Small Business Archives

Whether you’re just venturing out in your new self-employed career track or just starting to explore project-based work, the key to your success will be finding and landing clients. Fundamentally, this begins with thinking of yourself as a business and learning how to promote and grow your business.

Whatever services you’re offering, you’ll have to be your own marketing and sales team. You’ll have to learn to market your expertise and services, build your credibility, articulate your value to clients, and sell yourself and your service offerings.

1. Get comfortable selling yourself

When you start a small business — and yes your own creative or consulting business is a small business — selling certainly can be of the most daunting tasks at hand. If you’re a natural salesperson, consider yourself lucky. For the rest of us, it can be the most frustrating and challenging part of being self-employed as an independent consultant. Whether it’s because we feel underqualified for the position — hello, imposter syndrome — or simply because we lack experience in sales, we have to get comfortable selling ourselves and our services to get work (and get paid).

2. Determine your rates and convey your value

Use your previous salary to calculate your hourly rate for on-demand consulting, advisory, and creative services. If this is your first consulting gig, be honest — building trust goes a long way — and be prepared to offer a discounted rate to the client to win the business. That said, it’s best to understand the value of your services and the return on investment (ROI) it will provide to your client. If the total projected ROI is higher than what you would likely bill at an hourly rate, then it may be advantageous to sell your services at a flat project fee. Whenever possible, be prepared to reframe conversations on the value that you provide via your services — versus simply what you charge.

3. Refine your brand and marketing strategy

Now that you’ve started your own consulting or creative business, you are your own business — you are your own brand. Work on establishing your brand, building your credibility, and cultivating your pitch to market your services and skills.

4. Plug into your industry

Hopefully, before you started your new creative or consulting business, you invested time and energy into establishing yourself as an expert in your industry. Attend conferences (even virtual conferences), and join and contribute to online industry forums. These are valuable opportunities to connect with potential clients. Offer advice when asked, say yes to speaking opportunities when they present themselves, and share your thought leadership.

5. Reach out to your network

Networking is the best way to get work as an independent consultant. Most independent consultants that I’ve spoken to have landed their first client through their personal and extended network. This means you have to be confident enough to tell friends, former colleagues, and acquaintances that you are available for work — practice your pitch often so that your network can pitch others for you. Former colleagues or industry peers often make the best first clients as they are already familiar with your work and understand the value you provide.

6. Learn how to qualify leads

Qualifying leads a critical step in the sales process. Do it efficiently and you’ll waste less time with potential clients they will never pan out — allowing you to spend more time on the prospective clients with more potential. Start by making sure your lead is a decision-maker. Thinking you’ve closed a sale only to find out that your prospect has to check with his or her boss is deflating — and not a great use of your time.

Create a list of qualifying questions to quickly assess whether or not you can meet the client’s needs. If your services don’t align with what they’re looking for at the price point you’re offering, move on.

7. Sell your skills and services

To get ready to sell to your first client, be prepared to speak to your industry experience, previous roles, level of seniority, and your unique and specialized skills. Make it easy for your prospective clients to understand who you are from looking at your LinkedIn profile and reviewing your business website. Then, when you do meet with a qualified lead, work to convey to them that you are the expert with the right problem-solving skills to address their pain points. Be prepared to use the initial meeting to conduct a needs assessment — use this time to evaluate the problem, understand the gaps in the client’s workforce, and start considering possible frameworks for your solution. End the meeting by promising a written proposal, and then follow through. How you evaluate the pain points, approach the solution, and draft a proposal are critical to winning business.

8. Be prepared to walk away

I firmly believe in building a business based on trust and honesty. Don’t be afraid to share your qualification process with your clients — and to let the client know if you’re not the right fit. Do this right and the client will come back to you when the right opportunity presents itself. Or a project that isn’t a good fit at a risk to your client relationship. In addition, learn to make peace with firing clients. Your consulting or creative business doesn’t have to be for everyone. If a client isn’t a good fit for your working style, feel free to turn down future projects; though, if possible, I would recommend referring your former client to other consultants who he or she might be able to work with.

Sales doesn’t come naturally to most of us. And it can be even more intimidating when the product you’re selling is essentially yourself. Build confidence in promoting your business and you’ll find success landing clients — and join the future of work while finding work-life fit.

Got questions? Let me know in the comments!

Yolanda Lau is an experienced entrepreneurship consultant, advisor, and Forbes Contributor. She is also an educator, speaker, writer, and non-profit fundraiser.

