80% of your future clients

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Most likely, 80% of all the future clients and deals you'll have will come from your present and past clients. But for this to happen, they have to be able to attest that your service is good enough.

Take care of them.

Getting new clients is at least twice as hard as maintaining existing ones. Some of them are currently paying you below your worth. See beyond that pay and give the work your best. They may have access to rooms you cannot access, but because you've distinguished yourself, they become your mouthpiece. Instead of delivering poorly done work, decline to do it. Your work is you. Treat it that way.

Do not work with the mentality of, "After all, the pay is small, therefore, I will deliver below my standards." Instead of the 100% you usually provide, you produce 30%. If you continue like that, you'll reach a level of automaticity, a learned helplessness. Some years back, I remember being paid N350,000 to build a website for an Abuja-based company. That was the highest my team and I had ever been paid.

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Guess how it happened?

It was the client who paid us N20,000 who made it happen. He put in the word for us because we had never failed on our promises. This, however, shouldn't nudge you to constantly shoot yourself in the foot. Know when someone is outrightly taking you for granted. For me, I always say: "I'm doing this not because that is what I charge, but because I want to maintain a relationship with you. Usually, I charge xxxxx."

I do this so the client knows why I've lowered the charge and doesn't dwell on that when talking to others about me. And if it appears the client does not understand that, I leave on a clean slate. Take care of them. Your clients. Most likely, 80% of all the future clients and deals you'll have will come from your present and past clients. But for this to happen, they have to be able to attest that your service is good enough.