September 10, 2025 • 19 mins
In this episode, we dive into the “referral trap” that keeps coaches, agency owners, and service providers stuck in a cycle of waiting for work to come to them. Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience, our host explores why referrals feel safe but aren’t truly secure—especially after the challenges of 2024, when many businesses saw their referral streams dry up.
Key topics include:
- Why relying solely on referrals is risky and reactive, not reliable
- The difference between feeling safe and being secure in your business
- The impact of economic shifts and changing client behaviour on referral-based growth
- The importance of building proactive, predictable lead generation systems
- How to regain control, confidence, and joy in your business by diversifying your client acquisition strategies
Tune in for practical mindset shifts and actionable steps to move beyond passive referrals and create a more resilient, sustainable business. If you’re ready to stop waiting and start building, this episode is for you!
Curious about one-to-one coaching? Submit an application here and we can chat about your business.
If you’re ready for more personalised support, I currently have space for five new one-to-one coaching clients.
It’s 11 hours of tailored coaching for £2,500, designed to help you build a marketing system that feels like you — no formulas, no pretending.
If you want to apply for one of these spots before we open it up more widely, you can do that here:
https://airtable.com/app28MNir9SrqMbbK/pagGT2MCWXEbrEUVH/form
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to theCaffeine Authority Builder
Podcast.
Today we're gonna be talkingabout the referral trap that
keeps service providers, likecoaches and agency owners stuck.
And I have to say, I feel likethe one solid constant during
my.
Nearly 20 years now working inthis particular area, and that
(00:21):
is referrals Feel safe.
You don't have to sell, youdon't have to put yourself out
there.
A client just drops into yourinbox, into your phone and it
feels like the easiest thing inthe world.
But I want to ask you, questionand interrogate this today.
Does safe also mean secure?
What happens when thosereferrals stop?
(00:42):
Which for many of us.
And I include myself to someextent, they did last year, 2024
was really, really difficultyear for businesses that had
depended on referred clients fortheir business to grow.
And by referred clients, I mean.
Anything where an ex-client oran ex-colleague or current
(01:06):
client colleague, somebody hassaid, Hey, this person would be
great for you.
You should get in contact withthem, and a new business
opportunity has come to youalready warm because it's been
verified confirmed that you area good fit by this mutual
contact.
That's what we mean by referredwork, and I wanna be clear that
is the best kind of work whenthere is.
(01:29):
social approval, socialconfirmation that somebody is
gonna be a good fit for yourbusiness, and, and it minimizes
the risk that the person istaking, the client is taking
when they come to you and askfor your help with something, or
ask for you to put a quotation,a proposal together to work with
(01:49):
them.
Often those conversations, thosefirst calls we have, we call
them chemistry calls or quickconsults, they feel a lot warmer
than if somebody has justGoogled and found your business
and is getting in contact withyou completely cold, because
when something is referred,it's.
That potential client is muchfurther through the know, like,
(02:11):
and trust process, which meansyou are already established as
an authority somewhat in theirbrain, and it's a more
comfortable step to take to giveyou money.
It also feels so much better asthe service provider, as the
person being paid because we.
Feel like we have to do lessconvincing.
(02:34):
We know that somebody hasalready vouched for us.
We can get often into the breastacks of actually what we're
gonna do together, rather thanhave to go through the, the
cajoling, massaging kind ofstage of, of helping that person
to like you and.
Nobody, and I don't know how toput this, there's something
(02:56):
around people pleasing in this.
It's like if you don't have tojump through the hoops, of
reacting to somebody's bodylanguage or, yeah.
Nonverbal cues and even theverbal cues and trying to get
all the check boxes signed off.
(03:16):
When you're speaking to somebodycompletely outta the blue, am I
speaking in too many metaphors?
But basically, if you, if youdon't have to convince them, not
only that you're a good person,but also you're good at your job
during that first call, then itmakes life so much easier.
If somebody's referred you, somework to you, then oftentimes we
(03:40):
will be starting theconversation typically with.
A bit more of a joke, a chatabout where the opportunities
come from, the mutual person wehave in common, what we may have
done with them, and then turningthe conversation to the
prospective clients challengeand the opportunities that lies
(04:00):
ahead and the pathway that wewould recommend for them to get
there.
