Wanted: Ideal Clients, Part 1 {Be Successful with Erin}

Hello lovely ladies!

First we have a serious order of business to take care of. Today just happens to be my birthday. I’m 32 – double sweet 16 – so I’m expecting this year to be especially yummy! Your first assignment is to eat a piece of your favorite treat today and celebrate YOUR life in my honor. Stop and smell the roses, watch a bird enjoy a puddle bath, or look for cloud formations in the sky. Whatever you do, intentionally seek out all the nuggets of love that God has scattered throughout creation for us to discover! I pray you’re all filled with a fresh sense of His presence today!

Now that you’ve all committed to completing your first assignment, time to move on to the topic of the day: Ideal Clients.

What exactly is an ideal client? The literal definition is a ‘perfect or most suitable person using the services of a professional person or company.’ Here’s my definition: Someone who challenges and inspires you to produce your best possible work. Someone who makes you feel fully alive when you interact with them. Someone who compels you to dance a happy jig like Snoopy does on the Peanuts/Charlie Brown Christmas special. (You’ve been warned – I have a thing for Snoopy. He very well could make appearances in future posts)

‘Ideal client’ is so much more than just fancy sounding terminology. Identifying and working with your ideal clients could be the difference between having a successful business where you look forward to going to ‘work’ every day or ending up burnt out, frustrated, and considering a different career path.

There were a couple of comments on last week’s post requesting direction for how to get your name out there and how to start building your portfolio. Before you can do either of those things, you must establish who your ideal client is. The more specific your description is, the better. If you have never gone through this process, I strongly encourage you to spend some time thinking, praying and ‘filling in the blanks’ in this exercise. I’ll start today and finish in a couple weeks so you’ll have plenty of time to follow along, ask questions, and even share notes with other ‘Delighters’. (We seriously need to figure out a cool name for all of us in Delight world…anyone have a suggestion?!?)

We are drawn to those people who are similar to us. It’s easy to build a connection and relate to someone else who shares similar values and interests. In order to know who your ideal client is, you must first take a close look at yourself.

Here’s your homework:

1. Write down at least three of your hobbies. Hobbies = physical actions (ex: underwater basket weaving, plastic cup organizing, watching paint dry)

2. Write down at least three of your interests. Interests = areas of intellectual study (ex: fashion, history, the process involved in how paint companies decide what to name paint colors)

3. Write down at least five of your favorite brands. (ex: Volkswagen, Tiffany’s, Apple)

4. Write down at least five hobbies, interests, and brands that do NOT fit you. Sometimes it can be easier to determine what does interest you by thinking of what you don’t enjoy and considering the opposites.

5. Write down five to seven of your favorite clients and/or the people in your life who you would LOVE to work with. Just the thought of their name should put a big smile on your face.

Got it? Great. Once you’ve completed this part, we’ll take a close look at your favorite clients in a couple of weeks. Until then, feel free to ask questions! For those of you in the United States, have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend! :)

***Homework activities (minus the examples ;) ) are from Jeff and Erin Youngren of The Youngrens…amazing photographers and even more amazing people!