Solocast: How to stop “selling yourself”

TL;DR

Marketing yourself feels weird? Let’s fix that.

In this solo episode, I’m breaking down the mindset shifts that make getting clients way easier.

Spoiler: it’s not about “selling yourself.” Instead, we’re talking about:

📗 the numbers game

📗 how to build real relationships

📗 why persistence pays off (yes, even when people ignore you).

I’ll also share my shoe store analogy (a.k.a. how to approach potential clients with patience, empathy, and a strategy that actually works).

If marketing has felt frustrating or overwhelming, this episode is for you.

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Transcript

Rachel Meltzer (00:01.176) Welcome back to the guidebook everybody. Today is a solo cast, just me, Rachel, talking to you about marketing yourself. I think that there are so many points that I want to touch on today about marketing yourself because it is definitely multifaceted. think if you

Rachel Meltzer (00:27.99) If you consider getting clients and putting yourself out there on the internet as a freelancer, selling yourself, or you feel like you're bad at marketing yourself, then this episode is for you. There are multiple factors that go into getting clients, and a major one is your mindset. So today we're gonna talk about shifting your mindset in a way that will help you get clients.

I know this can sound like super woo woo and I genuinely thought it was a joke when I first started freelancing because it feels like getting clients is such a practical thing that should be a skill or a technique or a system that you can learn and in some ways it definitely is. But if you truly believe that getting clients is selling yourself or that you're bad at marketing yourself,

and you're wondering why people are ever going to hire you and you're worried about competing with AI and you're worried about competing with thousands of other freelancers and all this stuff, then you are actively going to start holding yourself back and creating an anxiety that makes it almost impossible to achieve your goals. And we're here to unblock that today. So the first thing I do want to say on this topic of getting clients.

So we're going to run through three things today. Number one is the fact that getting clients is a numbers game. The second thing we're going to talk about is that it's not actually about selling yourself. It's about networking and creating relationships that get you what you need. And the last thing we're going to talk about is one of my favorite analogies for getting clients, the shoe store. So first let's

just dive into the whole numbers game of it all. If you've been to my Get Clients on LinkedIn webinar, you'll know that generally on LinkedIn, which is how I mostly recommend getting clients, if your niche is on there, it's like a 25 % conversion rate, okay? So of all the connection requests you're gonna send, about 25 % of those are going to accept.

Rachel Meltzer (02:36.749) And of that 25%, another 25 % will probably become your clients within the next two years if you're using my Get Clients on LinkedIn method, which recommends a specific regimented follow-up system that you can use over the course of two years. So that's sort of how the numbers shake out. A lot of people have more success than that. Some people have less. And if you're actually on the email cold pitching train, good for you. Kudos. I hate email cold pitching. I do it, but I don't like it.

Generally the average response rate to email call pitches is about 8%. The conversion rate, have not been able to get enough data to have a specific number for you, but already that's, you know, 8%. That's a pretty small amount. And if we're talking about content marketing, average is about 2%. Okay. So if we think about all of these things, all of these numbers, our brains are like super biased to see the worst.

because we are looking out for threats to protect ourselves, right? And our brains, when we go into something, we think of success as being like definitely more than 60%. Like you want to get a C average at school, right? We want to think of success as like 80 to 100%, you know? But that's honestly not realistic as an entrepreneur. It's just not. Like it takes at least seven times most of the time to sell something to somebody. And it takes time.

and numbers to get to your goals as a freelancer when you're trying to get clients, when you're trying to make money. And I know it can feel frustrating and it can feel super weird that like 75 % of people are just not responding to you. Or if you're email cold pitching, 92 % of people are just not responding to you. It can feel so discouraging, but you have to start shifting into this place where you acknowledge that just because people aren't responding to you doesn't actually mean anything. It doesn't mean anything.

you are not getting enough data from that non-response to actually be able to say like, oh, I can't get clients. Because nobody is, you don't have enough data to say like, nobody wants to work with me, nobody's hiring, nobody wants to work with me because of AI, nobody wants to work with me because of my portfolio. You're not getting any response from these people. They're not saying any of those things. You're deciding to tell yourself that.

Rachel Meltzer (05:01.408) What these people are saying with their silence is absolutely nothing. But what it might mean on their end, coming from someone who has hired freelancers and having interviewed a lot of people who have hired freelancers, usually they just don't have time to respond to you. They don't have opportunities at that time. They don't want to hurt your feelings by telling you no. Or they do want to work with you in the future and they just forgot to respond to you. Or maybe they don't want to work with you.

and they just don't respond. Or maybe they don't go on LinkedIn that much, so they're not responding. You never know why someone is not responding. And the way that things change is typically on a three month basis. So that's why I always recommend after your first three or four outreaches to somebody, following up on a quarterly basis so that you're actually timing your follow ups with when things are typically going to be changing in their business and they might have a different response for you than absolutely nothing or a no.

