120+ tested strategies for getting paying clients when you have no portfolio, no testimonials, and no reputation. The step-by-step guide to landing clients and growing a service business from absolute zero.
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Let me tell you a quick story.
In 2010, I was a chiropractor with a brand new practice, a very empty waiting room, and about $200 left in my marketing budget after printing business cards that nobody was picking up from the sandwich shop down the street.
I couldn't afford a billboard. I couldn't afford a radio ad. I definitely couldn't afford to hire a marketing agency.
So I did the only thing I could afford. I started messing around on the internet.
I taught myself how to build a basic website. I figured out how to get my practice showing up in Google searches. I started posting on social media before most local businesses even had a Facebook page.
Most of what I tried didn't work. But some of it did. And the stuff that worked… worked fast.
Within a few months, other business owners started noticing. The restaurant owner across the street asked how I was getting so many Google reviews. A lawyer friend asked if I could "do whatever you're doing" for his firm.
I said yes to a few of them. Then a few more. Before I knew it, I was running a digital marketing agency on the side of my chiropractic practice.
"By 2013, I sold my chiropractic practice and went full-time into the agency. Since then, the businesses I've built have generated millions of dollars - for me and for the clients I've served along the way."
This book is every strategy I used to get there. And every strategy I've learned, borrowed, tested, and refined in the years since.
I wrote it for you - the service business owner (or soon-to-be business owner) who has the skills to deliver great work but hasn't figured out how to get people through the door yet. The one sitting where I sat in 2010.
I've been where you are. I know what it feels like. And I know it gets better.
But here's what I wish someone had told me on day one: you don't need to be an expert. You don't need a decade of experience or a wall full of awards. You just need to get close to the people and institutions that already have the trust you haven't earned yet. Do that, and everything changes fast.
That's what this book will show you how to do.
You can deliver results. You have the skills. You know you're good at what you do. The skills aren't the problem.
The problem is that nobody knows who you are yet.
Every prospect you talk to is silently wondering why they should trust you over the established competitor down the street. The one with the client wall. The one with the case studies. The one that's been around for a decade.
You don't have any of that. And every traditional piece of marketing advice assumes that you do.
This book was written for the moment before all of that exists.
This isn't a motivational pep talk. It's not a high-level overview of "marketing principles." It's a tactical playbook with over 120 specific, numbered strategies you can execute this week - built to take you from zero to a full client pipeline.
Part One
14 chapters. 120+ numbered strategies for landing clients when you have zero authority. Every strategy falls into one of three core mechanics. Master them and you'll never wonder where your next client is coming from again.
Section 1: Borrowed Credibility
You don't have a reputation yet - so you borrow one. Attach yourself to charities, chambers of commerce, business associations, and well-connected people your prospects already trust. Their credibility transfers to you instantly. Includes cause-based leverage, platform leverage, institutional leverage, data and analysis leverage, community and relationship leverage, and content and education leverage.
Section 2: Risk Removal
When a prospect has no reason to trust you, give them no reason to say no. Structure your offers so the client pays nothing if you don't deliver. Financial risk reversal, speed and availability as trust - models that make your lack of track record completely irrelevant.
Section 3: Manufactured Demand
Engineer the perception of expertise and momentum before the revenue proves it. Social proof engineering, positioning and framing, timing and cultural leverage, outbound strategies that feel like help, marketplace leverage, and meta-plays so bold they generate their own attention.
Part Two
Four detailed case studies showing how a chiropractor, a photographer, a financial advisor, and a plumber each used the playbook to build thriving businesses from zero. Different industries, different personalities, same mechanics. You'll see exactly how the strategies combine in the real world.
Part Three
A week-by-week guide for your first 90 days - from zero to paying clients with real momentum. Plus a closing chapter on the journey from borrowing leverage to earning it to eventually lending it to the next person starting from scratch.
Every strategy in this book works even when nobody knows your name. That's the whole point.
Claim Your First Access SpotOnly 100 First Access spots available.
Every strategy in the book falls into one of three categories. Master them and you'll never wonder where your next client is coming from again.
Over 120 specific, actionable strategies across 20 chapters. Here's what you'll find.
Part One: The Leverage Playbook
Part Two: Strategies in Action
Part Three: Putting It All Together
You sell a service and you're struggling to get clients because nobody knows who you are yet.
You're a freelancer, consultant, coach, or solo professional who wants to stop chasing clients and start attracting them.
You're a salesperson in any industry who needs to build trust with prospects who have no reason to trust you yet.
You're a business owner who needs to understand how to market yourself when nobody knows your name.
Or you're the person I was in 2010. Sitting in an empty room. Wondering how you're going to make this work. Knowing you're capable but not sure where to start.
This book is especially for you.
There's a moment every business owner who starts from zero eventually experiences.
Someone hires you without needing to be convinced. No pitch. No guarantee. No free mockup. No borrowed credential. They just hire you. Because they heard your name from someone they trust. Or they've been reading your newsletter for six months.
That's the shift from borrowed leverage to earned reputation. And once it starts, it accelerates. One happy client tells three people. Those three become clients who each tell three more.
"You stop running campaigns. You start receiving referrals. You stop explaining what you do. People already know. You stop borrowing. You start lending."
The strategies in this book get you to that moment faster than anything else I've seen in 15 years of building businesses from scratch.
If you read this book, pick three strategies, and execute them consistently for 90 days - you will have paying clients. Not because of luck. Not because of timing. Because these strategies have been tested by thousands of people in thousands of markets. They work when nobody knows your name. That's the whole point.
I'm not in the industries covered by the case studies. Is this still useful?
Absolutely. The 120+ strategies in Part One work whether you're a consultant, coach, photographer, copywriter, or contractor. And Part Two includes case studies from four completely different industries. If you sell a service and need clients, this book was written for you.
I already have some clients. Is this book just for beginners?
The strategies work at every stage. If you have 3 clients and want 30, the leverage mechanics in this book will get you there faster than what you're doing now.
When do I get access?
You'll receive your digital copy as soon as your First Access spot is confirmed.
How long is the book?
20 chapters across three parts: the strategy playbook, four real-world case studies, and a 90-day action plan. But it's designed to be used, not just read. Pick one strategy from the first part of the book, execute it this week, and keep reading as you go.
The strategies are here. The tools are here. The playbook is open. The only thing left is the decision to start - before you feel ready.
Only 100 First Access spots available.
Claim Your First Access SpotOnly 100 spots. When they're gone, they're gone.
From Dr. Ben Adkins · Founder, Serial Progress Seeker
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