Ask Nicole: How Do You Find Consulting Clients?
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If you’re interested in working for yourself, having a side hustle while being employed, or you’re already responsible for landing clients for your employer, getting clear about who you want to work with is important.
In the beginning, I had an idea of the types of clients I wanted to work with, but I also took on clients who didn’t fit my “ideal client” because I wanted to build my expertise and confidence. I also tried to figure out how to market myself. I started with emailing and posting on social media to my friends, letting them know that I was seeking new clients.
Along with letting friends know I was opened for business, I also tried to figure out the whole marketing thing. It’s been an ongoing process, and I found myself being resistant to what I see many people do: send multiple emails about service and product launches, create paid social media posts, and host webinars that are marketed as free but serve as product pitches.
But that’s not the focus of this month’s Ask Nicole question. This month, I wanted to share my thoughts on how I find clients. Or rather, how clients find me.
The short answer: Relationship building
The long answer: My clients come from a variety of places, with the majority being through some kind of interaction or relationship. For clients who have come to me through referral, the people that referred them to me were people I highly respect or people who I may not know but they have some kind of connection to me (i.e. social media, my blog, or my newsletter, etc.) For clients that I already had an interaction or relationship with, they met me at an event (my workshops, a panel I sat on, a conference, etc.) And I have yet to pay for a sponsored post or blast my newsletter subscribers with promotional emails (yet).
Here’s what I know to be true for finding clients:
1) You never know where your next client will come from, 2) Clients may not be ready to work with you when you make an initial contact, but when they’re ready they will come back, and 3) It’s more fun when you allow clients to come to you instead of chasing after them.