I Climbed Cringe Mountain. Why Don’t I Have Clients Yet?

Troubleshooting

There’s often nothing more terrifying to a new solopreneur than posting about their business. Saying, “Here it is! It’s just me doing it! Do you like it? Would you hire me?” over and over again, in public, is draining for most of us.

And what feels even more draining is after a long time, or a perceived long time, of doing this, you don’t have clients. No one bought from you. No one signed up for a free consult.

This has happened to me, and it’s brutal. It feels like a resounding rejection of whatever it is you’re trying to sell. And worse for solopreneurs, it feels like it’s a rejection of you.

The good news is, it’s often not that personal. Unless you are a nightmare of a human. (My assumption is that if you are reading this, you are not.)

So, we’ve got some troubleshooting to do. Why isn’t this working?

And before we get into this, I want you to know: every question I ask you comes from a place of really and truly knowing how shitty this feels. And from knowing that it can get better.

Ok, so to recap: you’ve climbed - or you’ve been climbing -Cringe Mountain, and no clients. Let’s see what’s up.

First: Are you actually climbing?

This sounds insulting to many people. OF COURSE I am? I put my business out on LinkedIn and I’ve been talking to my friends about it. This is already the worst?

I ask this question because, more often than not, when I hear entrepreneurs talk about not getting enough traction, the reality is they haven’t done much yet. They posted once, told people close to them, and that’s it.

Unfortunately, that’s not climbing. That’s putting a foot on the trail. (Sorry.)

Good news: you did start.

The Fix: Keep going.

Second: Are you communicating what you do? REALLY?

If you’re out there being visible, my next question is: are you talking about what you are doing? Specifically, is it clear:

• WHO you help

• The TENSION or PROBLEM you help solve

• Your EDGE (aka why people should hire you).

A lot of us post stuff about our families, pop culture, industry takes, or maybe just ONE of those questions - all of that is fine if it’s paired with a steady drumbeat of content about your work.

If people can say, “Oh, I’ve seen you on LinkedIn!” but they can’t say what you’re doing now, that’s your first indication. This is something that happens to me over and over again.

The Fix: Stop making posts about culture, your family, and your niche interests as the majority of your content. Start talking about what you do. And if you need help with your positioning, hire me.

NEXT WEEK’S POST is going to be about how to talk about your business without feeling like you’re talking about your business. Make sure you are subscribed to get it!

Third: Is it clear how people can work with you?

You may be out there, talking and posting about your work consistently and clearly. Great.

Now it has to be easy to see how people can work with you.

Very basic: a Linktree (or similar) with a BOOK ME button.

Better: a very basic website that explains what you do and lets people schedule time wiht you, too.

Do not be intimidated by making a website. You would not believe how easy it is to pick a template and write some text out. It won’t be perfect, and it won’t be what you use forever. Doesn’t matter.

Make sure it has your name, a way to book you for an intro call, and the types of problems you work on.

If you are a paid member, I created an outline of what should be on your very first website, section by section, with examples. It’s in our resource folder!

The Fix: Make a very simple website where people can book you for services. Do not obsess about the brand and what it looks like.

Fourth: How long have you been climbing?

You see three posts about you and you’re sick of yourself, but the average person looking at their feed hasn’t even taken you in.

It takes anywhere between 7-28 touch points (some say even 60 for my B2B folks) for people to buy from you.

That means that your one post about starting a business, followed by maybe an email and another week of posts is not doing anything - yet.

As a rule of thumb, if you focus on one platform, you should start seeing early indicators of results in like 2-3 months after organic posting. More at around the 6 month mark, and then even more after that.

That all assumes you’re consistent, and you monitor your performance to see what’s working and what’s not.

The Fix: If you’re too early to tell, keep going. Consistently, and following everything I said above.

If you’ve been at this for about 6 months and no results, and it’s NOT a problem with anything above (you’re positioning is solid, you’re talking about your business consistently and not your love for cats) then let’s go to the last one.

Fifth: Are you dependent on the algorithm only?

Algorithms are fickle. You will benefit from organic posting, but you need help from other places. Those places include:

• Networking events

• 1:1 Networking Calls/Meet-Ups

• Mastermind Groups

• Informal Virtual Networking Groups

• Paid Ads (I don’t think you have to do this. But if you do not want to do anything else…)

You have to live outside of the feed and talk to people about what you do. Catching up with people is actually a delight and really, really nice. You don’t even really have to talk about your business until the very end.

If you do not know how to work this stuff in, I do that for you in my 30 Day, Kick-In-The-Pants Plan to Get More Visible. It lets you choose your non-social goal (networking, getting a speaking engagement, etc.) and then helps you stay on track to do it.

Go get it:

I think that’s enough for now. See you out on the trail.

Reminders for how you can work with me:

🎯 POSITION OR DIE 1:1: If you have trouble with your positioning and you want to make sure your 30 day sprint starts on solid foundation, get 90 minutes. with me and we’ll get this sorted. out. Keep in mind that Founding Subscribers to this Substack get a Position or Die Session that as part of their year-long subscription for a $50 discount. BOOK HERE.

👩‍💼 BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER: I give you all my resources and templates and once-a-month Office Hours for anyone who wants to come. Plus you get three ideas weekly for content that I think of- not AI- based on what I know works for clients.