137: Are We Our Own Worst Enemy When it Comes to Landing Dream Clients? with Amy Posner

More Than Social Podcast

In this episode of the More Than Social podcast, I have the pleasure of chatting with Amy Posner, a serial entrepreneur and business mentor for freelancers and creative service providers. We covered so much great stuff, including Amy's entrepreneurial journey, from copywriting to running masterminds and coaching programs for freelancers looking to build sustainable businesses. One of the biggest struggles Amy sees freelancers face when starting out is a lack of confidence in selling their services and having client conversations. She shares a mindset shift that can help - viewing the client relationship as more of a colleague partnership instead of an adversary situation. Amy provides a framework for structuring sales calls to diagnose if there's a true problem-solution fit. We also get into strategies for determining your ideal client profile and intentionally selecting who you want to work with (rather than just taking anyone willing to pay). One of my favourite pieces of advice from Amy was about saying "no" to projects or clients that aren't an ideal fit, even when it's scary to turn down money initially. She's seen the pattern countless times - when you have the courage to say no to the wrong opportunities, the right ones tend to appear shortly after. Amy's insights are extremely valuable for freelancers, service providers, and anyone running a client-based business. Her persistent, keep-going entrepreneurial perspective comes through as well. Over her 30-year career, Amy has launched six successful businesses (five still in business today!) and mentored thousands of freelancers to succeed. Now, she focuses on empowering freelancers to grow the business they want by teaching them the skills they need to attract the right clients – something she teaches in her Complete Breakthrough Freelancer course and as co-host of the Business Badassery podcast. Amy has been featured on Copyhackers and as a guest on several top podcasts, including The Copywriter Club, Copy Chief Radio, and The Deliberate Freelancer. We talk about:

• 00:00 Intro
• 03:18 How do land your first client? How do you start making money? Do you need to quit your full-time job and start a business?
• 04:19 Strategies to pull yourself out of stress
• 05:25 Juggling all of the hats in your business
• 09:24 Tips for working through hitting a wall and needing to hire out when you see it as a weakness
• 11:57 Learning what you like vs. don't like vs. what you're good at
• 16:50 Biggest struggles freelancers have to start their business
• 18:18 One piece of advice for people who are struggling with the client conversation
• 22:25 Amy's recommendations for people to find clients
• 23:37 Strategies to determine who is a good fit and who is not
• 27:29 Her mini-course
• 28:46 Getting to the nitty gritty of how to know who your ideal client is
• 32:37 Advice for fellow entrepreneurs

Resources

• Spotlight Theory: https://spotlighttheory.lisaanne.ca/
• Breakthrough Clients
• Breakthrough Sales Calls
• Complete Breakthrough Freelancer

Connect with Amy

• Website - https://amyposner.com/
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/amyrposner/
• Podcast - Business Badassery
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyposnerbusinessgrowthmentor/

Connect with me

• Lisa's Website - https://www.lisaanne.ca
• Agency Website - https://www.stockmedia.ca
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/LisaAnneCoaching
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LisaAnneCoaching
• YouTube - http://www.YouTube.com/LisaAnneCoaching
• LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/LisaAnneCoaching