Every practitioner I work with hits the same wall. They've got the credential, they've got the knowledge, they've got genuine passion for helping people — and their business is going nowhere. They're posting on social media, building a website, maybe even running a Facebook group. And none of it is landing.
The reason is almost always the same: they're talking to everyone, which means they're talking to no one.
I had a conversation recently with a practitioner in one of our mastermind calls that crystallized something I've been teaching for years — but it hit different this time. She had a compelling brand, a genuinely cool vibe, and a real gift for connecting with people. But her content was scattered. She was documenting her life, posting about her journey, sharing this and that. And none of it was aimed at anyone specific.
So I told her: you've got the sun. What you need is the magnifying glass.
This article is adapted from the video above. Watch for the full conversation, or read on for the structured version.
You've Got to Concentrate the Sun
Here's the metaphor I use, and I'll own the fact that it's a little ridiculous. But it works.
Right now, you're the sun. You're bright, warm, and you're radiating energy in every direction. That's great — except every ant on the ground is just experiencing a pleasant sunny day. Nobody notices you. Nobody stops what they're doing. Nobody looks up.
But the moment you take a magnifying glass and concentrate all of that energy on one specific point? Now you've got heat. Now you've got attention. Now somebody goes, "Who is that?"
You've got to concentrate the power of the sun so that we can start burning up ants.
I know. It's not the most elegant analogy. But here's the point: your gifts, your knowledge, your passion — they're diffuse right now. When you try to speak to every woman between 30 and 60, or every person interested in wellness, or every human who eats food, you end up speaking to no one. Your message becomes wallpaper. People scroll right past it.
The magnifying glass is your niche. It's knowing exactly who you serve, what they're frustrated by, and what they need to hear today.
Name Your Person
This is where most practitioners push back. "But I don't want to limit myself." I get it. But here's the thing — you're not limiting yourself. You're making yourself findable.
The exercise I walk people through is simple: name your avatar. Not a demographic profile. An actual human being you know.
When I ran my gym in DC, our avatars were Kelly and Brian Clark. Real people. Seven-year members. Both worked out at the gym, their kids were in our swim school, they lived in Capitol Hill, and they eventually had a third kid and moved out of the city. That's our sweet spot. Give me every Kelly and Brian in the world.
And I know everything about them. Brian wants to play basketball with his son without his knees giving out. He wants to coach baseball. He wants to be alive for his grandkids. His back hurts. If you put him next to a 20-year-old, he's going to try to keep up because that's who he is.
Kelly had two kids, still feels young at heart, but the hormonal shifts are starting. She can't lose weight the way she used to. She hasn't had a real workout routine since she became a mom. She's trying to fill up her cup, get her confidence back, and she's a little intimidated walking into a gym.
Now here's what changes when you know them that well: Kelly walks into the gym, and I'm saying, "Hey Kelly, come on in over here, don't mind those people." I'm making her feel comfortable. Brian walks in and it's, "Hey, what's going on? I know you're busy. Let's get right into it. What hurts?" Two different people. Two different frustrations. Two completely different conversations. And both of them feel seen — because I built my business around understanding them.
The Frustrations Are the Fuel
Once you've named your person, the next step is exhaustively defining their frustrations. Not generally. Specifically.
I was scrolling TikTok recently and a woman said: "I help professional women drink 80% less alcohol in 30 days or less so they don't have to give up drinking completely."
That's how specific you need to be. She's not talking to "people who drink too much." She's talking to professional women who know their drinking is a problem, who've thought about quitting, but who don't want to be the person at the dinner party always turning down the glass of wine. That's a real frustration, felt by a real person, and when that person hears it, she thinks: that's me.
And here's what's interesting — a professional man with a drinking problem is a completely different person. He's probably drinking whiskey alone in the office after everyone goes home because the day was brutal. Different context, different emotional state, different message. You can't serve both of them with the same content.
Your business cannot serve everyone. It serves nobody until you decide who it serves.
Age matters. Life stage matters. A 35-year-old new mom whose career is crushing her nervous system needs fundamentally different support than a 55-year-old empty nester who gave everything to her family and now wants to reclaim her own health. Both are women. Both need help. But the message that stops one in her scroll will sail right past the other.
Four-Year-Olds Don't Like Moby Dick
There's another way I think about this. You've got to read the right book to the right audience.
Four-year-olds don't like Moby Dick. It's tragic, but they like Little Blue Truck. I didn't write the rules — I'm just reporting the facts.
Your content is the same way. You might have the most profound, life-changing insight in the world. But if you're delivering it to the wrong audience, or delivering it in a way that doesn't connect with their specific situation, it doesn't matter. You've got to tell the right story to the right person.
So the question isn't just "what do I post?" It's: what story am I telling, and who am I telling it to?
Create Every Day in Service of One Person
Once you know your avatar — once you can name them, describe their frustrations, picture their bad Tuesday — the content strategy becomes simple. Not easy, but simple.
Every day you wake up and you think about your person. How are they having a bad day? What's weighing on them right now? What can you create today that's going to lift them up?
You exist to help somebody. Make your content focused on who it is that you help. And be relentless in your pursuit of delivering content to that person.
This isn't about you. It's not about documenting your lifestyle, showing off your credentials, or going viral. Every post, every video, every story should answer one question: how can I serve the person I'm here to help?
Here's what a focused post looks like: "Are you a 50-year-old woman whose kids just went to college, and you're left trying to figure out how to reclaim your health? Here are the four most important things you can do today to start filling up your cup."
That's it. Specific person. Specific frustration. Specific value. And tomorrow, you do it again. And the next day. And the next.
Do that for a hundred days and your life will not be the same. You'll get more confidence in creating content. You'll grow a following. You'll connect with someone who needs exactly what you offer. You'll learn more about yourself, more about who you want to serve, and more about what you're actually trying to say.
Start Narrow, Grow Outward
I know the fear. If I go this narrow, I'll run out of people. I'll box myself in. I'll miss opportunities.
Here's how it actually works. We started Holistic Consulting because people were graduating from Purdue Global with no clear vision of how to get their BCHN® and no idea how to start a practice. That was me. That's about as niche as it gets. When we tried running Facebook ads, the target audience was basically five people.
But then someone from the NTA found out about us. Then someone from NTI. Then PCC, then other colleges, then health coaches who weren't from any of those programs. It grows — because you started by talking to somebody. One specific somebody.
You don't build an audience by casting a wide net. You build an audience by being so specifically useful to one type of person that they tell every other person like them.
The Business Is a Reflection of You
One thing I want to be clear about: this isn't just a marketing tactic. Your business is a reflection of who you are. There's no separation between the way you show up on a coaching call, the way you post on social media, and the way you talk to your family over dinner.
It's all connection. Business is just the excuse we use to talk about people's lives. A nutrition call is the excuse to talk about what's holding someone back from becoming a better version of themselves. Dinner is the excuse to connect with your family.
When you figure out who you serve and what story you're telling, you're not just building a marketing strategy. You're clarifying your mission. And when your mission is clear, everything else — the content, the offers, the conversations — falls into line.
So here's what I'd ask you: Who does your business exist to serve? Can you name them? Can you describe their worst Tuesday? Can you list their frustrations until you run out of breath?
If you can't, that's where the work starts. Not on your website. Not on your content calendar. Not on your logo or your color palette. On your avatar. Everything else follows.
Get focused. Name your person. And be relentless.