And then, put a proposal aroundthat in terms of finance and
timeline.
That's the best kind of stuff,right?
It is so good.
It feels so good when that stuffcomes in also because it's so
flattering.
but 2024 was exceptionallydifficult for so many businesses
in the service sector foreconomic reasons.
(04:22):
But I think a lot of us didn'trealize it was economic reasons
for quite a while.
And we probably took it quitepersonally.
I know to an extent I did andthought, oh my goodness.
Am I failing?
what's happened?
It really knocked my confidenceand I know it did a lot of my
clients as well.
I have many people coming to meand saying, we, I dunno if I
should just, quit and go back tomy day job, or, reduce my staff
(04:45):
or kind of hibernate thebusiness for a while because I.
I feel like everything we'vedone so far, which let's be
clear, was basically nothing'cause they were passively
sitting and waiting for peopleto come to them.
doesn't seem to be workinganymore and we don't have any
clients lined up and we don'tknow what to do.
Now that is a really difficultplace to be in because when you
(05:09):
don't have anything lined up,particularly in the service
industry where our timelines arequite long for, a higher.
Price point products.
I work with a lot of agencieswho are charging tens of
thousands, if not hundreds ofthousands, and sometimes into
the millions of pounds perproject, depending on the scale
and breadth of it.
(05:29):
People do not make decisionsabout investing in those kind of
projects quickly.
It takes a really long time andyou need to be well on that
prospective client's radar.
And be establishing thatauthority long before they're
gonna be in a position toactually do any appointing.
(05:51):
So if you come to a company likeMine, caffeine, and say, we're a
bit scared about the next threeto six months, you are already
dealing with a situation whereyou need to move pretty fast.
If you say to me, we don't haveany clients lined up whatsoever.
And we've gotta keep the lightson.
(06:12):
Next month, I'd say you've got apretty urgent problem and I'd
urge you to really, look at thelow hanging fruit that you can
pick, so to speak, and, quickclients that you can pick up
based on your existing network.
And, and just doing a bit ofhustling.
But what feels really amazing iswhen you don't have to worry.
(06:34):
About depending solely onreferrals, because you have not
been passive, you are activelydoing something about it.
So here is the mindset shiftthat I want you to take into
account as we go through today'sepisode, is that referrals are
reactive.
They're not reliable.
It's like relying on rainwaterto fill your tank.
(06:56):
And as we know, we're goingthrough a climate crisis and you
cannot depend on rainwater and.
What I hate most about reactive,is that you are not in control.
You are waiting for somebodyelse to do the thing on your
behalf.
It's not something that you areable to.
(07:18):
Predict in any way other thanthe previous data.
And when we've had years like20, 24 thrown at us where
referrals really did dry up fora lot of people, you know, that
data's completely skewed.
You can't take that as the normanymore because economically
people are making differentdecisions.
There are different, optionsavailable for many people in a
(07:39):
way that they weren't before.
Thinking about generative ai,some businesses that's really
negatively affecting them overthe long term.
And so it's super important nowmore than ever, that you have a
backup plan.
And I want you to think about,thinking about a different part
of life and a parent of youngchildren.
(07:59):
I have somewhat some controlissues and when it comes to
parenting, travel yes, alsobusiness.
I dunno if you can ever, if youcan relate to this, but have you
ever depended on word of mouth,babysitters, for example, for
your kids and then one weekendno.
Was, no one was available?
(08:21):
Or for example, have you,planned a holiday?
I live an adventure holiday withlots and lots of stops and not a
lot of rest, frankly.
and, plum it.
On the assumption thateverything's gonna go right when
that rarely happens, especiallywhen you're traveling with kids
and you're doing something a bitmore adventurous.
(08:41):
If I just had a single plan, Ididn't have any backup
babysitters, I didn't have somekind of fallback options in
terms of if the car hire placecompletely lets us down when we
go on our adventure holiday,which actually happened when I
went to Costa Rica earlier thisyear.
if I didn't have backup plans inplace, then.
I'd be really stuck in thosesituations.
(09:03):
And this applies to business aswell.
It's such a dream and feels sogood when everything goes right.
