Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself
Ask Evan is a segment on this blog where I answer reader questions. This week’s questions comes from Jessica and McKieva:
Hi Evan,
My greatest challenge is finding new clients. I have a small public relations business and I live in Mississippi. I can never show potential clients what I am capable of if no one gives me a chance. Please help!
Jessica
Dear Jessica,
Starting a business is tough and most people want to see that you’ve been in business and are successful before they give you an opportunity. Here are three ideas you can try:
1) Volunteer for a charity to build your portfolio.
Find a charity that you’re passionate about and offer to be their PR representative for free for a certain amount of time. Charities are usually pretty easy to get media coverage for and you should be able to turn them into a success story for your business. Try to pick a charity that is well known so you can tell prospective new clients that you’ve worked with a reputable brand name before. Charities also have boards of directors who are usually businesspeople in the community. If you can show that you can deliver results you might get some extra paying clients from the board members. Finally, make sure the charity is ok with providing you with a testimonial if you do good work for them.
2) Guarantee results.
I’ve been pitched by many PR agencies and the one thing they’ll never do is guarantee results. It’s a hard business and you can never be positive that a story idea will ever get picked up but here is where you can stand out from your competition. If you guarantee results then you get the opportunity to go to work for a client and prove yourself. There’s no risk to the client because if you don’t deliver, they don’t pay and you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to land the client otherwise so it’s time to get delivering!
3) Play up your past experience.
What did you do before you started the PR firm? What experience do you have that you can show people who question your ability to deliver because you’re so new? If you can clearly demonstrate that you have a track record of success it will lower the resistance levels of your prospects and help close more deals.
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Hello Evan –
Thanks for the reference material. I am a young entrepreneur based in Atlanta, Georgia. My company, is a professional learning organization. I have always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur and finally overcame my fear and took the plunge 2.5 years ago. I began the business as an independent consultant but would like to expand to hiring people on a contract basis. My biggest business challenge is actually transitioning from an independent consultant to a “business owner.” I welcome any tips, advice or comments you have.
Best –
McKieva
Dear McKieva,
First of all, congratulations! Many people cannot make the transition beyond being a one person company – you’re in for a lot of stress and excitement! Here’s my advice to you:
1) Take your time hiring.
I run three Mastermind groups for local entrepreneurs and the biggest problem that they continually discuss is finding the right people (and having hired the wrong people!). Take your time to think about what you want in an employee. It’s usually easy to figure out the skillsets that you need in a new hire. The hard part are all the intangibles and you need to really think about what’s important to you. For example, at my company it’s important that you’re a nice person. This might sound obvious but many people are not genuinely nice people. I learned this the hard way by hiring someone who had the skills I needed but wasn’t a genuinely nice person. Figure out what’s important to you and if you’re going to be able to work with them long term. Don’t just hire someone because you need them and end up bringing on the wrong person.
2) Write things down.
If you’re hiring people on a contract basis then I would strongly advise that you write down how you want them to do the tasks that you give them. Think about every step that you go through to complete the task and then document it and make it easy for others to understand. So many of our processes as entrepreneurs are in our heads and we never take the time to get them out onto paper. Create a training manual that outlines everything and is a resource for them to refer to in the future. As they discover deficiencies in the documentation or if they are given new tasks, have them update the training manual so you always have a current version that you can provide to people.
3) Start part time.
The first person I hired was for one hour a day to take some of the load off of me. That one extra hour a day was amazing! I started to focus on higher priority issues and as my company grew, I outsourced more and hired people for more hours. If you’ve never managed people before then it helps to start off slowly so that you don’t get bogged down in human resources issues that tie up your day. Start with one person on a part time basis, take your time to make sure they are the right person, train them properly, then slowly increase their hours as you learn to work together. Once you’ve figured it out with one person you can continue on hiring!
Good luck Jessica and McKieva! I wish you all the success in the world as you grow your companies!
Readers, do you have any other ideas for Jessica or McKieva? How did you get your first customers? How did you build beyond a solopreneur company?
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you leave a comment below!
Great post Evan, getting the momentum started has always seemed like the hardest part of any career, this has removed a lot of the trepidation for me and inspired me even!
Glad to help Andy – good luck!
A neat step by step guidance is a specialty in you, which gives a clear cut and neat idea. Thanks a ton. thumbs up!
I like using the charity route. I build websites, and a good way to get some nice coverage for the site is to donate to charities. They usually place a nice link on their website for you. This gives me a nice little boost.
I think i can get my first client soon! thanks for the tips
Hi, I have been waiting for a good opportunity to improve my business and this has been a very useful blog for me – thank you!
This is very useful information about improving business. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Amazing! This is a really interesting article. Thank you!
Read the full article and loved it. I always find very very meaningful information on your blog. That’s why I keep coming back here again and again.
Great going. Keep it up. I have book marked your blog. :)
I think charity rout is something I have never tried before now, and I need to try. That’s the best way to build your brand name.
Thanks for the idea :)
Hi Evan,
I like your site very much! Very useful and informative, thanks!
The article is very good and useful, it helps business people get their first client. It is a very informative guide!
I have received great information for my business on this site. What you post is very informative and useful to all. I like this site very much!
A neat step by step guidance is a specialty in you, which gives a clear cut and neat idea. Thanks a ton. thumbs up!
