This is a great post from Ramit Sethi’s “Earn Your First $1,000 Freelancing” course. It’s called “Getting Past No”
It starts with a great observation – know who you DON’T want to do business with. If you can find out whom you relate to naturally, that can make you more money than wasting your efforts on people predisposed NOT to buy from you. So, his first step is to as whom will you systematically EXCLUDE as a potential client?
Though it sounds easy, this step may be harder than you think. I have a friend who tested multiple niches until he found one that clicked.
At first he thought his interest was “Internet Marketing” … only to find people who wanted “Internet miracle snake oil” didn’t want his kind of advice. They wanted instant riches.
He thought another market was perhaps his niche but realized that the people he thought would open their checkbooks with gratitude for his advice seemed to yawn instead.
Then, over time, his niche crystallized… people who valued his advice, paid a small (for a business) monthly retainer, and who didn’t call him at 3 AM whining about some small problem and then not wanting to pay for those services.
His niche was a SUBCLASS of the general “Internet Marketing Group” and did slightly relate to the other niche that drove him crazy… except this niche didn’t drive him crazy. They really wanted his help and were willing to pay monthly and they kept his retainer active month after month.
So what is your niche?
Who are the people who will buy what you have to sell at a price you can live with?
More importantly – who isn’t that person?
There’s much more… well worth reading.
Read the rest of “Getting Past No”
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