You know when you do go on thatadventure holiday and everything
just falls into place,everything just slots and
nothing goes wrong and you kindof look around, you're like, is
this really happening?
I don't wanna say it out loud'cause it's actually going
really well so far.
(09:24):
And also when you know yourfirst choice of babysitter is
available at the weekend.
To go back to that analogy, it'ssimilar to depending on
referrals in your business, it'sthe kind of vibe around
referrals they should feel niceto have.
They shouldn't feel likesomething you absolutely depend
on for your payroll.
(09:44):
It's just not feasible thatreferrals are a, a dedicated new
business strategy that you candepend on.
And honestly, I can't think of abusiness type where if you don't
agree with that, you aren'tslightly diluted because
referrals have become sounreliable for many businesses
(10:05):
across the, the broad spectrumof service businesses that I
work with over the course of thelast 18 months that I feel like
we're at the point where theytruly are a nice to have for
almost everybody.
I know many businesses, and I'vebeen in businesses where, we
used to believe that referralswere our main source and we
worked actively to instigatethose referrals.
(10:27):
But over the course of the last18 months, even if you are
actively, you're proactivelydoing something about
generating.
Referrals, which can feel quiteuncomfortable for a lot of
people.
directly asking for referrals ormaking sure that you are
socializing with previousclients so you're front of mind
when they recommend to somebodyelse or following a client
through their career as theymove from business to business.
(10:50):
Hoping that they hire you in forthe similar kind of brief every
time they move to a newbusiness.
the, these proactive ways ofgenerating referrals.
They used to be super dependableas well, but now we're even
finding that people who arereally being proactive about
generating referrals are notseeing the same results.
(11:11):
And so.
I want you to consider this areframe instead of hoping a past
client sends someone your way,imagine knowing that you've got
a list of people, you've gotconversations scheduled, and
you've got a steady system thatis providing, new leads, new
opportunities to you.
And it may well be that.
(11:33):
A whole bunch of referrals docome in and you win them, and
it's the best kind of newbusiness, but I don't want you
to feel like you have to dependon something you don't know is
round the corner.
So giving you an example from myown business, I'd say I don't
know what it is for the last 12months, but I know the previous
(11:53):
12 months period.
We shifted from being, 60 to 70%of our revenue came from
referred traffic, and it droppedmassively to about 20% of our,
our revenue came from referredtraffic through 2024.
(12:13):
I'll be honest, I hadn't fullyscaled up my system to enable.
More business to come in and Ihad to really quickly step up my
game and start working aroundthis to re-implement and get
fully up to speed.
Our outreach system where weconnect with people via LinkedIn
(12:36):
who are in the space that wetypically help best with, and we
offer them something ofinterest, we become visible to
them, and then they move intoour, our environment.
A caffeine email list, I guessis the best way to put it.
they are then absorbing ourpodcast and other useful content
that we put out there.
(12:58):
And when the time is right, weare front of mind because we've
stayed in front of their eyesover, a long period of time, an
extended period of time.
And so we often to mind whenthey come to hire somebody in
that space.
But I have to say, when I wasgetting a lot of referred work,
I let the outreach system slip.
(13:20):
I didn't turn it on for severalweeks at a time because I was
busy and I didn't think it wasimportant and relevant to me,
and I got stuck in in by nottaking my own advice and having
something ticking over in thebackground that makes you
visible to.
More new people who are theright fit for you, that you do
(13:43):
not have to depend on convertinginto paying clients anytime
soon.
I really want you to constantlybe thinking about how you can be
becoming more visible to more ofthe right kind of fit
prospective clients, not in thehope that they convert in the
next three to six, to even 12months, but that they're coming
(14:05):
into your orbit.
They are seeing you, they aremoving through that knowlike
interest process, and I, what Ireally, really want for you is
that you do get a ton ofreferred work in the meantime,
but what I'd love for you.
On top of that is the peace andcomfort that comes from knowing
you are doing somethingproactive about getting in front
(14:28):
of new people, as well asdepending on or hoping and
looking forward to gettingreferred work into your
business.
So I want you to consider a fewquestions here.
When was the last time areferral came in for you and how
did it feel?
