Find customers
Help customers see what you can do.
Explain the service, show work you’re allowed to share, and talk to people who may need your help. Give them a straightforward way to ask about a project.
Begin with one kind of customer
Who could you have a useful conversation with? Suppose you’re planning a newsletter service. You might start with an independent consultant who already writes an email and needs help getting it ready to send. Ask about the work before assuming they want someone to take it over.
Use the first-offer worksheet to describe who you’ll help, what you’ll do, and what’s included. Then talk to a possible customer about how they handle that task now.
Give them something they can look at
Make a simple service page. Explain who you help, what they receive, what you need from them, and how to ask about availability. Include a price or explain how you prepare an estimate. Say which time zone you use for appointments or deadlines.
If you haven’t done client work yet, make a practice project using your own material or content you have permission to use. Label it clearly. For a newsletter, you could show the finished issue and explain how you organized the copy and checked the links. Keep any claims about your experience or results accurate; the FTC’s advertising guidance explains the standard.
Our guide to writing a clear service page helps you put the offer and sample together.
Find a reason to get in touch
Think about professional contacts, introductions, or groups where possible customers discuss their work. Read a community’s rules before posting. If someone asks a question you can answer, help with it. Mention your service when it’s relevant to what they need.
For an introduction, say which task you handle and ask whether it’s something they currently need help with. Respect a refusal. If you send a US email mainly to promote your service, the rules for commercial email apply even to an individual message or a business recipient. They include a valid postal address, an easy way to opt out, and handling opt-outs within 10 business days. Check the full requirements, along with the recipient’s jurisdiction and your email platform’s rules, before sending.
Check how you appear in AI answers
Someone may ask an AI assistant to explain your service or suggest where to look. A useful public page gives it facts to work with: who you help, what you offer, and how to contact you. Check any answer about your business against that page, and open the links it gives.
Google’s guidance on AI search emphasizes useful original content and familiar search foundations. Getting those details right can’t guarantee a mention. If you work entirely online, check Business Profile eligibility before creating a local listing; online-only businesses are generally ineligible.
The AI search guide includes a printable record for questions, answers, errors, and your next check. Give the task a time limit so it leaves room for customer conversations and delivery.
Keep track of what leads to a conversation
Keep a simple record when someone asks about work: what they need, whether it fits your service, how they found you, and what happens next. A visit or an AI mention can help you understand how people reach your page, but it doesn’t tell you whether they’re ready to hire you.
Ask how they found you, and use “unknown” when you can’t establish the source. Record a page change and a later inquiry as separate events until you have evidence that connects them.
After a few conversations, look at the questions people kept asking. Was something unclear on the page? Did they need extra work you hadn’t priced? Could you meet their deadlines? Use those answers to improve the offer.