How I Got My First Two Paying Customers from Facebook

I’ve been trying to really “become a copywriter” for several years now. Can you relate?

With a full-time day job, 3 kids, and a house, it’s hard to find the time for writing. But little by little, I’ve been making it happen.

The hardest challenge I faced was finding my first paying customer. You can’t be a writer for real until you have customers. And as a new writer, getting customers is hard, not to mention nerve-wracking.

You’re full of doubt, uncertain how things work, what the process will look like, and if you’ll be any good. But you won’t be able to figure any of that out until you actually start.

I’d taken a few AWAI courses, attended one Bootcamp, and become part of a mastermind. I was just stuck at this whole “getting customers” part.

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl. But I’d picked a safer career working at a hospital.

Yet my soul had been crying out for more. Yearning for me to live my truth.

I wanted to have more time to spend traveling the world and spending time with my family. I wanted to do work that I love, that lights me up.

I don’t belong in a hospital with my hair pulled back. I belong in bright, fun clothes, with a hoop in my nose. Laughing, crying, cussing, and writing. I am a writer.

Desperate Times Call For Inventive Measures

Out of sheer desperation to “be the writer,” I decided to tell everyone I know: “I’m a writer.” I would declare to the world who I am and what I’m doing.

In order to start living like a writer you have to live as a writer. You have to be a writer. 

Then I thought I’d take it a step further and tell them what services I offer too, just in case they needed something.

So not only “Hey world, I’m a writer.” But also “Hey world, these are the things I’m doing, what do you need?”

You can’t get customers if no one knows what you offer.

Enter Facebook

I have 977 Facebook friends. I organized my friend list by the oldest friends, to the newest friends. I thought it might be easier to tell my siblings and aunts and uncles what I’m doing before newer friends.

So, that’s where I started. One by one I began sending Facebook messages. Mostly I copy/pasted the main message. But I’d change the name and try to add something personal to each one.

Here’s a message I sent my sister:

Hey Nis,

Hope the kids are being good for you today.

I’m sending out messages to my friends letting them in on something fairly new in my life. In the last year I’ve launched a new marketing and writing company.

I specialize in writing E-Newsletters, Case Studies, Articles, Emails, and Social Media Management. Basically, I can handle any writing or marketing needs a company might have.

As my friend/sister, I just wanted to let you know what I’ve been doing. I’m checking with everyone to see if they’re in need of any of these services for their business, or if they know anyone that might be in need.

Let me know if you’re interested or if you have any questions.

The messages evolved a little as I went along. Here’s another message I sent to my 5^th grade best friend:

Hey Kari,

I’m loving all the garden pictures you’re posting on Facebook. You really have a green thumb.

Hope everything is good with you. Things are pretty good here.

I do have some new and exciting things going on.

I started a new business about a year ago and have slowly been building it up.

Now I’m starting to tell everyone I know about it in case they have any need for it.

I’m doing writing and marketing for businesses. I specialize in writing E-Newsletters, Case Studies, Articles, Emails, and Social Media Management. Basically, I can handle any writing or marketing needs a company might have.

I am reaching out to pretty much everyone I know. I know you’ve been working for yourself for quite some time so I just wanted to touch base with you in case you had any need for something like this.

Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to pass my name on to anyone else you know with these needs.

Love ya!

The Big Break

After a day or two of sending out around 20 of these messages a day, I got a hit.

A spiritual healer with a local business responded to my message. She was desperate for someone to help her with her Social Media.

Every time she sat down to do Social Media she was filled with anxiety. What should she post? How should she say it? How often? It was too much. She’d get overwhelmed and wouldn’t post anything.

We set up a meeting.

I was off work due to a freak accident where I burned skin off my face with bacon grease. I had scabs covering about a third of my face. I looked ridiculous.

But I went to that meeting anyway. When I arrived looking like a cast member from The Walking Dead, I had to explain what had happened, but then it was down to business.