What happened the last timereferrals slowed down or
(14:51):
stopped?
I want you to think about howmuch of your current business is
dependent on other peoplerecommending you.
Be really honest with yourself.
And if referrals disappearedtomorrow, what would you do to
find your next client?
What would you feel different ifyou knew exactly where your next
client was coming from?
(15:13):
And hopefully the answer to thatlast question is a sense of
peace and removal of some stressof some court of sort.
What would it feel like to knowexactly where your next client
was coming from?
Safe is nice, but secure feelsbetter.
And how I feel now when I knowwhere my next client is coming
(15:33):
from, when I know that I'mnaturally adding people into my
orbit consistently, so I feelcalm, grounded, able to plan
ahead, I show up better.
My current business, I show upbetter for my current clients.
I.
Feel, you feel in control.
And maybe that's not necessarilya good thing in a lot of
(15:54):
different areas, but certainlyin terms of owning a business, I
think feeling in control to a, agreater extent is an excellent
asset because you show up toevery interaction.
And every opportunity with adifferent type of energy and a
different type of confidencethat instills more confidence in
(16:15):
others and, helps you to winmore business.
So it really is aself-fulfilling prophecy and I
really want you to think aboutwhat would having that level of
predictability free you up to doboth in business and outside of
it?
Because I know when I.
I can predict things less when Ifeel like we've got less of a
system and a, a plan in place.
(16:38):
I feel somewhat chaotic.
I feel inefficient, which is themost uncomfortable feeling for
me.
I feel messy and it shows upoutside of work as well.
less enjoyable, frankly.
And, if you're a business owneras well, then in all likelihood
you started your businessbecause you got a sense of joy
(16:58):
from it, as well as the fact itwas the way you were gonna earn
money.
And, and I think it's important,we do the best we can to
preserve.
That aspect of being a businessowner, because let's face it,
there's a lot of challenges anddownsides as well.
So we do need to have that joycoming in at some point.
So if you're done with waitingfor referrals and you're ready
(17:20):
to build a system, I just wantto let you know that we do have
some spaces for one-to-onecoaching right now that's
working directly with me, 11hours over 10 sessions, and
they'll be starting.
At the beginning of October,2025, running through to the end
of the year.
So you are in a really goodplace to not be depending
(17:41):
exclusively on referrals as youmove in to 2026.
If that sounds of interest toyou, then I want you to go check
out the link in the show notes.
If just, even if you're justthinking about it, fill out an
application, we can have a chat.
I'd love to hear more about yourbusiness, and even if we don't
end up working together, I'msure, and I know you're gonna
(18:04):
come away with some ideas thatyou can implement that will help
you move forward in a reallypositive way.
Okay, until next time, bye-bye.
Hello and welcome to theCaffeine Authority Builder
Podcast.
Today we're gonna be talkingabout the referral trap that
keeps service providers, likecoaches and agency owners stuck.
And I have to say, I feel likethe one solid constant during
my.
Nearly 20 years now working inthis particular area, and that
(00:21):
is referrals Feel safe.
You don't have to sell, youdon't have to put yourself out
there.
A client just drops into yourinbox, into your phone and it
feels like the easiest thing inthe world.
But I want to ask you, questionand interrogate this today.
Does safe also mean secure?
What happens when thosereferrals stop?
(00:42):
Which for many of us.
And I include myself to someextent, they did last year, 2024
was really, really difficultyear for businesses that had
depended on referred clients fortheir business to grow.
And by referred clients, I mean.
Anything where an ex-client oran ex-colleague or current
(01:06):
client colleague, somebody hassaid, Hey, this person would be
great for you.
You should get in contact withthem, and a new business
opportunity has come to youalready warm because it's been
verified confirmed that you area good fit by this mutual
contact.
That's what we mean by referredwork, and I wanna be clear that
is the best kind of work whenthere is.
(01:29):
social approval, socialconfirmation that somebody is
gonna be a good fit for yourbusiness, and, and it minimizes
the risk that the person istaking, the client is taking
when they come to you and askfor your help with something, or
ask for you to put a quotation,a proposal together to work with
(01:49):
them.
