If you’ve been working in a creative field, you’ve most probably experienced the “feast or famine” cycle, where you either have too many jobs and you’re really busy, or you’re staring at an empty calendar. Repeat.

With some of your current and past clients, reach out to them and ask if they have any friends or colleagues who may need some work done. In my experience, great clients will refer other great clients to you as well, so think of your favourite, most profitable clients, and start by asking them 🙂

You know the “almost” clients that you quoted up for a project but then they dropped off the grid or didn’t end up going with you? Go through your database or emails, make a list and check in with them to see how they are going. At least half the “almost” clients I follow up, become clients later down the track.

Search on Facebook for relevant groups you could join, and become an active member of the group. Add value to other posts by commenting on them, and helping out where you can, in your area of expertise. You’ll find after a while, that you will become an expert in your industry to those in the group, and others will begin tagging you when they need work done.

There are plenty of opportunities to network, both online and offline. In this new world with Covid, online networking opportunities have become much more frequent, with people hosting regular zoom networking sessions.

What are some agencies or other businesses that have the same clients you do, but don’t compete with you? For example, with my videography business, we partnered with SEO and marketing agencies who needed videography for their clients. This was a fantastic move for us, as we no longer had to sell our services because the SEO and marketing agencies did the selling, and funnelled us the work.

Writing a short e-book is a great way to position yourself as an expert in your industry to your potential clients. Think about what your clients always ask you, and how you can package the information up nicely into an e-book. It doesn’t have to be long at all. It just needs to be packed with value, so when people are reading it, they go “Oh, that’s interesting! I never knew that!” Use the e-book as a free resource on your website and social media to attract more clients.

One of the fastest ways to get high paying clients is to focus your services on a specific industry, instead of offering your services to everyone. While this may seem counterintuitive at first – to only pick a select audience to work with – your message will become much clearer and speak directly to your new audience. I found when I niched from shooting all kinds of photography, into just doing event photography for small business groups, I was able to raise my prices significantly. The same thing happened with my videography company. When we began specialising into videos for dentists and doctors, they referred other dentists and doctors to work with us as well. It’s like becoming a specialist heart surgeon instead of a GP. You become the “go to” in the industry.

If you would like help in fast-tracking the business side of your creative business, send me a message as I’d love to connect with you.

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