Day 8: Network Reachout

Today is where the rubber meets the road so to speak.

Because everything you’ve worked on for the past week is all gonna bear fruit within the next several days.

Anyhoo…

There are primarily two ways to get clients.

Either you find them or you get them to come to you…

Outbound being the former and inbound marketing being the latter.

Sounds simple, right?

The problem?

Most freelancers don’t know which one to focus on first.

Honestly, I can’t blame them.

Most freelancing gurus suggest that you have a brand, create a website, and build a stack of portfolio before you start earning well in freelancing.

But the ugly truth is this…

While inbound or getting clients to come to you is great…

Focusing on it alone makes your freelancing business unstable.

Just like any sport, you gotta have an offense (outbound) and a defense (inbound) strategy.

Think about it…

Getting clients to come to you isn’t a predictable thing.

You’re not in control of the outcome.

Now compare that with reaching out and finding clients…

You’re the one in control.

You get to decide how many clients you want to reach out to and how often you reach out to them.

And that’s what makes a business predictable.

In fact, you won’t find a single successful global business that doesn’t do outbound marketing.

It’s the heart that keeps the blood, or in this case clients, pumping inside your business.

And speaking of getting clients, most freelancers tend to miss what’s already right in front of them.

Not realizing they have connections they can leverage right away.

So here’s a quick list of people you may already know but not asking a referral from.

Friends and Family — They already know, like, and trust you.
Business Owners — This is a gold mine, especially if they also sell to other businesses.
Sales People — Same thing. Some of them sell to businesses as well.
Other service providers just like you — This is self-explanatory.
Former colleagues — Think of that colleague you had who always seem to know someone.
FB/LinkedIn Connections/Email contacts/phone contacts — Duh!
Community/Government Leaders — Local non-profits are a good target. I once did a talk about email marketing in front of 50 local businesses and I didn’t spend a cent because they arranged everything.
Your ‘virtual’ competitors — You already know I don’t really worry about so-called ‘competition’ and this is one of the reasons why. You see, if you know someone offering the same service you have who are getting a lot of business, chances are, they turn down projects that are too small or not the right fit. And your job is to be his/her go-to guy when they are swamped with work.

That’s it for starters.