STRATEGY
Picking a niche without overthinking it
Niche selection tends to get treated like a permanent, high-stakes decision. In practice, most agency owners change or narrow their niche at least once in the first year or two, once they see what actually converts and what they enjoy delivering.
Given that, the better goal early on isn't picking the "perfect" niche. It's picking a reasonable starting point and letting real client conversations tell you where to go next.
Start with what you can evaluate quickly
Local service businesses (contractors, clinics, salons, law firms, and similar) are a common starting point for a reason: their websites and online presence are easy to evaluate from the outside in a few minutes, and their problems tend to be visible — a broken contact flow, no way to book online, outdated basic information.
That visibility matters early on, because it makes your pitch concrete instead of abstract. "I noticed X" is a much easier conversation starter than "I think I could probably help you somehow."
Let repetition guide the narrowing
After a handful of client conversations, you'll usually notice the same one or two problems coming up repeatedly within a specific type of business. That pattern, not a spreadsheet exercise, is usually the strongest signal for where to specialize.