To attract clients, grow where you’ve never grown before

The fruit trees in my backyard are great teachers. They’ve shown me that in order to grow I must stretch myself into new territory, over and over again.

An apple tree, for instance, only grows new apples when it moves outward toward the sun and downward into the depths of the dark earth. Apples do not grow if the tree is permanently idol. It can rest in winter, certainly, but if it stops growing altogether, the tree is dead and no fruit will appear.

Of course, if a gust of wind comes along and blows the branches, the tree is not idol, it is moving. Yet wind does not make the tree grow apples. The only way a tree can grow apples is by stretching itself beyond where it’s been before.

The unfortunate reality of being a self-employed human being, and not an apple tree, is that we can fool ourselves into thinking we’re growing, when in fact we’re simply kicking up wind that gives the appearance of movement. We do this by engaging in the same activities every day, activities that seem like growth when in fact they are more like branches moving in the wind.To illustrate the point, imagine you decided to promote your work by hanging flyers in your community. In the beginning, you hung flyers every Monday at three coffee shops, two churches and a synagogue near your home.

Then imagine it worked. You had a lot of clients and life was good.

Because it worked, you continued this practice every week for three years, relying solely on this one thing to attract clients. But somehow, in year 2 maybe, things started to slow down. You went from having lots of clients to relatively few.

What happened? Hanging flyers requires movement, energy, and work. You’re growing outward, reaching into the community to put yourself out into the world?  Right?

Wrong.

Doing the same thing over and over again is akin to the wind blowing your branches. It may look like you’re growing, when in fact you’re just moving around in the same place.

In order to continually attract new clients (or new work) it is necessary to grow into new territory.  Unfortunately, people often stop growing and settle into a routine, and they usually do this for two reasons: 1) it worked once and 2) it’s comfortable.

But success for the self-employed is directly related to how well you confront and move through your comfort zone. Growing somewhere great means growing into new territory, and this means stretching yourself into places where you’ve never gone before.

In our imagined scenario, hanging flyers was initially an act of moving into new territory, and as a result new clients came, just like apples on an apple tree.

After awhile, though, the act of hanging flyers stopped being growth and started being wind. Nothing really new was happening.  There was no stretching.  No real growth.

Eventually, hanging flyers at the same coffee shops, churches and synagogues meant being visible to the same people day in and day out. There are advantages to this approach, but eventually people either became clients or they stopped paying attention.  Since coffee shops, churches and synagogues are frequented by regular clientele, few new people were seeing the flyers.

In order to grow you need to reach new people. You don’t have to stop hanging flyers, unless it isn’t working any more. But you do need to try something new. This may require confronting a growing edge. You may need to do something that feels uncomfortable, like speak in public or host a teleseminar.

If you have a hard time confronting a growing edge, ask these three questions:

1. What is worst thing that can happen to you?
2. What would happen to you if that worst thing happened?  Would you survive?
3. What steps might you take to prevent that from happening?

Often answering these questions can shed light on what’s keeping you stuck and give you information and structure that can help you move forward.

Here’s another trick you can try: If you want to attract new clients, but you’re having a hard time, do something new every day, even if it doesn’t feel related to your work.

Sometimes engaging the spirit of growth can actually help you grow your work. If you go to a coffee shop you’ve never been to before, you might meet new people. If you join a book club you’ll meet new people. When you stretch yourself you will find new opportunities. Of course, they may not be the opportunities you imagined. They may be even better.

Stretching yourself into new territory is the only way to truly grow your work into the world. How will you stretch yourself today?

*all watercolor illustrations are by Amy E. Brucker and are copyrighted.