Plan Out Your 3-Year Vision for Attracting Clients
In practice building (and getting clients) it seems to be
that most self-employed people just hope for the best. They
simply keep doing what they’ve been doing and don’t have a
strategy for creating the practice they’d be truly and
deeply happy with. This is a big mistake in my opinion.
I used to write down my goals each year, but it never
really worked for me. I just didn’t feel really excited
about my new goals. They didn’t seem to propel me in motion
and so I kind of viewed them as being useless. I never
really looked at them, probably because they seemed like
“shoulds” rather than “really-meaningful-wants.”
Then I came across the concept of creating 3-year visions
instead of just a list of goals for the upcoming year. This
visioning wasn’t just about business goals, but also
family, financial, spiritual, and relationship goals. It
became a “holistic” way of looking at what you wanted in
your life. All the pieces looked like they would work
together, but only because you were compelled to make it
all work together, which was the first time I’d done that
in such depth.
The coolest thing about visioning 3 years out came to me
after I started doing this regularly. I noticed that ONE
year goals were never too much of a stretch. They seemed
like timid goals, goals that didn’t really get me excited.
But having to create a vision of what 3 years down the line
would look like allowed me to REALLY think BIG.
5 Great Ways to Find Referrals
While referrals are one of the most important sources of
new clients for therapists and coaches, how to get them
seems to be something of a mystery. Below is a five-step
referral strategy that can switch on your referral faucet,
or turn a trickle into a steady flow.
#1-Focus on Your Ideal Clients 
 Do you want to work
with men in career transition? People dealing with health
issues? Families in crisis? Females with eating disorders?
Newly retired individuals? You may serve a narrow niche of
clientele, or a broad swath. For example, your market may
be “stay-at-home mothers in their 30s who used to be
corporate executives with six-figure incomes,” or you may
help your clients deal with an assortment of issues, such
as: depression, addictions, marital issues, stress and
sexual trauma. It doesn’t matter for these purposes. What
does matter is getting clear: Whom do you serve?
#2-Discover Where They Gather 
 Where do the people
who could benefit from your services gather? If you’re a
therapist specializing in grief, for example, think about
mortuaries and churches. People dealing with addiction
issues might be found at AA or other 12-step meetings,
including Al-Anon. If you work with couples in crisis,
consider coffee shops, beauty salons, the offices of family
lawyers and mom groups.
Small business owners might meet at the local Chamber of
Commerce or at professional networking gatherings. People
concerned with their health and fitness might be found at
gyms, day spas or the offices of massage therapists,
personal trainers or holistic practitioners. Retired
people? Think volunteer organizations, travel agencies,
hobby shops, golf courses. Get the picture? When you’re
clear about where your ideal clients gather, you can take
the next step, which is to build a relationship with the
professional or person in charge at each of these locations.
