“it’s not scary or complicated”

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“Here’s my card, I’m a hairstylist and I’d love to do your hair sometime!” 

(It all came out so quickly it probably sounded more like “heresmahcardimmahairstylistandidlovetodoyourhairsometime”) The grocery store clerk raised her eyebrow and awkwardly took the card from my hand. 

“Uh… thanks…” she smiled and continued to ring my groceries through the till. 

That’s how I got my start talking to strangers. 

Did that clerk come bouncing into my salon the next day telling me how excited she was for me to do her hair? Er… no… But it got me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to start attracting my ideal clients by talking to strangers. 

That’s how I built my clientele. One stranger at a time.

I bet you’re wondering if it’s possible to grow a clientele during a pandemic?

Yup! It totally is. 

And it doesn’t have to be scary or complicated at all. (Hey fellow overcomplicator ‍♀️)

I’m breaking it all down for you today. This isn’t any mind-blowing facts, but it’ll definitely fill your chair. 

“But Dawn, who are you to be telling me about building a clientele?!”

I’m so glad you asked! I’ve built and rebuilt my clientele all around the world, on three different continents and 6 different times. When I was 31 I moved to a completely new city and province where I only knew my boyfriend and built a full clientele from scratch in under 12 weeks. 

I know a thing or two about building clienteles. And I’m going to show you exactly how to do it, with the pandemic in mind. 

The #1 step to growing a clientele during a pandemic is to talk to strangers.

Now before your defences go way up or your anxiety tries to tell you this is too scary, take a breath. It’s not difficult at all and I’m walking you through it step-by-step. 

It starts with something as simple as giving a stranger a compliment. 

Even in the pandemic, you can still compliment people you meet in your day to day life or on social media. 

Here are some compliments that you can try when talking to a stranger:

• “Excuse me, I just have to let you know that your hair is gorgeous!”

• “Oh my gosh, I love your shoes”

• “Hey that mask you’re wearing is really cool. I haven’t seen one like that before”

Think about talking to strangers as creating relationships. It’s not always going to be perfect, and heck, sometimes it might downright be uncomfortable. 

That’s step 2 of building your clientele: 

You gotta get uncomfortable

Let me give you an example. I recently started working out again (anyone else completely fall off the wagon during this pandemic?) and I was being really hard on myself because I wasn’t where I was before the pandemic. And I honestly was starting to feel like “what’s even the point?!”. 

Until I realized that in order for me to get back to where I was, I had to start where I am. 

Ugh, right?? And you might be feeling that same way with building your clientele, because you haven’t exercised that muscle in a while. 

Here’s the thing, we often mistake our career as a linear journey with an end destination. When in fact, it’s more of a cyclical journey and attracting new clients is always a part of the journey. 

There’s no easy way to success. The shortcut is the work. You gotta do the work. It’s not just enough to listen to this episode. 

You know me, I’m addicted to learning but allergic to implementing. I’m so proud of you for being here and now it’s time to take action. 

How to build your clientele:

1. Talk to strangers

2. Get uncomfortable

3. Take action

Will you commit to talking to 10 people this week and see what it does for your biz? You can find people anywhere, whether it’s in real life or online. Commit to getting uncomfortable and actually taking action. 

I’m not some magical unicorn who got “lucky” with some secrets, these are the steps I took to build and rebuild my clientele all over the world and I know you can do it too. 

For even more info on how to attract the perfect clients grab my FREE Client Attraction Playbook and get your chair filled with nothing but the best clients. 

Go on, binge the latest posts (you know you wanna)…