The A-Plus Niche Test
Score a niche against four conditions that support demand and growth.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
The A-Plus Niche Test treats niche selection as a four-part scorecard rather than an intuitive branding exercise. A niche earns 25% for each condition it satisfies: an urgent and painful problem, an audience that is easy to find online, customers who are willing and able to pay, and a market with continued growth. The mechanism connects customer pressure, distribution, economics, and market direction. A four-out-of-four niche has strong conditions for acquiring customers and supporting a premium offer; a three-out-of-four niche may still work but carries a clear weakness. The test does not guarantee success, but it exposes avoidable structural problems before substantial time and money are invested.
Origin
Extracted from The Jasmine Star Show, where Jasmine Star presents niche validation as a four-part grading system and applies it to a productivity-coaching example.
Core principles
- 01Solve a problem people urgently want removed.
- 02Choose an audience you can reliably locate and reach.
- 03Confirm customers are both willing and able to pay.
- 04Build in a market with durable or increasing demand.
- 05Treat each criterion as 25% of the niche's validation score.
How to run it
- 1
Find an urgent, painful problem
Identify a problem the audience already feels compelled to solve. Look for immediate pressure, lost time, blocked progress, financial consequences, or emotional strain rather than a merely desirable improvement.
Pro tip Describe the problem using the words customers use when explaining what keeps them stuck.
Watch out Do not invent a problem and then try to persuade people that they should care about it.
- 2
Verify the audience is easy to find
Name the exact communities, platforms, creators, groups, forums, or search behaviours that reveal the audience. Confirm that people there actively discuss the relevant problem.
Pro tip Look for questions, comments, recommendations, and repeated complaints as evidence of active demand.
Watch out A demographic label alone does not prove that the audience is reachable.
- 3
Confirm purchasing power
Determine whether the audience can comfortably afford the intended price and whether they already value paid solutions. Consider both financial ability and demonstrated willingness to invest.
Pro tip Study adjacent purchases such as coaching, software, courses, memberships, or professional services.
Watch out Ability to pay does not automatically mean willingness to pay.
- 4
Check market growth
Assess whether interest, participation, spending, and long-term relevance are expanding or at least durable. Avoid building around platforms or behaviours already fading from use.
Pro tip Distinguish a temporary spike in attention from a sustained change in customer behaviour.
Watch out Do not mistake personal enthusiasm for evidence that a market is growing.
- 5
Score and strengthen the niche
Award 25% for every condition supported by evidence. Keep a four-out-of-four niche or investigate how to repair any missing condition before making a major commitment.
Pro tip Write down the evidence behind each yes rather than scoring from instinct alone.
Watch out A high score validates market conditions, not the quality of the eventual offer or execution.
In the wild
A coach narrows productivity services to female YouTubers, bloggers, and online educators experiencing creative burnout. The audience is visible across creator platforms and communities, already invests in tools and coaching, participates in a growing creator economy, and urgently wants relief from unfinished projects, family demands, and content pressure.
→ The broad productivity proposition becomes a specific, discoverable offer tied to an urgent outcome: reclaiming energy and finishing meaningful work.
A meal-planning business targets busy mothers who repeatedly struggle to decide what to cook. Parenting groups, healthy-eating communities, and relevant influencer audiences make them identifiable online. The founder would still need to verify urgency, purchasing behaviour, and market growth before awarding a full score.
→ The idea gains a clear acquisition path while exposing the remaining validation questions.
Common mistakes
Solving a problem customers do not feel
A founder may value branding, organization, or education while customers are urgently worried about getting clients or completing work. The niche should address the pressure customers already recognize.
Using a market as a niche
Labels such as small-business owners or working mothers include people with substantially different goals and operating realities. Broad categories make precise messaging difficult.
Ignoring willingness to pay
An audience may have sufficient income but still avoid investing because it does not perceive the solution as valuable or urgent.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for entrepreneurs evaluating a new niche, offer, coaching practice, membership, or digital product.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for projects intentionally built as hobbies, public services, or noncommercial creative work.
From the transcript
“First up, your niche needs to solve an urgent, painful problem.”
“So we're looking for an audience that's easy to identify and reach.”
“If you're getting yes, yes, yes, yes across the board, then friend, you are on to something good.”
From the episode
Stop Struggling: How to Choose a Niche That Sells