This is great! Thanks for the tips!
Hi Evan,
Your tips are great, very useful, informative and provide me with good opportunity to improve my business.
Thank you so much!
Very good, you have shown me another route for charity. Excellent writing skills, the way you express your thoughts inspired me to write a comment.
Good job! I am a stay at home mom and I have started my biz few months ago. I am still struggling to achieve a good number of clients. Your suggestions are really helpful to me, thanks. I will try to apply these pr tricks to my biz.
Hey! I loved that last idea. I think I need to hire someone part time so I can concentrate on other things. I am really stressed right now because of all the work. I work alone and I have a home based business.
Thanks a lot for all those above suggestions.I liked your last suggestion about employing people part time first and all pr tricks as well.
You are very helpful to business people, especially your blog. Helping is the greatest thing in the world! This makes you a great person.
Unfortunately, I have already made a mistake of hiring the wrong person!
Thanks for all the other suggestions they are very helpful, I will apply them in my business.
I look forward to asking a question on your Ask Evan blog segment.
This blog is very useful for business starters, it definitely helps me improve my own business.
Thanks Evan!
Hi Evan
It’s been few months now since I started my business, but I’m facing the same hurdles this guy has mentioned—finding new clients! Thanks for all suggestions. I will definitely apply these tricks to my own business.
Hi Evan,
It has been a few months now that I started my business, however I am facing the same hurdles – finding new clients!
Thank you for all of the suggestions! I will definitely apply them in my own business.
This post inspired me a lot. Thanks.
Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself
Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself http://goo.gl/gcmm
It’s as difficult to keep them as it is to get them. We should not forget that!
Thank you, thank you, I love this article. I enjoyed it because it is informative and very helpful for marketers and business persons. I learned so much about how to get my first clients.
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This blog is very useful for business starters, it definitely helps me improve my own business.
For a Management stundent like me, this article is very useful. Sure I’ll make use of these tips for my first venture. Thanks a million.
I’m currently teaching management. This article is good, and I will ask my students to have a look at it. Keep posting such good articles.
Thank you for posting this blog. It will certainly help me in setting my new business. Once again, thank you.
I’ve always liked business, and my hubby too. This blog is very useful and informative to me. Thank you.
I think I will get my new business idea very soon.
I would like to start my own business. So, this blog is has been very helpful to me. Thank you.
I feel very happy having read this – thank you.
I am an engineering student, but I like the business content in this article very much. It will help me to learn about business. Thank you.
Thanks for giving this us this nice article.
For someone like me, who’s doing her master’s in business managament, this article has been a piece of valuable information. It’ll surely help me during my career in some way or other. Thanks.
Nice one Evan! From my point of view, I guess Jessy should also voluntarily participate in other firms like sponsoring educational programmes, entertainment, and all that. Through this, her business would get exposed and new clients would love to come in. Mckieva should learn how to outsource, and also be careful when outsourcing so as to help him focus on other things that will make his business grow. I hope this helps? Thanks. Keep up the good work man. Take care.
Really this was an awesome post. It was really useful to all, specially for young entrepreneurs.
It’s nice to be able to read such an article to learn about Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients, and How to Build Beyond Yourself.
A really wonderful post Evan. It will be a great help for startup companies.
It’s nice to be able to read such an article to learn about Ask Evan – how to Get Your First Clients; and How to Build Beyond Yourself.
Good website. It is very easy to read.
This blog is very useful to merchants who are just starting up.
Hi your tips and suggestions for Jessica or McKieva were very insightful. I look forward to reading all your posts. Keep up the good work.
This is a great article to read and learn about Ask Evan. It is useful for young entrepreneurs, and easy to read and understand.
This post is simply amazing. The way you have explained the tips for creating a successful business is simply the best. This blog is a boon and of great benefit for all new startups. I got really good information by going through this blog. You are really doing a great job by providing us with these tips for a successful business. Hats off to you for this brilliant contribution.
Wow! This is a superb post and idea. It’s very useful for new, young businessmen. I am also following these tips to start a business. The credit goes to Evan Carmichael — Thanks a lot, man.
Very nice article. It will be very useful for every business man like me.
Amazing article for the blooming entreprenuer. Full of handy with tips and a nice writing style.
This post has given me a lot of self-confidence, as I had almost lost hope of making anything online. But I’ve regained the faith and plan to work as per the guidance provided. Thank you!
This is a great article to read and learn about Ask Evan. Great advice for the young generation, and for their businesses, etc. It’s a good blog by Ask Evan.
Interesting post. I have been in business for over thirty years, and when I first started out, it was like beating my head against a brick wall. But, over time, I began to get clients and eventually built an eight-figure business.
I am new to internet marketing and publishing, and once again I find the going slow, but steady.
I think the most important thing is to do something every day towards your blog or online business. Sooner or later they will come.
Thanks for the feedback John, and congrats on the new venture! May it soon be your next eight-figure business!
RT @TopsyRT: Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself http://bit.ly/alHJ4w
RT @TopsyRT: Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself http://bit.ly/alHJ4w
RT @TopsyRT: Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself http://bit.ly/alHJ4w
RT @TopsyRT: Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself http://bit.ly/alHJ4w
RT @TopsyRT: Ask Evan – How to Get Your First Clients and How to Build Beyond Yourself http://bit.ly/alHJ4w