Many people see internet folk as genius marketers and wild success stories.
I see a bunch of try-hards making everything more complicated than it needs to be (usually so they can sell a course about it).
Years ago, my wife was taking a photo of my son, who was Preschool Age.
Naturally, we had taught him the “say cheese” method of smiling for pictures.
He was in the middle of saying “cheese” when I strolled past and casually yelled “CHEESEBURGER!” at him.
He looked up at me, repeated the word, processed the information, and doubled-over into a face-palm crack-up that produced a photo essay that has never failed to make me smile whenever I look at it.
You look at this and tell me it’s not precious and hilarious all at the same time:
I actually was taken aback at the time by how much he laughed at that.
I said, “Man! That was easy!”
All it took to bring my son joy was adding the word “burger” to the end of “cheese” when it wasn’t expected.
It made his day.
I see parents all the time talk about kids having short attention spans or being tough to entertain without a bunch of toys or whatever.
It’s… really not true.
Just give them a funny-sounding word at a time they aren’t expecting it and you’re golden.
Hearing your kids’ laughter on a daily basis (food for the soul) is as simple as that.
Now, let’s talk about clients.
Get more clients with the “Cheeseburger!” Approach
As much as I would like to say that yelling “Cheeseburger!” at clients will get you more gigs, that’s not what I mean – despite my ruthlessly clickbait-y subject line.
Because you’re online, you see so many overcomplicated, time-intensive ways of getting clients.
Write daily content!
Interact with influencers!
Create lead magnets!
Document your journey!
For 16 years now, I’ve come to the conclusion that these methods, largely, suck.
Some people swear by them, but those are people that have things that I don’t, like:
- They enjoy the process of doing these things for no money for a long time.
- They have the extra time to spend doing these things well enough to actually get clients.
- They have the ability to be patient and work without urgency while these things take months or years to get traction.
- They have budgets or incomes they can lean on to pay for their bills while they wait (or – and this is pretty typical – they are single and/or live with their parents and have no bills).
But because it worked for their specific situation, they tell everyone that it’s the best/only way to do it.
This despite the fact that 90% of people who are looking to get writing clients DON’T live in this specific situation.
When you read stories about them over and over, you come to the conclusion that building a solid client base is complicated and takes forever.
You panic. You stress. You shut down.
And you make no money.
Strip away the complications
Even at this stage of the game, I can’t do the “personal brand” thing to get clients.
- I have a stay-at-home wife and 3 kids who need to eat every day.
- I have a mortgage that has to be paid.
- I have school tuition to pay for.
- I am a full-time freelancer and the sole breadwinner of the house.
- My family needs my time and energy on nights and weekends.
- My house needs repairs and maintenance that I have to do.
Waiting around for a personal brand to deliver clients for me isn’t an option.
I have to make money NOW.
So I follow a very simple framework for getting clients:
Awareness -> Trust -> Sale.
Because every sale that anyone has ever made in the history of business has broken down into that process.
It’s a classic framework.
The classics are classics for a reason
I was not being particularly original yelling “CHEESEBURGER!” at my son.
But holy cow, did it work.
It always works for that audience.
And getting clients ALWAYS works when you focus on that simple process.
Find the most efficient possible way of going from Awareness -> Trust -> Sale, and you’ll never be out of work… or overwhelmed/stressed about getting clients ever again.
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