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	Your First Five Clients Lately, I've received quite a bit of email from coaches and independent consultants asking me about successful strategies for gaining the first few clients. I noticed enough of a trend in these questions that I decided to write this article to address it. I hope you will find it useful as you continue to build a profitable business. First, why five clients? I'd have to say that this relates to a "felt" sense I have that once you've gained your first five (full-fee) clients, you move to a new level of confidence in your own ability to attract business. Until you gain the first five, though, you might struggle and wonder and worry about how to get there. As a Certified Sales & Guerrilla Marketing coach, I tend to favor low cost, easy, and "feel good" marketing tools, so I've created a 10 step process to gain 5 new clients in the next 3 months. 1) Create a marketing/tracking plan. This plan can be written in a notebook, or kept on the computer and it is simply a file in which you track what marketing action you will take, and when you actually take it. Once you decide what actions you will take, mark them down in your calendar and actually take them. If you find yourself avoiding the marketing action you've planned, it's probably one that's too big break it down into smaller pieces. 2) Pick at least 3 different types of marketing tools, preferably one that involves something about directly connecting with people (a broader definition of networking), one that involves writing, and one that involves speaking. 3) Do a quick check- are the strategies you've outlined ones that feel good and that you feel you can accomplish? If not, try again. If so, go on to step 4. 4) Take a new piece of paper (or a new computer file) and label each sheet with the name of your marketing action (for example, page one: speaking, page two: writing, page three: connecting with people) 5) Then, quickly, in a stream of consciousness kind of way, list everything you can easily do in each of those areas.   Write quickly and lightly - just let the ideas flow. If you get stuck or start to feel bad, put this down and leave it until another time - you've probably gone into overwhelm. Stop reading here and pick up at #6 when you return. 6) When you're ready to move ahead, scan your list and star one action that you will take, today, in each of the three arenas. So, for example, for speaking: You might scan the newspapers for places to speak. For writing: You might write one article for publication. For networking/meting people: You might call someone and invite him/her out to lunch. 7) Now, like the shampoo bottles say, rinse, and repeat. Each day, spend a few minutes lightly, easily, adding actions to each arena, and, just as easily and lightly - do what you promise you will do. This can actually be really fun if you let it. 8) Stay with these three strategies long enough to start seeing results. You will notice, after time, that your actions start to expand, and you feel better able to take more of them in one day. After time, too, see which strategies are the most successful and take more actions in this arena. 9) As you begin to get busier, stay committed to taking at least 2-3 marketing actions each day. This will keep you off the "see-saw" of high income, low income, high income, low income. As you get more comfortable with marketing, you might add additional, different types of marketing actions and, again, ease into it. 10) Now, as you continue to gain clients and confidence, congratulate yourself on a job well done. Rinse, and repeat. If you fully commit to working this plan, you will easily, quickly, and joyfully gain at least five clients in the next three months. Try it and see. About the Author: Dr. Rachna D. Jain is a sales and marketing coach. To learn more or contact Dr. Jain directly, please visit http://www.salesandmarketingcoach.com, and sign up for her free newsletter, Sales and Marketing Secrets.