 Let me share with you a method that can help you to get more new clients. So first I want you to imagine, think about a friend of yours, somebody that you genuinely like, that you respect, and that they have a business, okay? Have you got someone in mind? Now imagine that they asked for your help in getting some more clients. And they make it easier for you to, for example, think of some people that might be a good fit for them. They need to give you a message to send onward. They describe who it is that would be the best fit for them. And then you take half an hour to look through your network to see who might I send this message to. Would you help a friend who you like, you trust, you respect, who asked you for that kind of help? Probably. So why is it that we don't do this more often? So I'm going to share with you something called the barn raising method for getting new clients. So let me first explain what barn raising is. This is a method of, it's a community action that I think was popularized maybe in the 19th century in America. I think it's still used in some rural communities today. And essentially it's when a member of a community needs to build a barn because the weather is going to change and they need to build the barn quickly, they would rally their community to help build their barn. And why would the community do this? Well, especially in more rural communities or more tight-knit communities, people know each other and they trust each other, they like each other. Just like I said earlier, if a friend you liked and trusted asked you for help, wouldn't you help? Of course you would. So same thing in these communities is that person who needs the barn to be built would ask their community for help. They would set a date and then they would all come and build the barn together. And in fact, I found a cute little time lapse video that I want to show you. So it looks something like this. This is the time lapse of a barn being built. But look at this. Look at all these people working together to make this thing happen. And that's the point. That's the point of a barn-raising project is you all get together and do it together. And let's see here what happens. Continue on. See, the whole thing is coming together. And the reason why the community does this, why other people are volunteering their time to help build this barn, these are not paid workers. Okay, these are community volunteers. It's because the community members know that when they need help, this person that they've helped to build the barn of course is going to be very grateful and say, what do you need help with? And so everybody helps each other. That's what happens in a tight-knit community. And the reality is that you also have a tight-knit community of people who are willing to help you if you only reached out to ask for help. So the barn-raising strategy for getting new clients works like this. You either make a public post asking for this or you can privately reach out to 10, 15, 20 of your friends that trust you, like you, that you feel open to making this kind of vulnerable request. And the request, when I say it's vulnerable request, it all depends on how you phrase it. And I would really be open to hearing if you have any ideas for how you might phrase something like this or how you might frame this request. But let me share with you a very simple way that I thought of in a short time and please go ahead and let me know what you think about this. So let's say that you want to raise an additional, well now I said raise because it sounds like fundraising, right, barn raising sounds like fundraising. This is what people do all the time when it comes to fundraising for charities, fundraising for even medical, personal medical expenses. I mean, you've probably seen that too, right? It's gotten popular in the past 10 years to say, everyone, I have a major surgical procedure coming up or my friend does and they need help. Would you be willing to chip in $15, $20, $25 or whatever you can to help my friend with their medical or help me with the medical procedure, right? You've seen that. And so my question is why don't we do this for business? You know, if we think about our business, especially as I talk about authentic business, if we think about our business as a, you know, the only way our business can thrive, I mean, survive, let alone thrive is with community support. Isn't that true? I mean, who buys from you? It's usually, you know, for a business to get from zero to sustainable from that gap, from making nothing to being at somewhat sustainable, it's usually not strangers buying from the business. It's usually friends and family and colleagues or people who have been referred by friends, family and colleagues buying from the business, right? So it's for the business to even be survivable requires a community effort for it to work. And then once the business is sustainable to some degree, then there is more of a budget to run ads, to do, to spend, to invest more, to get the word out to more people, which now strangers are starting to, you know, see the business and to start to trust the business and therefore to buy from the business. But really the beginning, that beginning, you know, first stage is usually word of mouth with one's close knit community, which you already have. It's your