughout this course you will get to:

LET'S BREAK IT DOWN

4. Analyse Market Trends Use tools to track and understand trends related to your expertise

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5. Create your course mini-pitchReflect on your findings and create your mini-pitch to get started

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Materials:

• Google doc
• Pen & paper (recommended)

Having areas of interest and talents aren't enough to define your niche (I wish they were!). However, by diving into what the world truly needs, you can tailor your educational offering to perfectly suit your future students.Ready to discover how? Let's dive into what the world is yearning for in your top three areas of interest and expertise by following the next steps.

4. WORLD NEEDS

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Identify trends

Listen to the community

Spy on your competitors

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ACTIVITYNow that you've scoped out the trends based on your interest and talents, tuned in to the community, and checked what your competitors are up to, it's time to lay it all out on the next table.

Course Design 101

TIPS

Topics

Identify trends

Listen to the community

Spy on your competitors

💡

💡

💡

WORLD NEEDS

Let's round up all your findings first and then narrow down to your top three niches. Feeling any special confidence or excitement about one in particular?

With at least 3 niches in hand that fit your interests and talents while also holding promise in the market, let's decide which topic you think would be the most suitable and attractive.

Course Design 101

Now you have pointed out your interests, identified your skills and dived into market research, it's time to condense your chosen niche in your mini pitch.Fill in this formula with your niche and audience, their potential gains, and your approach to helping them. This will serve as guiding light as you start designing you course.

5. MINI PITCH

Course Design 101

I help [Audience] in the [Niche] space to accomplish [result/benefit] through [my methodology].

Your mini-pitch is now ready to be shared with the world. Nice work!

E.g. I help creative professionals in the arts and design space create meaningful learning experiences through innovative, hands-on workshops and personalized mentorship

👂 Listen to the community

Start by engaging with communities on platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook groups or niche-specific forums.Participate in discussions to understand the community's common questions and main challenges. By creating your course you are helping your students resolve a problem, listening will give you the key to the issues they are facing.Use Typeform or SurveyMonkey to design a short survey that gathers detailed feedback about your niche's community challenges.You could also use your Instagram or LinkedIn to create a poll and kickstart the conversation.

😎 Spy on your competitors

Analyzing your competitors helps you understand the market landscape and identify gaps that you can fill. By studying the successes of existing learning products, you can tailor your offerings to better solve your students problems. Follow the next steps to get started:

• List key players who offer courses in your niche. You can find them in learning platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, Domestika or Coursera.

• Review why their work. Look into the course content, delivery methods, pricing, and customer feedback. These clues are key!

• Identify patterns in the students positive and negative feedback—this information will help you design a course that addresses unmet needs and offers unique value compared to what's already available.

🤖 AI prompt

Act like you're an instructional designer . You are developing a new online [course/workshop] about [topic] for [target audience]. I need to create a survey that discovers the key pain points of aspiring [target audience]. Can you help me write five specific, engaging questions that will reveal their main challenges, preferences, and learning needs related to [topic]?

🤖 AI prompt

Act like a market researcher. You are looking to pinpoint the most current and influential trends in [topic] to shape the development of your new course effectively. Could you provide five key trends within this area that are shaping the industry? Additionally, could you suggest compelling titles for this course, designed to maximize engagement and boost sales?

🔎 Analyze your skills and strengths: Identify which of your skills you enjoy using most. E.g. communication, leadership, research etc.💬 Seek feedback: Reach out to a friend, colleague, or family member and ask them what they typically seek your advice on.

More ways to find insights

🔎 Identify trends

Checking out search trends can help you spot which topics are gaining interest, helping you pick a winning niche for your educational offering. Pop the different keywords of your top 3 interests and expertise into Google Trends and take a note of which topics appear to be most popular.Need more guidance? Check out this video introduction to Google Trends:

🤖 AI prompt

Act like you're an instructional designer . You are developing a new online [course/workshop] about [topic] for [target audience]. I need to create a survey that discovers the key pain points of aspiring [target audience]. Can you help me write five specific, engaging questions that will reveal their main challenges, preferences, and learning needs related to [topic]?

👧🏾 Reflect on your childhood: Consider what activities you gravitated towards ask a kid.🤓 Explore what excites you in learning: Notice the topics you're consistently eager to learn more about.🚩 Identify problems you enjoy solving: Think about the challenges you like addressing—these could form the basis of your course.

More ways to find insights

🤖 AI prompt

Act like a market researcher. You are looking to pinpoint the most current and influential trends in [topic] to shape the development of your new course effectively. Could you provide five key trends within this area that are shaping the industry? Additionally, could you suggest compelling titles for this course, designed to maximize engagement and boost sales?

2. Explore Your Interests Identify what drives you through self-reflection questions

1. Understand the definition of niche Discover what a niche is and why is it important for your course design

3. Identify Your Talent List your skills and knowledge from various experiences in your life

Why are niches so important?

• Set a direction for your course
• Define your content and make it relevant
• Establish a loyal customer fan base

• Vintage DIY home decor for beginners

Niche example

DYI

Organising

Feng Shui

Art direction

Creativity

Vintage decor

Fashion

Sales

Vintage Upcycling

Interior design

Styling

Decor ideas

🤖 AI prompt

Act like a market researcher. You are looking to pinpoint the most current and influential trends in [topic] to shape the development of your new course effectively. Could you provide five key trends within this area that are shaping the industry? Additionally, could you suggest compelling titles for this course, designed to maximize engagement and boost sales?