In simple terms, the only people who are going to buy my services are people who know you.

And
They like you.
They trust you.

You need to have all three in place before someone will buy your services.
And the more someone knows you, the more they like you, and the more they like you, the more they will trust you (usually)!

So you have to 'get known'. A lot. And once they trust you, they'll want to buy from you.

But it takes time to establish these relationships of trust - you need to get clients now.

The only logical thing to do to achieve this trust, is to rely on any relationships of trust you already have, within your own personal network. That personal network is the key to getting clients fast and the foundation for many of the tactics that follow.

Finding your first client through a family or friend, or through your old job.

Another type of relationship that can be even more important and powerful to you is the network of relationships that your friends or associates have with others. They also know hundreds of people. Imagine being able to leverage even a fraction of the people you know and who they know. Even 10%.

Do you think you can get at least a couple of clients out of the 6000+ people that you know and whom your friends know?

Or at the very least, know one or two reasonably influential people, who can help bring you your first clients.

[photo: Sanja Gjenero]