Talking to your clients about specialisation for years and overlooking the need for it in yourself – that is possible – I have experienced it. A somewhat embarrassing story on my own account.
When I started my own business as a career coach in 2008, my coaching offer was very broad. Thinking that I could deal with any topic in coaching, I made practically no restrictions; this also out of fear of not getting enough assignments if I restricted myself. I always wanted to have something in demand in every market situation. In the years that followed, I even broadened my range and offered seminars. For each seminar, I had to familiarise myself with new topics such as conflict management, leadership or time management & work techniques. I even considered offering team coaching.
At the same time, I made my clients aware of how important it was to specialise in a meaningful way. To illustrate this, I always asked them which surgeon they would go to for a complicated knee operation – the general surgeon or the knee specialist.
Specialisation produces competence
The effort to keep my knowledge up to date in all these fields was enormous. In addition, I was always nervous because I was new to various fields and could build too little on my own experience.
The effort for the seminars finally became too much for me and I gave up this offer after a few years. In the process, I realised what a blessing specialisation was. I could concentrate on the areas I really enjoyed. As I had more similar assignments, I was able to focus on further training and I developed quickly as a result. Since then, I have cut more offers: Conflict Coaching, Time Management & Work Technique Coaching and Burnout. For all these topics there are specialised providers on the market who do it better than I do.
Specialisation does not mean simplicity
Today, I specialise in the areas in which I know my way around and in which I have been working successfully and with pleasure for years: Personal and professional assessment, application coaching, job interview training and outplacement. In addition, I offer coaching on topics that have a lot in common with the aforementioned offers: Communication, strengthening self-confidence, positioning and self-marketing, and emotion management. Specialisation still allows for a certain breadth in the range of topics that complement each other. The reward for specialisation is greater enjoyment of the work, more assignments, more development and more free time!
And what else have I learned through this experience? Humility and the realisation that fear is a bad advisor.