So that's the first thing. And if you want to hear more about this, I teach about this inside Pop Club and my one-on-one coaching programs. So meltzerseltzer.com/coaching will have all of that info there. And I also teach about this in all of my free webinars. You can find them in the link in the description of this podcast episode, whether you're on YouTube or you're listening on your favorite podcast player. So that's the numbers game aspect of it. We can't forget that. Okay. And then the second part is

I really shifted my idea of getting clients to networking. Rather than trying to just like, you know, connect with people and immediately ask them for work, which is what people on LinkedIn call pitch slapping. I started seeing it more as trying to get to know people in my industry and get to know who they know and get to know what they do, why they do it, how they do it.

in a way that's not like nosy or annoying, but that I'm building a relationship. The more you build relationships, the more people want to work with you or refer you. I've had people who I've built relationships with on LinkedIn that I have ended up getting referrals from, even though we never even worked together, because they just liked my personality and they saw my portfolio as good enough to share. So you have to think about

Rachel Meltzer (07:22.869) how you can connect with people on a more personal level without being unprofessional and also just nurturing the people you're connecting with. You're gonna have your ideal clients list and if you're following my program, you can literally see it for free in the Get Clients Guidebook. The links are on my website, melzerselter.com slash free. All my free resources are there. If you're following that guide, the whole point of it is to start creating simple networking connections.

you're going to send them a personal introductory letter once they connect with you. You're going to thank them for connecting and introduce yourself. After that, you're going to ask them what they need. After that, you're then going to let them know your availability and what you offer. So you're not pitch-slapping. You're trying to get to know them first. You can also get to know them in your feed or through the comments or by posting more and asking for people to engage. And I'm going to tell you right now, like 99 % of people are not

posting on LinkedIn or not commenting on LinkedIn or not as active as you might be or as I might be. But that doesn't mean that you can't try and it doesn't mean that it's not meaningful and it doesn't mean that these messages that you're sending them from this method aren't working to build a relationship. You just need to trust that if you're going into it with the right intentions, the right people will find you. Some people will find it annoying, some people...

will tell you they're not interested, some people will block you, some people will unfollow you, who cares? All you need is to focus on the people that you're attracting in a good way. All you need is one person to decide you're worth working with and become your client. All you need is one person to decide you're worth referring and start giving you clients. I am telling you, I went to one in-person event in 2019 and I have gotten

more than seven referrals from that one single person in an industry that I was trying to break into for two years. Okay. Just because I told them I liked their product and I used it. It's incredible. You never know who that person's going to be. You cannot predict the future. You cannot predict perfect timing. So you just have to trust that if you're going into it with the right intentions and you're doing your best to be consistent, you will eventually find and connect with those people and the wheels will start.

Rachel Meltzer (09:45.052) spinning, but you have to build that momentum for yourself by playing the numbers game, right? Okay. The last thing I want to talk about is a very quick story time. I don't know if anything is a very quick story time with me, but I'll try to keep it brief. So one of my first jobs when I was in high school was working at Nike as a shoe salesman. Woman? Person? I worked at the retail outlets in North Conway, New Hampshire. And

One of the main things that they teach you during training is that people don't want to be pitch slapped, essentially. They don't want to be like jumped on. They don't want products shoved in their face. They want you to be there when they need help, but they want to feel in control of the experience. basically,

And I'll go through this with the Get Clients Guidebook in mind so you can sort of see the correlation between the brick and mortar store and the real life store. But I always recommend freelancers essentially act like you are working in a retail store. Okay, when someone comes in the door, you want to let them know you're there without like jumping on them and shoving a product down your throat. And that's sort of what that first message is for. You send the connection request and once they accept it, you introduce yourself.

In the shoe store equivalent would be, hey, I'm Rachel. I work in shoe sales. If you need help with finding any shoes, just let me know, I'm here for you. And usually they'll be like, no, I'm just browsing. That's what they always say. Literally every person who walks in the store will say that. And then we're told about 15, 20 minutes later, if they're still there, to walk over and say, hey, did you need help finding anything? The LinkedIn equivalent of that is, hey, do you ever work with freelancers or?

whatever you want to call yourself as a job title. Usually they'll probably say no and that they're still just browsing. But if they're still there like 30, 45 minutes into their shopping experience and they still haven't quite figured out what they need and they're still looking around and feeling indecisive, that's when they probably actually really do need help. So the LinkedIn equivalent of this, it's about a month, month and a half into

Rachel Meltzer (12:01.401) when you started connecting with them and talking to them. So I'll go over and say, hey, and I'll try to comment on whatever their situation is. Maybe they tried on a couple of shoes, didn't feel like anything was working for them. And I'll ask them, you know, what are you using these shoes for? How much are you going to be wearing them? How much are you willing to spend? And then I can give them some recommendations based on what they're looking for.

