Why most freelance language professionals get niche wrong.
A job title isn’t a niche
Most freelance language professionals think their niche is sorted…when it really isn’t.
Often, they’ve chosen who they work with, sometimes they’ve named a problem….
But that’s only the beginning.
A job title isn’t a niche.
Neither is “confidence.”
When I ask what actually changes for their clients – what’s different afterwards – things tend to get vague.
They don’t want to over-promise. That’s totally fair enough. But it’s also a way of avoiding planting your flag in the ground.
What do you actually stand for? What do you believe about what works or doesn’t work? What do you know is really effective about the way you work with clients, and the experience you create?
If you describe your work at surface level, it gets valued at surface level.
You end up talking about how many sessions you offer, or what materials you use.
Instead of what really changes things for your clients.
And what really shifts often has very little to do with grammar or even vocabulary.
When a professional struggles to express themselves clearly in English, they don’t just feel less fluent.
They can feel smaller.
Less authoritative.
Like a child in a room full of adults.
I’ve worked with enough language professionals to know that what you’re really doing isn’t “helping someone practise speaking.”
You’re helping them show up as themselves in rooms that matter.
That’s a different level of impact.
But if you can’t clearly explain that depth – and show how you create that shift – you won’t be able to charge in line with it.
Because people can only value what they understand
What a real niche actually requires
When I talk about niche, I’m not just talking about who you work with.
A real niche requires four things.
First, clarity on who this is really for – not just a broad category, like IT professionals, but a specific group with something in common.
Second, a point of view.
What you believe is really happening for them. Why the obvious solutions haven’t worked.
Third, an understanding of their lived experience – what it actually feels like to be in their position.
And finally, a deliberate way of creating change. Not just “we meet once a week,” but a clear sense of how and why your approach works.
Most people only define the first part.
The rest is where your authority sits.
Build a business that reflects the depth of your work.
If you’ve ever said, “My niche is sorted,” but you still find yourself struggling to explain why your work really matters, designing offers that feel slightly generic, or hesitating when it comes to pricing…
Then your niche probably isn’t finished yet.
It’s still at the surface.
And surface clarity leads to surface value.
That’s the gap I help you close.
Inside Designed to Flourish, this is where we start.
We refine your niche properly – beyond the superficial label.
We design offers that reflect the real transformation you create.
From there, we build everything else on that foundation.
We shape your messaging so it resonates.
We develop marketing that feels thoughtful rather than frantic.
We make sure the whole business fits together.
Niche isn’t the whole business.
But without depth there, everything else feels harder than it needs to be.
If you’d like to explore how Designed to Flourish works, you can find the details here.