Often those conversations, thosefirst calls we have, we call
them chemistry calls or quickconsults, they feel a lot warmer
than if somebody has justGoogled and found your business
and is getting in contact withyou completely cold, because
when something is referred,it's.
That potential client is muchfurther through the know, like,
(02:11):
and trust process, which meansyou are already established as
an authority somewhat in theirbrain, and it's a more
comfortable step to take to giveyou money.
It also feels so much better asthe service provider, as the
person being paid because we.
Feel like we have to do lessconvincing.
(02:34):
We know that somebody hasalready vouched for us.
We can get often into the breastacks of actually what we're
gonna do together, rather thanhave to go through the, the
cajoling, massaging kind ofstage of, of helping that person
to like you and.
Nobody, and I don't know how toput this, there's something
(02:56):
around people pleasing in this.
It's like if you don't have tojump through the hoops, of
reacting to somebody's bodylanguage or, yeah.
Nonverbal cues and even theverbal cues and trying to get
all the check boxes signed off.
(03:16):
When you're speaking to somebodycompletely outta the blue, am I
speaking in too many metaphors?
But basically, if you, if youdon't have to convince them, not
only that you're a good person,but also you're good at your job
during that first call, then itmakes life so much easier.
If somebody's referred you, somework to you, then oftentimes we
(03:40):
will be starting theconversation typically with.
A bit more of a joke, a chatabout where the opportunities
come from, the mutual person wehave in common, what we may have
done with them, and then turningthe conversation to the
prospective clients challengeand the opportunities that lies
(04:00):
ahead and the pathway that wewould recommend for them to get
there.
And then, put a proposal aroundthat in terms of finance and
timeline.
That's the best kind of stuff,right?
It is so good.
It feels so good when that stuffcomes in also because it's so
flattering.
but 2024 was exceptionallydifficult for so many businesses
in the service sector foreconomic reasons.
(04:22):
But I think a lot of us didn'trealize it was economic reasons
for quite a while.
And we probably took it quitepersonally.
I know to an extent I did andthought, oh my goodness.
Am I failing?
what's happened?
It really knocked my confidenceand I know it did a lot of my
clients as well.
I have many people coming to meand saying, we, I dunno if I
should just, quit and go back tomy day job, or, reduce my staff
(04:45):
or kind of hibernate thebusiness for a while because I.
I feel like everything we'vedone so far, which let's be
clear, was basically nothing'cause they were passively
sitting and waiting for peopleto come to them.
doesn't seem to be workinganymore and we don't have any
clients lined up and we don'tknow what to do.
Now that is a really difficultplace to be in because when you
(05:09):
don't have anything lined up,particularly in the service
industry where our timelines arequite long for, a higher.
Price point products.
I work with a lot of agencieswho are charging tens of
thousands, if not hundreds ofthousands, and sometimes into
the millions of pounds perproject, depending on the scale
and breadth of it.
(05:29):
People do not make decisionsabout investing in those kind of
projects quickly.
It takes a really long time andyou need to be well on that
prospective client's radar.
And be establishing thatauthority long before they're
gonna be in a position toactually do any appointing.
(05:51):
So if you come to a company likeMine, caffeine, and say, we're a
bit scared about the next threeto six months, you are already
dealing with a situation whereyou need to move pretty fast.
If you say to me, we don't haveany clients lined up whatsoever.
And we've gotta keep the lightson.
(06:12):
Next month, I'd say you've got apretty urgent problem and I'd
urge you to really, look at thelow hanging fruit that you can
pick, so to speak, and, quickclients that you can pick up
based on your existing network.
And, and just doing a bit ofhustling.
But what feels really amazing iswhen you don't have to worry.
(06:34):
About depending solely onreferrals, because you have not
been passive, you are activelydoing something about it.
So here is the mindset shiftthat I want you to take into
account as we go through today'sepisode, is that referrals are
reactive.
They're not reliable.
It's like relying on rainwaterto fill your tank.
(06:56):
And as we know, we're goingthrough a climate crisis and you
cannot depend on rainwater and.
What I hate most about reactive,is that you are not in control.
You are waiting for somebodyelse to do the thing on your
behalf.
It's not something that you areable to.
(07:18):
Predict in any way other thanthe previous data.
