If You Really Want a Full Client Roster, Don't Focus on Getting Clients
If you've been interested in personal development for a while, and you're a driven person, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about your goals.
Plus, you're probably exposed every day to Facebook ads and emails that talk about getting more clients and building a 6 or 7 figure business.
So no one would blame you if you spent a lot of your day thinking about getting more clients.
But what if the best way to get clients was NOT to focus on getting clients at all?
It's a radical concept, I know.
Let me explain...
Why Focusing On Getting Clients Is Totally Counterproductive
When you focus on getting clients (the outcome), it takes your focus off of what you actually need to do to attract those clients in the first place (the process).
And when you resent the process or treat it like a means to an end, you don't do it as much. And you don't do it with the level of presence and care that you need to make it effective.
This causes stress, because you want to be somewhere other than where you actually are. You're fighting against reality.
“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there’.”
Most people think that it's this stress that helps them be successful. That if they stopped worrying about getting clients they wouldn't do any marketing and their business would fall apart.
But there's an alternative...
What To Do Instead (Hint: It's Not Just Crossing Your Fingers And Hoping People Will Hire You)
The best thing you can do for your business is to figure out what activities actually get you clients and focus on those.
What are the things you do that actually get you clients?
If you've been focused on the outcome -- instead of the process -- of getting clients, you might not know.
So that's your first step. When you get a client, figure out why. What happened before that moment that led to you getting a client?
I'm not suggesting that you don't need to get clients. I'm not suggesting that you don't want that to happen quickly. What I'm suggesting is that you focus on what you can control.
The irony is that when you start focusing on the process and the practice of what you do, the clients come automatically.
Here's a little video that I made explaining this concept in more depth.
How To Actually Enjoy The Process Of Filling Your Client Roster
Okay, so once you're on board with the power of loving the process, you might wonder: how do I actually do that?
Here are some ways that I've found work pretty well:
1. See marketing as a privilege, not an obligation. Marketing is something we get to do, it's not something we have to do. It's a privilege to share our gifts with the world.
2. Reward yourself for effort, not just results. When you celebrate and acknowledge a successful process just as much as you would a new client, you're telling your brain "do more of this." For example, count the Nos you get during enrollment conversations. Hearing No means you've put yourself in a position to hear a Yes.
3. Focus on what’s right, not what’s wrong. Similar to the one above. When we focus on things that are working, such as the client relationships we already have, we create more of those things. When we focus on what's wrong, we create more problems.
4. Find ways of marketing that you already enjoy. There are lots of different ways you can market your services. Which ones come naturally to you? Here's a video I made that can help you figure out which tactics you'll enjoy most.
5. Don't compare yourself to others. When you look at other people's websites or social media accounts, you're only seeing what they want you to see: their successes. You don't see the process that went into that.
6. Focus on what you can give, not what you can get. Marketing is all about helping your potential clients before they ever pay you. Ask: "how can I provide more value than anyone else?" and then do that.
7. Use games to motivate yourself. When you get bored with the process of getting clients, make it more fun by developing a point system for the activities that matter most. For example, if you get three clients every time you attend a live event, challenge yourself to go to more live events this month than you did last month. Track the things that you control.
What Happens When You Stop Focusing On Getting Clients And Start Celebrating The Process
When you actually enjoy the process, you don't have to wait to be happy.
It sounds silly but that's really what it comes down to.
When you base your self-worth on the number of clients you have, you're putting your happiness outside of your control and you'll experience an emotional rollercoaster with every ebb and flow of your business.
The truth is, your life won't get any better when you have a full client roster. Not if you're always looking to the next moment as a means of fulfillment.
Since most of your time is spent heading towards your goals, not achieving them, you need to find a way to be satisfied with your progress on a moment to moment basis.
Learning to love the process helps you do that.
