I wanna talk to you about finding clients because honestly, without clients, we don’t have a business.
Am I right?
I know that I talk to freelancers all over the world… it’s the number one need that freelancers have. I mean, it is by far the strongest need that we have in our business is finding great clients and, and finding great clients is a bit of an art. And I’m going to show you today some lessons that I actually learned from my grandfathers that they taught me that actually helps me know how to find great clients for my business.
Now, neither one of my grandfathers were business owners. Well, I had one grandfather who was a farmer, which actually is a business owner, but not in the traditional sense of a business owner. My other grandfather was a letter carrier for the postal service. But one of the things that they had in common was they both liked to fish. And I remember fond memories as a child going with both grandfathers and fishing.
My one grandfather would have a pond on his property, and me and my cousins would go there and we would fish and have a great time. And my other grandfather, who was really in a a fishing aficionado, I remember trips going with him to trout streams and to ponds and lakes and rivers, and joined time with him while fishing. And guys,
I’ve gotta be honest with you that fishing really has nothing to do with finding clients. But there are some lessons that I have taken from the things that I have learned while trying to fish and trying to fish is not unlike finding clients. You have to be smart about it, and you have to have some things put in place in your business to be successful.
Fishing Tip #1: You Have To Go Where The Fish Live
So the first thing I wanna share with you, step number one, is you have to go where the fish are. See, finding clients is about like finding fish. They’re rarely just going to come to you. In fact, if you’re sitting on your couch, there’s about 0% chance that you’re ever going to catch a fish. The fish actually live in water.
They don’t breathe there. And so you kind of have to go to them. You have to know where they live. You have to go find a body of water where you know there are some fish swimming around. Now, I would recommend as a business owner that you start to take notice of where are those ponds, streams, lakes, rivers, where your clients are hanging out.
I can guarantee you there are some places where they’re probably not hanging out, and your website’s probably one of them. Your clients are not hanging out around your website, checking out what you’re doing. They’re busy, they’re running their own businesses, they have things going on. So as a business owner who’s freelancing, like someone who’s trying to catch a fish, you actually have to go and find out where are those locations where those clients or fish are hanging out so that you’re strategically placing yourself in a place where you’re going to have the highest percentage of opportunity and chance for catching a fish or a client. So that’s step number one. Go where the clients are, find their locations where they’re hanging out and go there.
Fishing Tip #2: You Have To Have The Right Tools and Equipment
Step number two, you need the right equipment to catch a fish. You know, I have seen some people catch fish barehanded, but to be honest with you, it’s kind of impossible. You’re gonna need some essential tools, a rod, and probably some line on that rod and some tackle, maybe some lures, a boat, maybe. You know, there’s gonna be some essential equipment that you’re gonna have to have to go fishing. Now you need to make sure that when you’re looking for your clients, that you have the right tools that you need to have to be able to, to catch your fish.
And I will also say this, if you’re interested in catching a 10 pound large mouth bass, then you probably need something a little heavier than your kiddy pole. 🙂 That 10 pound large mouth bass is gonna put up a little bit of a fight.
So you need to make sure that you have the right tools to be able to engage with and pull that big fish in. So what am I talking about in terms of what tools do you need to have? Well, you probably need a website. You’re probably gonna need some social channels.
You, you might need a blog, you might need an Email List. You might need maybe a podcast or maybe a workshop. Those are all things that you can use, and you don’t have to have all of them, but you at least need to know what tools are your clients going to respond to best and start working in that direction. So until you have your tools and you’re sitting by the body of water, you really aren’t ready to catch fish yet.
Fishing Tip #3: You Need To Put The Right Bait In The Water
But if you have found a place where your clients are hanging out and you’ve got some tools created that you can use to start attracting them, then you’re really close, my friend, because step number three is you need to know the right bait. Now, I have sat on the bank of many rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds, and I’ve had all the equipment with me there at the location, and I know the fish are in the pond, but my friend, until you put a lure on the hook and drop that line in the water so that those fish can see it and create a little bit of desire in the fish’s mind, they’re not going to come find you.
So step number three is you have to have the right bait. As a freelancer, you need to know what your customer’s pain points are. What are their struggles? What are they trying to achieve? What are their goals? What are they looking for? You know, phish are pretty dumb. Usually they spend most of their day looking for food. They’re hungry.
So when you put a tasty morsel on a hook, what are you doing? You are giving them something that that fish wants or needs. You’re putting it in front of them and you’re making it very hard for them to resist. Now, there is some technique that goes in with trying to get the fish on the hook, but until you get the hook in the water with the bait and you start putting it in front of the fish, that’s the only time you actually have a chance of getting your client. So if you’re a freelancer, you need to make sure that you are using the right bait. What tools are you using and what pain points are you addressing? And that bait is your messaging. What are you saying in your website, your blog, your Email List, your podcast, your workshop? What are the things that you’re saying that are tripping the ears of your client saying, oh, I need that. Oh, I need that in my business, and I need to go to this person, i e you the freelancer, to get what I need. They have problems in their businesses. You need to figure out what those problems are and then tailor a solution and messaging that’s gonna resonate with your clients.
Once you do that, guys, it becomes a little bit of just reaction. Getting that fish in, having that conversation help building that trust between you and your client and getting them on the hook. So number one, you need to know where your clients are. So go find the locations where your target clients are living and start hanging out there. Don’t forget to build some tools that are going to be relevant to helping you go out and catch your fish, a website, Email List, a podcast, maybe a resource, a workshop, whatever it might be. Create a tool that you can use to attract your client and make sure you use the right bait. Make sure that you’re using the right messaging that resonates with your client so that when they see you, they understand that you have the answer to the problem that they have in their business.
That my friend, is how you go fishing for clients. Just so grateful to my grandfathers for the lessons that they taught me and how applicable it is. And when you think about it, it really makes sense.
Download these helpful resources?
6-Figure D.E.S.I.G.N. Business Blueprint: https://freelanceceo.com/blueprint
Client Snowball Framework: https://www.clientsnowball.com