You want to be profitable, to attract the right and perfect clients / customers who will benefit from and be grateful for your products and services.

You want clients / customers who feel drawn to work with and buy from you. Your products and services speak to them. There is an affinity. They resonate with what you are offering and are drawn to you. They find you because what you say and do; what you put out to the world attracts them to you.

Here’s something to ponder:   If you want to be more profitable, if you want more of the right people to find you, look at yourself honestly with a focus of letting go of what’s not working.

Your biases may be getting in the way of generating and expanding your success. Everyone has biases. You may not see them in yourself. But I bet you see them in other people.  Biases that block you can run unconsciously; they are so ingrained that you don’t even notice them.

Triggers can be someone’s weight, how they dress, if they smoke, their religion, their ethnicity, the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. Other, perhaps more-subtle triggers are someone’s mannerisms, accent, makeup, and shoes.

I am not saying to disregard your intuition. Always listen to your inner knowing, that still small voice that guides you when you stop and pay attention. What I am saying is to notice when you move away from someone who could be a client or customer because of their packaging on the outside.

People feel when you back away from them - when you discount or judge them. It’s palatable.

There are some great videos about bias. One is of a critically acclaimed violinist playing unnoticed in the New York subway. He is wearing common clothes and looks like a nobody.  His music is amazing and almost no one stops to listen.  People rush by him as if he does not exist, speaking volumes of how we are programmed to be.

This is about helping you not walk away from business opportunities because of your biases, making your unconscious biases conscious!  Choose to be aware, and ask yourself, 'What am I thinking when I see someone on the street? In the news? At an event? What are my first thoughts? 

Notice when you use all or never when referring to a someone, a group or organization. Notice if you put people or whole groups of people in box. Notice how it feels if someone does this to you.

Be open to new possibilities. Drop the judgment and look for similarities instead of differences: 'I wonder what we have in common?'  You might be really surprised to find people you thought you had nothing in common with have a genuine connection, simply because you engaged in a conversation and asked open questions with a genuine desire to learn.

You may notice new kinds of people streaming into your business, and how cool that would be!

How do you feel about marketing, walking into an event where you barely know anyone, calling someone you barely know?

Marketing makes a lot of people anxious and physically tense.  And what's strange is that many of us tend to have the skills of connecting with people on a personal level, listening to their concerns, talking about their day, asking to see photos of their personal life, travels, experiences.

So remember, connecting with people is one of your strengths.  And remember, you can use this strength, build rapport, get and keep clients and close deals during the times that suit you.

Marketing does not have to interfere with your family, friends, or personal time. You can be successful without engaging in activities that have been essential to rainmaking for others, like golf, sports, and drinks after work.  You can create a marketing plan that works with who you are.

With all of this in mind, here are 6 tips for attracting clients.

No 1: Target the Top 20 in a New Way

Don’t focus on everyone or just anybody. 

Consider:

Who are my top 5 prospects -- the people that would love to work with me now or sometime in the future? 

Who are my top 5 connectors – the people who can refer prospects to me?

There are lots of people in our circle of connections who are happy to help us and we to help them, they just need to know who our ideal client is.  So, tell your friends and colleagues about your target market and let them share theirs with you. Make notes, so you will remember. 

Cultivate business friends and networks that work for you.  Be intentional and selective.

And give what you would like to receive -- no strings attached. That’s the clearest, brightest, way to create what you want in life. 

If you want to get leads, be generous in giving them. Be generous in helping others succeed with no expectation of getting anything back in return. That’s part of the heart-felt law of attraction: give what you would love to receive; teach what you most need to learn. 

Generosity and kindness go a long way in creating prosperity and abundance.

Consider where you most feel to invest your time and energy:  organizations? like-minded people? groups in your trade, business, or industry? Neighborhood or community associations or gatherings? Go with your intuition or gut instinct; follow your heart.

Find some quiet time to slow down and listen. Meditate. Breathe. Ask for guidance: Where to from here? Where can I best focus my energies for the highest good of all concerned?  Listen.  The inspiration you receive will not be loud and booming like the conversations in your mind.  Inspiration comes as a whisper, a feeling or knowing.

Relax and be open to guidance and be patient; guidance may come when least expected - while you are watching a movie, from a random comment by a friend, from a passage in a book, while taking a shower, in a dream.  The universe will respond to you.  It's up to you to be aware and discerning; there's a lot of negativity out there; just be open to inspiration.

Once you are clear, your mind may come up with lots of reasons why not.  Don't listen.  That's counter intention or your own ego trying to keep you small.    Be like the stern yet loving parent with an unruly child. Just say no, let go of all the reasons why not; drop all doubts, and love the child, that part of you that's afraid and feels abandoned and alone.   

No 2: Open Doors with Authenticity

You probably don't like it when someone calls you just to sell you something, even if you've done business with them before. So, don't do it to anybody else.

If you don’t have a good reason to contact someone, don't; that's the Golden Rule!

