I was scrolling Reddit (bad habit) and I saw this post from a guy complaining that he only attracts low-budget clients for his freelance advertising services.
I don’t need any additional info to ID this guy’s problem.
It’s obvious.
The problem isn’t that he’s having a hard time attracting the right clients. It’s that he’s having a hard time scaring away the wrong ones.
The concept of actively trying to repel potential customers is anathema to most people because, let’s face it, most business owners and freelancers are operating in Extreme Scarcity Mode.
You wake up every day feeling like you have an anvil on your chest. You log in and think “what fires do I have to put out today?”. You’re worried that something/someone is going to swoop in and take away whatever customers and whatever revenue you currently have.
The last thing on your mind is trying to push away people who want to give you money.
But if you want the big clients, that’s exactly what you have to do.