Your Teaching Niche and Market Visibility
How-to books come in many flavors.
They are usually written for a general audience so people can customize what they learn to any situation. There are also how-to books written for specific audiences. Today, I want to share a book written specifically for freelance teachers.
Freelance teacher and coach Janine Bray-Mueller wrote The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Niches. She wrote it for freelance teachers juggling everything from course creation to marketing to student acquisition.
Let's pause for a moment and consider student acquisition. Bray-Mueller says teachers aren't good at it. They aren't good at it because there is a difference between being in “teacher mode” solving problems for students and being in student acquisition mode. Talking about information and solutions does little to convince someone to pick you as a teacher. Prospective students want to know that you see their problem. Bray-Mueller says it is seeing people's problems that will get you visibility.
In Teaching Niches, Bray-Mueller shows freelance teachers how to improve market visibility and write about their teaching packages in a way that clearly states the value students can expect from them. She carefully walks teachers through the process so they can avoid self-sabotage during the student acquisition process.
Bray-Mueller addresses topics that will make you think about your decisions and how you engage with the people you serve. Her book is full of questions, prompts, and examples. Some of the topics she helps teachers navigate are:
Make price unimportant.
Position yourself as an expert.
Personals are for imaginary people. Student profiles are for the people you lead.
I will add another topic here. Bray-Mueller says freelance teachers continue to ask the wrong question. Instead of asking, “Where are the students?” they should ask, “Where are the teachers?” because teachers could do a better job at being found.
Throughout her book, Bray-Mueller reinforces the value of showing up and shows freelance teachers how to make themselves more visible.
The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Niches is available at my shop on Bookshop.org or a bookseller near you.
