The first ten clients are the hardest and the most important. Here’s the most direct path I know for a faith-based service business owner who is starting from scratch or starting over.<\/p>\n
Clarify your offer before you do anything else.<\/p>\n
You cannot market something vague. Before you build a website, create a social media profile, or talk to a single potential client \u2014 you need to be able to answer three questions with one sentence each. Who specifically do you serve? What specific problem do you solve for them? What specific outcome do they achieve? If you can’t answer those three questions clearly and specifically, every other step becomes harder.<\/p>\n
Start with your existing relationships.<\/p>\n
Your first clients almost certainly already know you. Former colleagues. People in your church or ministry community. People who have seen your work in other contexts. Reach out to these people individually and specifically \u2014 not with a broadcast announcement, but with a personal message that says here’s what I’m building, here’s who it’s for, and I thought of you specifically because of this specific reason.<\/p>\n
This is uncomfortable for most people because it feels like asking for something. It is asking for something. That’s okay. If your offer is genuinely valuable, you’re not imposing \u2014 you’re giving them access to something they’d want to have.<\/p>\n
Ask for referrals from every early client.<\/p>\n
Your first client probably knows three to five other people who have the same problem they came to you with. After you deliver results \u2014 and you should be obsessed with delivering results for your first clients \u2014 ask directly: do you know anyone else who’s dealing with this? A specific ask for a specific referral is far more effective than a general “feel free to send people my way.”<\/p>\n
Build your online infrastructure in parallel.<\/p>\n
While you’re working with your first clients, build the landing page, start the email list, and begin posting content consistently. These don’t generate clients immediately \u2014 nothing does immediately \u2014 but they create the compounding foundation that makes client acquisition progressively easier over time. Your first ten clients come from relationships. Your next hundred come from systems.<\/p>\n
Charge appropriately from the start.<\/p>\n
The temptation with first clients is to undercharge dramatically \u2014 to justify it as paying your dues, building your portfolio, proving yourself. Some discount is reasonable for your first few clients. Dramatic undercharging sets a precedent that’s hard to recover from, attracts price-sensitive clients who are the hardest to work with, and devalues your expertise in the perception of the market.<\/p>\n
Charge a rate you can defend based on the value you deliver. Then deliver that value undeniably and your pricing becomes easier with every subsequent client.<\/p>\n
Ten clients is not a big number. But it’s enough to generate referrals, build a portfolio, refine your offer, and establish the foundation that the next hundred clients are built on.<\/p>\n
Start with the ten. Build from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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