When the bills come due, any wallet will do, right? That’s how I started as well. I never had time to plan or choose – clients just happened.
I got referrals, picked up some stray work wherever I could, and switched lead-generating schemes like socks.
One Tuesday, while re-sorting the folders that contained the “pile” of work from last year (AKA procrastinating) I stumbled across a pattern: Although every client was different, 80% of the client folders contained at least one thing connected to pricing.
At this point, I already tried (and failed) to consistently offer analysis, negotiation coaching, business plans, product marketing, launching services, and many other things that I had experience with. It never worked, because although some clients needed it, most already had “a person for that”. But, according to my notes, not one client had “someone” for pricing.
And just like that, by recognizing a pattern of what was not there, I found (fell into, really) a niche of my own.
In the meantime, I learned more effective techniques for picking the part of the client pool that makes the most sense.
Focus on the psycho-graphic differences: do they want revenue or peace of mind, coaching or hands-on problem solving, one-shot or retainer relationship? Finally, try to find a combination of the traits that most of your peers avoid, but you are OK with. Got one like that? Bingo!