We dove right in to her needs and problems with Social Media. After an hour of talking and strategizing, she hired me on the spot.

This was my first paying client. As a local, and very small business, I told her we could start out at just $200 a month. I was going to post on her two social accounts, every weekday.

Not bad for my first real gig.

Even though I knew the basics of Social Media, I went home and bought the AWAI Social Media course. I wanted to make sure I knew everything necessary to do a good job.

When my day job started back up, I’d work on her Social Media after work on the weekdays, or on Saturday. I’d create posts in batches and schedule them to auto-post.

The more I did it, the better and faster I got.

Landing Customer #2

After a few months, when I felt I had a handle on my first customer’s social accounts, I started sending out Facebook messages again.

Right away, I got another hit. This time a local Realtor. We set up a phone interview.

We talked for about 20 minutes and she hired me right away.

I wasn’t charming or charismatic. I was nervous. I was unsure of myself. I didn’t know anything about selling houses. Half of me was hoping she’d turn me down so I wouldn’t have to worry about it.  

But she said yes. So, I dove right in and learned as much as I could to get me started. I just figured it out as I went along.

She also had two social accounts but only needed posts 3 times a week. So, I charged her $200 a month, too. This was another tiny, local company so it didn’t seem right to charge more than that.

I treated her case the same way as the first. I worked in the evenings or weekends and batch scheduled posts.

A few days of hard work, and I’d have a month’s worth of content scheduled.

The Unknown Turned Out To Be Not So Scary

I had no idea what I was doing with my first customer. None. But neither did my customer.

It was the perfect chance to learn and grow. Your first customer doesn’t have to be some huge corporation. Your first customer can be a small, local business.

You’ll learn valuable lessons with that first customer. You’ll forget something, post to the wrong account, forget a link. But you’ll learn.

Then with the next customer, you’ll learn even more. They’ll have new challenges or requests. New mistakes, new areas to grow.

With each new customer and each new experience, you’ll learn new things. This is on-the-job training.

My Advice to You

1. Do it scared. It seems terrifying at first. That first potential client is a big deal. I won’t tell you not to be afraid. It’s scary. But I will tell you to do it anyway. Do it scared. And the more you do it despite that fear, the less fear you’ll find each time.
2. Don’t be afraid to look like a fool. It doesn’t matter all that much how you look. My face was half burned off. It’s what I said that mattered. I wanted to help. I asked what she needed. And she really needed my help.
3. Mistakes will happen. Especially when you’re first starting. I posted a spirituality post on the Realtor’s page. I fixed it and I learned a lesson. It wasn’t the end of the world.
4. Baby steps. Start small. Message your Facebook friends. Do some work for local companies. I live in a tiny town with tiny companies, and I only charge them $200 a month. But it’s a start. I’m getting paid to learn. And what I learn from these local companies will better prepare me for the bigger ones.
5. As you get better, go after bigger companies. Charge bigger fees. Grow as you go.

If I can show up missing skin to my first meeting, you can show up any way. I’m not saying to show up in sweat pants, I just want you to know how you look is less important than you might think.

You have what it takes. It’s just a matter of taking those first few steps. Of saying yes even if you’re not sure. Don’t worry about having all the answers. You’ll figure it out as you go.

I had no idea how easy it would be to get my first few paying customers. People out there are desperate for help. They’re searching for someone to help them do these things so they don’t have to. They would love to pay you.

I’ve only made it through about half of my Facebook friends at this point. I plan to keep reaching out to them. I’ll keep improving my messages and building my list of customers.

Try it out for yourself. It’s a really low-pressure way to get started. I’d love to hear your success stories!

P.S. Another surprise? Not one of these customers asked to see my website. Not one of them asked for samples. Not one of them asked for any proof whatsoever. They asked what I did and said “sign me up.” So, as you can see, everything doesn’t have to be perfect before getting started. Just get started.