And when we've had years like20, 24 thrown at us where
referrals really did dry up fora lot of people, you know, that
data's completely skewed.
You can't take that as the normanymore because economically
people are making differentdecisions.
There are different, optionsavailable for many people in a
(07:39):
way that they weren't before.
Thinking about generative ai,some businesses that's really
negatively affecting them overthe long term.
And so it's super important nowmore than ever, that you have a
backup plan.
And I want you to think about,thinking about a different part
of life and a parent of youngchildren.
(07:59):
I have somewhat some controlissues and when it comes to
parenting, travel yes, alsobusiness.
I dunno if you can ever, if youcan relate to this, but have you
ever depended on word of mouth,babysitters, for example, for
your kids and then one weekendno.
Was, no one was available?
(08:21):
Or for example, have you,planned a holiday?
I live an adventure holiday withlots and lots of stops and not a
lot of rest, frankly.
and, plum it.
On the assumption thateverything's gonna go right when
that rarely happens, especiallywhen you're traveling with kids
and you're doing something a bitmore adventurous.
(08:41):
If I just had a single plan, Ididn't have any backup
babysitters, I didn't have somekind of fallback options in
terms of if the car hire placecompletely lets us down when we
go on our adventure holiday,which actually happened when I
went to Costa Rica earlier thisyear.
if I didn't have backup plans inplace, then.
I'd be really stuck in thosesituations.
(09:03):
And this applies to business aswell.
It's such a dream and feels sogood when everything goes right.
You know when you do go on thatadventure holiday and everything
just falls into place,everything just slots and
nothing goes wrong and you kindof look around, you're like, is
this really happening?
I don't wanna say it out loud'cause it's actually going
really well so far.
(09:24):
And also when you know yourfirst choice of babysitter is
available at the weekend.
To go back to that analogy, it'ssimilar to depending on
referrals in your business, it'sthe kind of vibe around
referrals they should feel niceto have.
They shouldn't feel likesomething you absolutely depend
on for your payroll.
(09:44):
It's just not feasible thatreferrals are a, a dedicated new
business strategy that you candepend on.
And honestly, I can't think of abusiness type where if you don't
agree with that, you aren'tslightly diluted because
referrals have become sounreliable for many businesses
(10:05):
across the, the broad spectrumof service businesses that I
work with over the course of thelast 18 months that I feel like
we're at the point where theytruly are a nice to have for
almost everybody.
I know many businesses, and I'vebeen in businesses where, we
used to believe that referralswere our main source and we
worked actively to instigatethose referrals.
(10:27):
But over the course of the last18 months, even if you are
actively, you're proactivelydoing something about
generating.
Referrals, which can feel quiteuncomfortable for a lot of
people.
directly asking for referrals ormaking sure that you are
socializing with previousclients so you're front of mind
when they recommend to somebodyelse or following a client
through their career as theymove from business to business.
(10:50):
Hoping that they hire you in forthe similar kind of brief every
time they move to a newbusiness.
the, these proactive ways ofgenerating referrals.
They used to be super dependableas well, but now we're even
finding that people who arereally being proactive about
generating referrals are notseeing the same results.
(11:11):
And so.
I want you to consider this areframe instead of hoping a past
client sends someone your way,imagine knowing that you've got
a list of people, you've gotconversations scheduled, and
you've got a steady system thatis providing, new leads, new
opportunities to you.
And it may well be that.
(11:33):
A whole bunch of referrals docome in and you win them, and
it's the best kind of newbusiness, but I don't want you
to feel like you have to dependon something you don't know is
round the corner.
So giving you an example from myown business, I'd say I don't
know what it is for the last 12months, but I know the previous
(11:53):
12 months period.
We shifted from being, 60 to 70%of our revenue came from
referred traffic, and it droppedmassively to about 20% of our,
our revenue came from referredtraffic through 2024.
(12:13):
I'll be honest, I hadn't fullyscaled up my system to enable.
More business to come in and Ihad to really quickly step up my
game and start working aroundthis to re-implement and get
fully up to speed.
Our outreach system where weconnect with people via LinkedIn
(12:36):
who are in the space that wetypically help best with, and we
offer them something ofinterest, we become visible to
them, and then they move intoour, our environment.
