If You’re Going Solo… Get An Audience Online First

Skye Leist
July 25, 2011

I know a lot of people that have recently decided to leave 9-5 jobs to become self employed. One of the first things they do is hunt for someone to build them a great web site where they can blog, be tweeted about, and announce their services and portfolio. And those things are great to have, but it shouldnt be the first thing you do. I know because I did that first and it was wrong.

An audience thats composed of advisors, potential customers, and people that generally subscribe to the same world view that you do. Its your audience that will serve as your source of inspiration, client referrals, and support staff. Its not easy to be self employed and you need to surround yourself with people that can point you in the right direction from time to time.

You cant just focus on building this audience online. You need to attend local events, trade-shows, and meet-ups related to your line of work.

Hand out business cards and get people to subscribe to a newsletter youll send. Yes, despite what you read, more people read and get engaged with email newsletters than Facebook pages. Getting someone to sign up for a newsletter is also the first form of a currency exchange. They are trading you their attention for your ideas. Its not money yet but its a start.

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