The Easiest Way To Get A Client If You're A New Entrepreneur

The easiest way to start your own business is to start consulting or freelancing. You have a set of skills, and someone will pay you for those skills. Done. Now you're in business.

But I admit, that's way too simplistic. There's a huge gap between you having valuable skills and you being paid for those skills. And that gap is actually getting a paying customer. This gap is usually filled in by your employer or boss, who brings in the business and hands the “real” work off to you - the employee.

If you have a job then you do have skills someone will pay for. How do I know? Because your employer is already paying you for them. Additionally, it's likely someone else will also pay for those skills, and so if you want to scratch your entrepreneurial itch, then start getting paid outside of your job for the skills you already perform on a day to day basis.

Even if this makes sense to you, where are you going to get your first client? Are you going to put up a blog and run Facebook ads to a landing page? Are you going to start cold calling local businesses? That sounds like a ton of effort. And who knows if it's going to work.

I've struggled with this question before. I knew I had knowledgeable expertise. I even knew of companies that were getting paid tons of money for the exact things I knew how to do. Yet they had high paying clients, and I had nothing.

Recently, the answer to this question fell into my lap when I was least expecting it. I was meeting a friend for coffee just to catch up, and he was telling me about an eCommerce business of his that was struggling. I told him what he should do to improve it (because it was exactly what I was currently doing), and he was so excited by the new suggestions he immediately insisted I present him an offer to do the work. A few days later we had a deal, and my new consulting business was born.

So, what's the answer to you getting your first client as a consultant or freelancer? Making sure everyone you know knows about your skills and expertise. How exactly you do this is another discussion, but if you want to start your own business, the easiest way to get a new client is to make sure everyone in your network knows what you're up to.

As an example, right now I wish I had the help of someone who was an expert at Facebook advertising. Yet, I'm not currently in the position to be paying a fortune for an agency to do this service. So, if there was someone in my network who spent their days mastering Facebook ads at a larger company, but wanted the experience of helping a small company get their campaigns off the ground, I'd gladly pay for their service.

At the moment I don't know any Facebook experts like this. If you do, can you send me a referral? But seriously, if you only told people about what you know and what you can do, you'd probably be shocked at how highly other people in your network value your knowledge. If you want to start a business, the easiest first clients are already within your own network. Your knowledge is valuable. Someone wants it. And you probably already know who they are.