friends, it's your family, it's your colleagues, it's the people that you've connected with in various courses you've taken, for example. So let me give you a, this is a template that I just came up with, you know, in a short time. And here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. You probably don't wanna just copy and paste what I wrote because then it's not authentic to you. And you know me, I always believe in using your, you know, exploring and finding your authentic voice to share. So I want you to first think about this before I show it to you, okay? Maybe pause this video before I share that with you and think, how would I make this request in my way? Maybe your style is to do it with more fun. Maybe your styles do it with more, I don't know, maybe gravitas or maybe your style is to do it with kind of a heart from a heart, very heart-based perspective. How would you make the request to say, dear community, I'd like to rally, I'd like to recruit you to kind of rally around my business to help it get to sustainable level. Now that's usually how barn raising is done. It's like, hey, we need to build a barn because the winter's coming or harvest is coming and we need the barn, but you could also use this technique to get additional, your next $1,000 a month in clients. Maybe you're already sustainable, maybe you're already making, I don't know, 5,000 a month or whatever and you wanna get to 6,000 a month or 7,000 a month or 10,000 a month and you could use the same method and come from it from a more inspirational, fun way. But the way I'm going to share the template with you is for somebody who's trying to get from zero to sustainable. So again, use my template just so that you can get the gist of the idea but then use your own way of doing it. Got it? Ready? Okay, don't copy, I mean, I'm not saying don't copy what I wrote because somehow it's copyrighted, I don't care. You can always copy anything I say, literally work forward, I don't care and call it your own. That doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is whether you're being authentic to your own community, to your own relationship with them. That's what matters. Okay, let me go and show this to you on the screen here. All right, so basically, if you wanted to raise $1,000 a month in income, it basically means you need to get four clients who are using your service four times a month who pay you $300 per month per client. Now I'm assuming, of course, it totally depends on what your per session rate is. But let's say your per session rate is $75 per session, which is a really reasonable rate for someone who is starting out in their business. Someone who's starting out might even charge less than that, might even charge $50 per session or even $25 per session and then raise their rates from there but whatever, $75 per session, let's say. And so if a client sees you four times a month, they're paying you $300 per month. So you just need four clients who are doing that $300 a month or earn you $1,200 a month. That's more than the 1,000 month. Or if you wanna have five clients who each pay you $200 a month to see you twice a month, right? Then basically $100 per session, which is also quite reasonable, then you just need five clients for that to reach $1,000 a month. Or if you're charging $125 per session, if for clients who only see you once a month, then you just need eight clients. So just think about this for a second. Don't you know more than eight people? Of course, you know more than eight people. You know hundreds of people on a first name basis. Now you're not close with all of them, but you're probably close with, I'm gonna guess you're close with like at least 20 people. 20 people, you're probably close enough with 20 people or 30 people who you feel comfortable asking for a barn raising help. Now, some of those 20 people might not be right to help you barn raise. Maybe they know somebody who would be willing to help you barn raise. Does that make sense? So you can see the numbers are quite doable. If you know 20 people and half of those 20 people referred you to three people each. They just took half an hour. Half an hour, I mean, they're a friend. They're a supportive friend, you're a family member, right? They just took half an hour to look at their contacts or look at their phone book or their LinkedIn contacts, their Facebook friends list or whatever and go, why are there three people that might be willing to sign up for my friend Susie's service or my friend Bob's service? So you see what I mean? So if 20 people, half of them or this is say 20 people referred you to two people each, then you have 40 people, potential clients. And you just need, like I showed you on the screen, you just need four of them paying you four times or paying you 300 a month or eight of them paying you 125 per month. Very doable in my opinion, I think. So here's the request. And like I said, you got to use your own language on this. This is just don't copy and paste if you want, but it's gonna be more authentic if you use your language. So basically something like this, dear friends, if you're willing to help support my business, read on, I'm setting a goal of raising, setting goal of raising $1,000 a monthly income in my business by serving more clients with the work that I love to do. Are you or someone