I went traveling… and came home to zero clients.
Yep - zero. Nada. Not even a small project.
Because I had been busy traveling through Thailand, I hadn't put any time or effort into promoting my services and booking clients for when I returned to the UK.
I just hoped clients would find me.
I hoped people would refer clients to me.
Boy oh boy was THAT a mistake.
Fear and panic quickly set in.
How I was going to pay my bills if I couldn't get clients fast??
And how was I going to pay for my next travel adventure? (Which I had already booked a flight for!)
Watch the video below or keep reading to learn four things I did to go from zero clients to fully booked for six months!
What changed?
All businesses go through a slow stage. Some small business owners kick their butt into marketing mode and quickly get out of it, and some stay in the slow zone and end up going back to a day job.
I didn't want to be the latter, so I did four things.
01. I shifted my mindset
I had to ask myself:
Why do you expect to book clients consistently if you don’t market consistently?
Think of it like going to the gym. Would you expect a six pack after going to the gym once then not going for another three months? Of course not!
The same principle applies to marketing your services.
The next mindset shift I had to make?
I had to realize that selling is not sleazy.
If you tell yourself it is, it will cause you to resist selling. Which will keep you stuck with no clients or sales.
Really, selling is serving. If you can sell with confidence, you can serve the clients who need your skills the most!
Don’t be afraid to talk about your services online and promote yourself. Because guess what? No one else is going to do it for you.
I know it can feel icky to “promote” your services and the transformation you can help clients gain. Especially if you’re an introvert like me (INFJ right here!) or you have feelings of low self worth. Selling can feel uncomfortable. But resisting it will only put you out of business. Embrace selling and realize its only sleazy if you make it sleazy.
Also, embrace the idea that no matter how authentic your marketing is, some people still won’t like it.
But who cares?
I get people unsubscribe when I launch new offerings because they don’t like when I sell to them. And I get people who don’t like the way I sell.
But you know what? I also have thousands of people who love the way I sell, love buying from me, and love what they’ve bought.
I don’t feel bad for promoting my offers because if don’t, they won’t get into the hands of the people who need them the most.
If I was too scared or self-conscious to promote, I wouldn’t have been able to help 1000+ online solopreneurs to grow profitable and sustainable businesses that allow them to live freedom-filled lives!
Helping these people is WORTH a handful of people not liking it when I promote to them.
2. I analyzed where my clients came from in the past.
STOP trying new strategies that you don’t know will even work for your biz.
You need reliability right now. So pour your efforts into marketing strategies that have worked for you in the past.
(Side note: If you want to find out where your clients are coming from, add a form field to your contact form that asks!)
3. I used my free time to create content that would build know/like/trust with my audience
But note: I didn’t create How To content.
I had lots of those and some of my potential clients had told me they chose not to hire me because they figured they could do my job themselves simply by following my tutorials.
So I turned off 90% of my tutorials and focused on creating content that taught WHAT my ideal clients needed, WHY they needed it, but not HOW to achieve it.
If YOU create tutorials and how-to content, ask yourself: is my free content sabotaging my sales?
If you have no content at all, that could also be sabotaging your sales.
For someone to hire you, they need to trust you. Build that trust through high value free content!
4. I got in front of other people’s communities
If you have friends in the online space who share the same target audience, why not get in front of them & share your high value content?
The BEST form of content to share to other people’s audiences?
Video.
Many solopreneurs shy away from video but it is the age of video. Businesses who use video thrive WAY more than those who don’t because it quickly builds real connection and trust.
According to Hubspot, 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video.
In an age where there are more and more people starting online businesses in your niche, using video will help you stand out among the noise because most solopreneurs - especially creatives- still don’t use it.
Want to book clients consistently
WITHOUT complicated marketing strategies?
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