Since 2010, she has been focused on preparing knowledge workers, educators, and students for the future of work.

Learn more about Yolanda here.

By Yolanda Lau

If you’re an independent consultant — or considering self-employment or project-based work to find work-life fit — you’ve likely wondered how (and whether to) market your business and your services. Marketing and branding can be a challenging process for many business owners, but this gets even more difficult when your business is you.

Many new consultants are shy about selling themselves — I know I was when I first got started 15+ years ago — so I’ve put together six tips to help you cultivate your brand, market your services, build your business, and join the future of work.

1. Determine what services you will offer

Getting your service offerings right is an important first step. Ideally, you’ll find your niche and become a thought leader in your niche. It’s easy to say you offer IT Strategy, Graphic Design, Financial Analysis, or Strategic Business Services. But you’ll benefit from nailing down the specific project-types that you can offer. Put yourself in your prospective clients’ shoes, think about the problems they face, then put together a list of your services that solve your clients’ pain points. This should be an iterative process — as you grow your business, you may want to add new service offerings or remove unprofitable ones.

Once you’ve determined your services, consider putting together a price list. Whenever possible — when projects can be clearly constrained and carefully scoped — I recommend listing a flat rate for each service you will offer. Calculate this flat service fee by taking your preferred hourly rate and multiplying it by your estimated hours for each project or service type.

2. Work on your personal brand

Now that you have your own business, always keep in mind that you are your own brand. All of your branding efforts should have a consistent feel, theme, and message. Think about the kind of feeling you want your brand to convey as you craft your messaging — and even as you determine your brand colors. In terms of social media, make sure to update your LinkedIn profile as that’s the first place many potential clients will look to get your credentials.

Keep in mind that as an independent professional, your actions in your personal life may impact on your business. Differing messages or actions across your personal and professional social media channels could lead to being perceived as dishonest or untrustworthy. Everything you do, say, or publish online reflects on you and your business — and ultimately affects your success as an independent professional.

3. Work on your pitch

Every business — including your consulting or creative business — needs an elevator pitch. Craft a concise, compelling, easy to understand 30-second statement describing your business and your services. (They call it an elevator pitch because you should be able to give it to a potential client in the time they happen to join you in the elevator to the time they reach their floor.) Working on your elevator pitch will help you hone in on what is unique about your business. A memorable elevator pitch will allow your clients and potential clients to sell your services for you!

4. Build your business website

A professional website is a valuable marketing tool and the backbone of a good brand. Your website is where potential clients will turn when they’re researching your credentials. Make sure your website is professional, modern, and well-written. Get professional help if you need it, but be sure your website is built so that you can maintain it yourself — personally, I prefer building my business websites with WordPress, but there are several other options for easy content management.

Be sure to optimize your website for search (SEO) by writing copy that matches your chosen keywords. Moreover, track your metrics — such as page views, audience insights, acquisition channels — with Google Analytics so you can constantly refine and update your site. Don’t forget to take advantage of your network of fellow freelancers here! If you need help, consider trading your services for help with your website.

5. Establish your credibility with thought leadership

Establishing yourself as a thought leader builds your credibility and is a cost-effective marketing strategy for independent consultants. Join online forums where you can share your expertise. Write blogs on your own website, on LinkedIn, or via Medium — allowing potential clients to stumble upon you organically. Speaking opportunities at conferences and professional organizations are another way to promote yourself. The more you can build your credibility as a thought leader, the easier it will be for potential clients to believe in the value of your services.

6. Leverage your network

Social media has become an effective way for brands to speak directly to their customers and clients. As discussed earlier, start with your LinkedIn profile. Keep it up to date and share content relevant to your business and your industry. Offer advice on posts made by others. Then, depending on your industry, you may also want to cultivate your public Twitter account and/or your Instagram account. You’ll want to find a balance between sharing valuable information and promoting yourself.

Join industry-related forums as well as online groups for freelancers. Leverage your social network properly and it’ll turn in to a steady stream of new clients via word of mouth referrals. In addition to networking via social media, be sure to attend relevant conferences (yes, even virtually) and periodically reach out to past clients as well as potential clients that haven’t panned out yet.

Remember, your consulting or creative business won’t sell itself. Once you’ve established your brand, built your credibility, and cultivated your pitch to match your unique skills and services, it’s up to you to sell with confidence to leverage your network and grow your business — the business of you!