A caffeine email list, I guessis the best way to put it.
they are then absorbing ourpodcast and other useful content
that we put out there.
(12:58):
And when the time is right, weare front of mind because we've
stayed in front of their eyesover, a long period of time, an
extended period of time.
And so we often to mind whenthey come to hire somebody in
that space.
But I have to say, when I wasgetting a lot of referred work,
I let the outreach system slip.
(13:20):
I didn't turn it on for severalweeks at a time because I was
busy and I didn't think it wasimportant and relevant to me,
and I got stuck in in by nottaking my own advice and having
something ticking over in thebackground that makes you
visible to.
More new people who are theright fit for you, that you do
(13:43):
not have to depend on convertinginto paying clients anytime
soon.
I really want you to constantlybe thinking about how you can be
becoming more visible to more ofthe right kind of fit
prospective clients, not in thehope that they convert in the
next three to six, to even 12months, but that they're coming
(14:05):
into your orbit.
They are seeing you, they aremoving through that knowlike
interest process, and I, what Ireally, really want for you is
that you do get a ton ofreferred work in the meantime,
but what I'd love for you.
On top of that is the peace andcomfort that comes from knowing
you are doing somethingproactive about getting in front
(14:28):
of new people, as well asdepending on or hoping and
looking forward to gettingreferred work into your
business.
So I want you to consider a fewquestions here.
When was the last time areferral came in for you and how
did it feel?
What happened the last timereferrals slowed down or
(14:51):
stopped?
I want you to think about howmuch of your current business is
dependent on other peoplerecommending you.
Be really honest with yourself.
And if referrals disappearedtomorrow, what would you do to
find your next client?
What would you feel different ifyou knew exactly where your next
client was coming from?
(15:13):
And hopefully the answer to thatlast question is a sense of
peace and removal of some stressof some court of sort.
What would it feel like to knowexactly where your next client
was coming from?
Safe is nice, but secure feelsbetter.
And how I feel now when I knowwhere my next client is coming
(15:33):
from, when I know that I'mnaturally adding people into my
orbit consistently, so I feelcalm, grounded, able to plan
ahead, I show up better.
My current business, I show upbetter for my current clients.
I.
Feel, you feel in control.
And maybe that's not necessarilya good thing in a lot of
(15:54):
different areas, but certainlyin terms of owning a business, I
think feeling in control to a, agreater extent is an excellent
asset because you show up toevery interaction.
And every opportunity with adifferent type of energy and a
different type of confidencethat instills more confidence in
(16:15):
others and, helps you to winmore business.
So it really is aself-fulfilling prophecy and I
really want you to think aboutwhat would having that level of
predictability free you up to doboth in business and outside of
it?
Because I know when I.
I can predict things less when Ifeel like we've got less of a
system and a, a plan in place.
(16:38):
I feel somewhat chaotic.
I feel inefficient, which is themost uncomfortable feeling for
me.
I feel messy and it shows upoutside of work as well.
less enjoyable, frankly.
And, if you're a business owneras well, then in all likelihood
you started your businessbecause you got a sense of joy
(16:58):
from it, as well as the fact itwas the way you were gonna earn
money.
And, and I think it's important,we do the best we can to
preserve.
That aspect of being a businessowner, because let's face it,
there's a lot of challenges anddownsides as well.
So we do need to have that joycoming in at some point.
So if you're done with waitingfor referrals and you're ready
(17:20):
to build a system, I just wantto let you know that we do have
some spaces for one-to-onecoaching right now that's
working directly with me, 11hours over 10 sessions, and
they'll be starting.
At the beginning of October,2025, running through to the end
of the year.
So you are in a really goodplace to not be depending
(17:41):
exclusively on referrals as youmove in to 2026.
If that sounds of interest toyou, then I want you to go check
out the link in the show notes.
If just, even if you're justthinking about it, fill out an
application, we can have a chat.
I'd love to hear more about yourbusiness, and even if we don't
end up working together, I'msure, and I know you're gonna
(18:04):
come away with some ideas thatyou can implement that will help
you move forward in a reallypositive way.
Okay, until next time, bye-bye.
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