The Client Letter
May 17, 2013
The Northland
Cloudy 39 Degrees
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Seth Godin often tells his readers to stop waiting to be picked and to pick themselves.
This requires quite an abrupt shift in thinking if you were brainwashed like I was.
Thinking back through my school years, I can’t really think of a good example where ANY part of that world applauds people for “picking themselves.” Everything is about being good enough to “get picked.”
You have to get picked for the soccer team… you have to get picked to be Homecoming Queen… you have to get picked to be Class President… you have to get picked to receive an “A” on your report card… you have to get picked to get into college…. you have to get picked for that dream job.
The whole thing is constructed to make it clear that ALL we should care about is getting ourselves picked by someone who has more authority than we do.
When you step out of that dream and realize that no one certified the people in charge to make the rules (in other words, the people who got the ball rolling picked themselves), pretty much everything crumbles. You realize you’ve been playing in someone else’s game since you were born.
And that’s when you go from being a sheep to a wolf. And that’s when you find your power.
Going through life hoping to get picked by clients by saying the right things and doing the right things and charging the right fees is just an extension of our training.
Put those days behind you and step into freedom. Say goodbye to trying to get clients by fitting into their box. Do you really want to spend your life trying so hard to fit into other people’s boxes?
The very act of you trying to do that is just another way to give all of your power away.
Instead, build your own box and go out in the world and do something with it. Show it to the world. Help people with that box. Create something that future clients might find valuable. Something that helps them NOW with the problems they are trying to solve. Not because you’re trying to get picked, but because you have value to offer.
The right clients will see that and they will be attracted to you.
They will see that box and they will say, “WOW. Now that is something I want to learn more about.”
They will forget they ever had a box they wanted you to fit into and they will ask you if they can come into your box.
And it’s at that moment when you’ll see the proof that you’ve had the power to do this all along. And once that happens, you will NEVER go back.