you know, seeking help getting through the following challenges? Now that's one way of saying or you can say, hey, do you know anyone who would love to reach the following goals, right? Or do you know somebody who would love to experience the following experience, to have the following experience, okay? And then list out like one to three or five up to five, I think, of the top things you love working with people on. Now, if you don't know, just make a guess, right? Like, okay, I can imagine, if you imagine someone paying you $300 a month, seeing you four times a month, paying you $300 a month, what would you feel really good about doing with them or for them? That's the question. So list that here. And then if you already have worked with some people, okay? And this is not something you put in the post, but something I'm speaking to you privately here. If you already know what type of clients are best for you, you know, or you know, which ones are not a good fit for you, like, oh my gosh, I've worked with these types of people, they're really not the right fit. They're not ready to work with me or, you know, whatever reason. Then you can also clarify that here in this section of the message. Like, by the way, my ideal clients are at this stage development or they are this type of person or I really don't work well with clients who are this type, but I do work with clients who are this type, you know, kind of clarify that. And then you continue on with your letter, okay, with your post. To reach the goal of $1,000 additional income means having the following and then list your packages in a simple way. Just, you could even literally use what I wrote here, right? You could say this, right? You could put that in your copy and paste that in here if you want to. And then continuing finishing your letter, you could say, for those interested in exploring whether it's a good fit to work with me, I would be happy to offer a free exploratory session, one hour. Now, one hour is a generous amount of time. Some people even go longer, but you could say half an hour if you've done a lot of these before and you feel like you're pretty good at doing them. But I think one hour is a reasonable amount of time to just have a spacious conversation to ask that person questions, to get to know them better, to really show caring at once. And that's really key. I wanna look you in the eyes. Exploratory calls are not where you have a script and you go, okay, I better move this person through this motion and then that idea so that they can buy from me. That's a terrible, terrible exploratory call. What I mean here is the exploratory call is really for you to be sincere in demonstrating your warmth and your care in that conversations with your face, with your voice, be sincere about caring for that person right in front of you. Whether or not they buy from you, that's the important point. Whether or not they buy from you, they are a human being who has given the time to talk with you about their issues and their goals and their dreams or whatever they want. They've given their time and their vulnerability to talk with you. They deserve your care and warmth even that they never buy from you. And even if they never refer a single person, even if they never talk to that person ever again, they still deserve your warmth and your care, don't they? Of course they do, of course they do, right? And I'm sure you would agree with me. Okay, but the irony is if you show up with warmth and care without thinking about the sale, they're much more likely to want to continue being connected to you. And by the end of the call, you might feel like, wow, their needs and their wants are really the thing I love to do with people and at that point, your enthusiasm will genuinely bubble up and say, my goodness, I would be honored, grateful to have you as a client because this is the kind of thing that I love doing with clients. Would you be willing to, can I answer any questions about how I work with clients? That's all you gotta say, right? That's all you gotta say, rewind this. Listen to that again, okay? All right, so let's continue on with the letter here. So one hour to get to know your needs and for you to better understand whether and how I can help no strings attached genuinely other than my gratitude for at least trying, at least trying this experience out, right? The exploration will help you better understand my service and even if you don't sign up, it will equip you to be a better advocate for my services for which I'm really grateful. Again, this is being sent to the people that like you, that trust you, that you feel okay about being vulnerable and saying, hey, would you help me barn raise to build a barn to get me the next thousand, next several clients, basically. Now this part of the letter you can leave out if you want to or you can make this part of the entire letter, okay? So the alternate goal is, I would love to schedule 15 exploratory calls between these dates and give some dates. Oh, from November 1st until December 15th, whatever, okay? With anyone who resonates with what I wrote above, now you would obviously, if you wrote a letter talking about exploratory calls, you would include some of these things so people know who you're trying to reach out to, right? Would you like to take one of these exploratory