And if those questions aren't really resonating with them, maybe they need help with fit. Maybe I'll help fit them, I'll size their foot. Maybe I'll go get them something from the back that they couldn't find on the shelves. Whatever it is, usually by that point, they're like ready for help because they've been there a while and they tried to do it themselves and they struggled. The same is usually true with the LinkedIn people who are going to bite at this time. This is when you say, hey, I have availability coming up on this date. I just wanted to let you know in case you need help with

let them know whatever your services are. A lot of times people on LinkedIn are gonna respond to this, this message, and ask for your portfolio and your pricing guide and start getting to know you. This is when you wanna hopefully get their email and maybe even get them in a discovery call. But a lot of times, the majority of the time, 75 % of the time, people are actually just not gonna respond to this message at all because they're still browsing. Maybe they don't have enough money to buy the shoes that day, they were just trying them on. Maybe they're...

just looking and they're not really seeing what they need. Maybe they actually don't need it yet, but they were already at the mall, so they figured they would look, right? Same with goes for LinkedIn. Maybe they don't have the budget yet. Maybe they're still formulating their idea. Maybe they don't actually know what kind of freelancer they need, but you connected with them, so they might as well accept your connection request, right? At this point now is when we start to back off. This is when we say, okay, I've given you some help.

or I've asked you questions and you didn't need it, let me know when you're ready for help. And they're usually like, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. But if that person is still there after they walked in an hour ago, an hour and a half ago, I will go back and be like, hey, are you sure you don't need any help? Sometimes that's when they need help. Sometimes they're like, no, I'm still browsing. Not a single person, when I worked at Nike, was ever annoyed with me for having gone back an hour later after asking them if they needed help four times.

Rachel Meltzer (14:26.437) and asking if they needed help again, even if they said no every single time. Not a single person was annoyed. Why? Because I'm a friendly person. I'm kind, I'm personable. I'm asking them about them. I am offering them help and I am not saying, you need to buy these Nike Vemaro seven five whatever whatever's right now. You know what I mean? I was never being like, your shoes suck. You should buy these ones. Shout out to anybody who's doing.

tear downs on a personal level. think tear downs can be a great tool for your portfolio, but sometimes they're a little too aggressive, okay? But hopefully this analogy can help you visualize and understand what it's like to be selling something. Typically, we'll talk to somebody who comes into a store, if they are truly going to drop over $100 on shoes, at least four times, sometimes seven times. And when it comes to getting clients, especially on LinkedIn, I've noticed,

The majority of my clients come from the fifth, sixth, seventh follow-up. And these are quarterly at that point. So I've been talking to these people for like 18 months, a year and a half. I don't say this to discourage you because things take a long time sometimes. I say this to give you hope and understanding that you just need to persist and grease the wheel and keep going to create the momentum and build relationships in a way that people want to feel and

be heard and be seen. Even when you're doing business, it's still important to be empathetic to the person that you are talking to. And this is also, again, going back to the numbers game, why it's important to have a lot of people going from your ideal clients list to your respondents section, to your first follow-up, all the way through your sales funnel.

so that you have people at every stage, so you have people to follow up with, so that you're not stuck waiting a year and a half just to land one single client. Because the odds of that, if you're only reaching out to one or four or five people, is not good. Not good, percentage-wise. That is why you need to have the volume moving through. Some people are going to bite when you offer your availability the first time. Some people are going to wait until the sixth message to even respond to you. Some people are going to get to the seventh message and be like,

Rachel Meltzer (16:41.297) Thank God you were so persistent. This is perfect timing. This is exactly what I needed. You don't know. You just cannot know. You cannot predict the future. You cannot have complete control over this. The only way you can have control over getting clients and having a stable business and really like being proactive in your business is to just pay attention to the numbers game, be a good person and continue with your system consistently.

over a long period of time. Every time you want to give up, that is when something good happens. And if you want to give up because it's been three months and you haven't gotten a client yet, it's too early. You need to be sending more connection requests or pitches, whatever you're doing. You need to be doing more. And I know sometimes that feels like a lot, but you can truly do this in one hour a day.

if you are strategic about it. And that whole guide to doing it for an hour per day is in the Get Clients Guidebook. It is completely free. It is exactly what I do every day. I also offer it as a done for you service. So if you genuinely don't have the time and energy and this stuff still wigs you out even after this entire pep talk, I offer this as a done for you service for as little as $300 a week.

will literally go into your LinkedIn and make these relationships for you. I will go in every single day and send connection requests for you. I will send you reports and recaps. I'll let you know who you need to respond to and I'll make sure that you're getting clients so that you don't have to do it alone. If you want that, reach out to me. My email is rachaelhmeltzer at gmail.com or you can find this on my site in my shop: meltzerseltzer.com/shop. I am not trying to push a product here. I mean, I kind of am. Obviously this is a shameless plug.

But you don't need me to be doing this for you. At the end of the day, you can do this yourself. You are capable of it. But I've had multiple people come to me, single moms, people in grad school, people who have a full-time job, they're trying to quit, people who got laid off who are trying to apply for full-time jobs because they're not sure, but they would love some freelance work, but they don't want to work for an agency because tonight's working for an agency really sucks. If any of those sound like you and you do still need help with this, let me know. I am here to help you.

Rachel Meltzer (18:53.777) And if you wanna learn more about my getting clients method, you wanna implement it yourself, the Get Clients Guidebook, the Get Clients on LinkedIn webinar, they're both free. They're both on my website meltzerseltzer.com/free, or scroll down to my YouTube and you'll see that webinar from last week. We also have another one coming up in the fall if you're interested in that. Okay, I really hope this was helpful. Hope this pep talk pepped you up.

on this short little solo cast and I will see you next week with another guest expert on the show.