This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
How can you find your first clients without spending money on ads? Love this question. It's very much aligned with the values of Side Hustle School which is to start a small business or create an income generating project without going into debt, without spending much money at all in fact. So in this episode, we're gonna help a new business owner attract their first paying clients without spending a dime on ads. Does everybody know what a dime is?
Well, it's just a small amount of money. Just keep that in mind, okay? Without spending any money. You're gonna learn some grassroots strategies for networking, social media, building momentum from scratch all in a short action-packed episode. Welcome to Side Hustle School.
Welcome to a new month, episode 3,013 here. I'm Chris Guillebeau, your host. Today's question comes from Robert. I believe he is in Northern California, if I'm not mistaken. Well, somewhere over on the West Coast.
He has just launched his Side Hustle, wants to know how you can get those clients coming in again without spending money on ads. And spending money on ads is but one strategy you can use. It's often not the best strategy, especially in the beginning. People waste a lot of money spending money on ads before they actually have a proven offer. So let's look at these practical low-cost strategies.
I'm gonna see if I can help him and some of our other listeners out there. Thank you for being out there, by the way. Robert's question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hey, this is Robert from Modesto, California. I'm just starting a new business and I'm really excited to get things going, but I don't have much of a marketing budget right now.
I've been brainstorming ways to get my first paying clients through like a grassroots method, like networking and social media, but I'm not sure how to start. How do I stand out and get people to notice me when I can't spend money on ads? What are the most effective strategies to build momentum from scratch? My advice in this situation is always to start with your personal network. Start with people you already know and trust.
It's often the easiest way to begin. Even if those people are not your ideal customers or clients, they might know somebody who is, or they can just help you in getting the word out. That can be much more effective, especially in the beginning, than spending money on social media ads. The time to spend money on social media ads is when your offer is crushing it and killing it and you're ready to scale up. Like you just wanna serve more people and you have the capacity to do it.
And you know, if you can just get this offer in front of more people, more of the right people, then they will convert and you will make more money than you spent on the ads, as well as covering your other costs and such. And you don't know any of that in the beginning. So start with your personal network, write to people, check in with them, say, "Hey, I'm launching this business." If you know somebody who, like I'm doing branding, let's say, I'm doing branding. If you know somebody who might need a new logo or website design, I would really appreciate an introduction. Maybe offer it at a discount to get going.
Next, tap into local communities. Local communities could be in-person, offline communities, as well as online, Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, subreddits, local forums, just kind of being a presence there, especially if it's before you have something to sell, can help a great deal. And maybe, as I said, offline as well, are there some local networking events or meetups or just anywhere you can go to get to know people? And again, if you're able, offer a free or discounted service to at least one person in those spaces to showcase your skills. And then get a testimonial from them afterwards.
So as we said about social media, I don't think it's great to spend money on it, but if you want to start by focusing on just one platform or organic posts, those are posts that you're writing yourself and are not paid for, wherever your audience is most active, that can be helpful. So share some behind-the-scenes content, share tips, use hashtags, and be consistent. You might also start a blog or YouTube channel or email newsletter. But again, maybe pick one of those things. Pick one of those things and offer helpful advice in your field.
Here are five signs your logo needs a refresh or how to choose the right colors for your brand, that kind of content marketing. There's a long established model of how that works and ultimately can bring in leads and customers to your business. And don't be afraid to repurpose content, by the way. If you use it one place, you can probably use it somewhere else as well. So that's what I would do to get started.
Again, you can't scale that way, but it's often much more helpful in the beginning because focusing on your personal network, getting involved locally, leveraging one key platform, that helps you just be intentional and consistent. So hopefully you're gonna attract those first paying clients without spending any money at all on ads. That's my encouragement for you today, listeners. Let me know what you think. If you have a question or comment, as we start off a new month, sidehustleschool.com, new updates, new stories, a bunch of fun stuff coming out in the weeks and months to follow always completely free.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