sessions or maybe refer someone to it? If so, comment yes below. Now I'm assuming that you're posting this on Facebook or whatever and I'll be in touch to schedule it. If you're doing as a private message, then just say, hey, if so, let me know and I'll be in touch, okay? So my question is, how do you feel about the strategy, okay? How would you feel if a friend posted this? Like I said, think about someone you would like. Now, a common concern is some people might say, George, doesn't this lower my professional credibility when I'm asking my network for help to get clients? Doesn't this make people somehow make me seem desperate or not successful and people only want to work with people who are successful, right? Well, let's think this through here. Let me ask you this question. Are you a marketing, are you setting yourself up as a marketing expert? Are you, is that the service you're selling? Are you saying, hey everyone, I'd like to get some clients because I'm good at marketing. I know how to help people market their business. If that's the case, then this strategy won't work for you, I'm sorry. I mean, it still could. If you're willing to be vulnerable to certain people, they probably could help you out. But this strategy works for most of you who are watching this, who don't build yourself, who don't promote yourself as a marketing expert, who don't promote yourself as, I'm good at helping people get clients. That's not what you're selling. You're selling your healing service. You're selling your coaching, life coaching service. You're selling any sort of, whatever you're selling, you're not saying you're a marketing expert. Like ironically, I have a hard time using this strategy because people say, George, aren't you supposed to be good at helping people get clients? I can't be, you can't get your own clients. I would agree if you, right? But the funny thing is I exactly did this years ago when I started my business. So, hey folks, I have started my social media marketing, consulting company business, and I would love your help getting the word out about this. I did this in the beginning of it and I got my first couple of inquiries clients from doing this. So I have a thick skin, I guess, and I didn't mind telling people. And guess what? Everyone, now, hopefully, I think people see me as respectable, credible. I have, now I have a waiting list, I've had a waiting list of clients for five years now. Five years straight, I've had a waiting list of clients. So my business has developed to a very mature stage, but in the beginning, I did this exact thing. Even as a marketing expert, in the beginning, I'm a marketing expert, but I need your help. That means people know I'm a marketing expert. I did that, right? Anyway, so I'm just saying, especially you're not a marketing expert, you can certainly tell your network, hey folks, I'm not a marketing person. I'm not good at marketing. I'm good at healing. I'm good at my coaching. I'm good at whatever it is thing I do, but I'm not good at marketing. So can you all help me out, dear friends? You see what I mean? So the last thing I'll say is that if you feel shy about doing this, you don't have to post it on Facebook. Now, for those of you who are actually interested in posting this as a public post on Facebook or on LinkedIn or Instagram or Twitter or whatever, if you're interested in making a public post about this, I would love to see it. And if you go ahead or make a YouTube video, public YouTube video about this, I would love to see it and go ahead and comment below with the link to your post. If you don't want to get the link to your post, look it up. You can get a link to any social media posts. On Facebook, you click on the timestamp. The timestamp of your post, you click on it, it gives you a URL. That page is what you can paste below as long as it's a public post. Everyone can see it who's not your friend. They can see it for the link below. I'd love to see you do this. If you want to do it in your own language. If you're shy though about doing it publicly, you can just ask five, 10, 15, 20 of the friends who like you, who trust you that you trust, that you really trust them to get help from. So email or privately message some friends, hey, would you be willing to help me out on this barn raising idea? And if you are willing, let me know. And maybe you can create a secret little Facebook group or secret Google group to keep in touch about this project so that you can update them along the way on how it's going as you make your way towards $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 a month in income. So again, keep the idea really simple. It's basically to inspire and to recruit some supportive friends, whether it's a public post or private messages to come to your help, to help you with your business, just like you would help somebody else that you like and trust with their business, wouldn't you? Of course you would. So I'm really curious to know what you think about this. If you have any suggestions as well to make this idea work for you even better or maybe work for others, feel free to comment below. Or any questions, quick questions, I'm happy to answer briefly as well. All right, go for it, let me know what you think and may this help you to get your next $1,000 a month in income or more. Take care.