How to get clients: start with the people who already know your work

Why don't the people who know your work become clients?

Knowing you isn't the same as asking you. Most of the people who've seen your work don't know you're taking clients, or what to ask you for. They liked the post. They paid you once. They asked a question and went quiet. More posting alone won't tell them. You have to tell them.

From your side it looks like demand. People comment. Past clients say nice things. Someone sends a friend your way once a year.

From their side, you're the person who did good work that one time. They don't know you have room. They don't know what you'd do for them now. And nobody wants to ask "are you taking clients?" in your comments.

So go to them first. It feels too simple, which is why most people skip it.

01

Who should you message first to get clients?

Message the people who already know your work, starting with past customers. Then old leads: people who asked about your work and didn't buy. Then warm contacts you've talked shop with. Then anyone else who knows your work: followers who reply, peers, people who've sent someone your way.

Put them in one list: name, how you know them, and where you'd reach them (email, text, or DM). Leave off anyone who asked you not to contact them.

Past customers go first. They've already paid you once. You have something real to say to them, and they already know what working with you is like.

Inside the group: Days 1 to 3 of the Quick Start walk you through your offer, your list and your free resource.

02

What should you offer in the message?

Offer one short, useful thing you already have: a checklist, a short guide, a worksheet, or a post you wrote. Keep it to something they can use in about 10 minutes. Don't attach it and don't link it. You only send it when they say yes.

Nothing yet? Write a one-page answer to the question your buyers ask you most. Or build it with Day 3 of the Quick Start, then send.

Why offer anything? "Just checking in" gives them nothing to answer. A useful thing gives them an easy yes, and an easy yes starts a conversation.

Why no link? A link asks them to click and decide on their own. A question asks for one word back. You want the word.

03

What message should you send to get clients?

Send a short, personal message that mentions something real you did together, offers the useful thing, and ends on a yes or no question. Here's the version I'd send a past customer, by text or DM. Copy it, then swap every bracket for a real detail.

The opening refers to something true. No booking link or pitch attached.

Three parts, each doing one job:

• "I was thinking about our work on..." opens on something true, so it reads like a real note from you.
• "I put together a short..." gives them something before you ask for anything.
• "Would you like me to send it?" takes one word to answer. No link to click. Nothing to buy.

Inside the group: the email version for your whole list, plus the versions for old leads and warm contacts. Same rules, different openers.

04

How do you fill in the message truthfully?

Fill every bracket with something that actually happened between you. Refer only to things they actually said or did. If a detail isn't true, the whole message reads like a template, and they can tell. The more specific the detail, the more it sounds like you remembered them.

• [name]: their first name.
• [real context]: something that actually happened between you. The project or the problem you worked on.
• [format]: checklist, guide, worksheet, post.
• [buyer]: one kind of person you help. "Freelance designers," not "businesses."
• [small task]: the one thing it helps them do.

A consultant might mention a planning session, or a client's uneven payments. An agency might mention the inquiry form you rebuilt for a landscaping company.

Can't remember anything real about someone? Don't fake it. Start with the people you can. The email version for everyone else is inside the group.

05

How do you send it?

Send each message one at a time, on the channel you already talk on. Start with your past customers today. Then work through the rest of your list over the next two days, a few minutes at a time. Write down the send date beside each name.

One at a time matters. A group text or a mass DM reads like a blast, and people answer blasts with silence.

Leave out the calendar link and the prices. The whole message is one question.

Inside the group: Day 6 of the Quick Start gives you one sheet to track every reply and every next action.

06

What replies come back after you send it?

You'll get some mix of five things: "Yes, send it." "What is it?" A question, or a problem they're dealing with. "No thanks." And silence. A reply of any kind, even a no, is a conversation started. Count each person once. That count is your number this week: conversations started.

Silence counts too. Log it without guessing why.

Watch the third kind. Someone telling you about a problem is telling you, in their words, what they need right now.

07

What happens after they reply?

Answer the same day, personally. Then watch closely, because this is where most people stall. Someone says yes. You send it. They say thanks... and it ends. When they reply, what you say next decides whether it becomes a client.

Which conversations to move toward a call. When to ask. What to say once you're on it.

That's Step 2 and Step 3 of the system. They open to paying members of Social Money Models as I add them.

Same steps I run in my client work, where one went from offer to script to close in the same afternoon.

08

How fast can you get clients this way?

The message takes about 30 minutes to send, and it goes to people who already know you, so there's no audience to build first. How many reply, and how many become clients, depends on your list and on what you say next. Nobody can promise what other people do, and I won't.