Good reasons are:

Invitations

Introductions

Information 

Intimacy (e.g., kindness and compassion)

You might send an invite to attend a social, political, or educational event as your guest.  The purpose could be to introduce your potential client to someone who can help their career.  You could send her information about a product or service that could help him/her (not yours!).  You could tell them about a class or seminar that feels timely.  You could send them a breaking news story or information about a piece of legislation or a new law that affects them.  You could contact them because something major just happened in their life - a death, birth or surgery; a trip or something fun and exciting. Or it may be something light and fun, like you are both following a television series and you text them about something funny.

It’s important to set clear and appropriate boundaries with the people we contact and interact with in our day-to-day life.  

How do you set boundaries? Do you set boundaries based on how you are feeling? 

For example, you are feeling really great and happy and loving, so your boundaries are wide open because you are feeling great.  This is a big mistake.  If you set your boundaries based upon how you feel, then someone can come along who is angry, upset, in reaction, projecting and knock you over with their energy.  Then you will tell yourself that it’s not safe to be open and shut down. 

The masterful way to set your boundaries, the way to set your boundaries that involves the most self-love and self-care, is to set your boundaries based upon how the other person is. That’s right, you set your boundaries based upon how loving the other person is. 

If the other person is open and loving, then you can allow your boundaries to relax a little bit and be genuinely more open with this person.  If the other person is not in love, but in some kind of fear, is anxious, frustrated, angry or upset, then you toughen up your boundaries, so your system is not polluted by their fear.  

So, the other person is holding a space of love, one of kindness and/or compassion, you can open up more; the other person is holding a space of anger and frustration, self-righteousness and superiority, you strengthen your boundaries and keep the less than love energies out. 

Our boundaries that we set for ourselves are porous.  The love comes in and touches our heart, the less than love is lovingly mirrored back to its source. Thanks, but no thank you to that energy.  We have enough to deal with without taking on the negative energies of others; and you will feel markedly better, more solid, confident and in your heart, when you are not dealing with the negativity and energy pollution of others!

Keep on loving and respecting yourself, as this will make you more fit for service, more able to share your gifts, talents, and abilities with the world!

I support people to do what they love and be their best so that they make a real difference in the world. That’s who I am when I am at my best. That’s my why.

Everyone has a why.  When we articulate our purpose and take steps every day to live and be that purpose, our lives change dramatically.  No longer is our job, profession or business just something we do.  There is a fire or passion within us because we know why we get out of bed in the morning and how we can be of service to others.

When we are in service to self only, we may experience moments of happiness.  Happiness is a dopamine hit. It’s the feeling we get when we buy a new home or car, have dinner with a good friend or hug someone we love. Happiness is real and yet it is fleeting.

Fulfillment, feeling content and on purpose is different. 

Feeling fulfilled is an oxytocin hit. It’s the high we feel when we help others, when we make a difference in someone else’s life, often in what appears to be small ways.  It can be as simple as sharing a smile or as daring as rescuing children from a burning home. 

Fulfillment runs deep and is long lasting. It is a deep, heartfelt experience that does not leave us.

As a child and in my youth, I lived a very safe, sheltered middle-class life. When I was 17, we experienced a  calamity, a storm that stretched from Alabama to Canada, spawning 148 tornadoes nationwide, 27 of them in my home state of Kentucky.

And within that disaster, I felt and experienced fulfillment for the first time in my life, that I could make a difference in the world. I could give and receive selflessly, having no agenda other that to help and be of service, and that changed me.

The experience opened the doors of my heart to a new way of being. This may sound dramatic and huge, even though the actual story may not seem like much to you. What happens on the outside is not always indicative of what it feels like on the inside. We give meaning to all kinds of things in our lives, and those meanings can support and uplift us or drag us down and keep us small.

It was a strange day. First there were beautiful blue skies, then rolling clouds of darkness, then sirens blaring warning of an emergency, then a quiet eerie silence.

It was a hot summer’s day, and I can remember standing next to my mother and looking outside through sliding glass doors that lead to our back yard. We were oblivious to the danger of standing inches from the glass, peering inquisitively towards the sky.

My home was spared, but a few blocks away neighborhoods were damaged and destroyed. Roofs were blown off houses. Fronts and sides of building were gone. Debris was everywhere. The destruction was shocking, unfathomable.

I remember going for a walk into the neighborhood next to ours, knocking on the door of a home that had lost its roof, and asking the middle-aged woman who opened the door if she needed some help.

She did. We spent the day packing dishes and her valuables into boxes. 

This small experience was profound for me. For the first time, I felt like I had done something that really mattered. I felt the joy of giving. My heart was open and full. A seemingly small experience of selfless service opened me up in a profound way to acceptance, unconditional love and belonging.

I know I'm not alone.  We've all had these moments.  We've all felt the joy of giving back. We've all felt the gratitude of receiving a helping hand when we needed one.

Knowing our why is about selfless service, and that opens us up to the abundance of the Universe and, if we allow it, fills our cup with love. 

We feel successful when we know and live our why because it no longer 'all about me'. It’s about 'Let Us': Let us create a life, communities, a world where we are there for each other, where we have each others' back, where everyone contributes what they can, when we know that we’re never ever alone.

Imagine living in a world where everyone was their own purpose expert, where everyone was living their own unique why, where everyone felt and knew that together is better.

Imagine the contentment and joy of knowing and living our why in this world!

Every time we tap into our why, every time we live from this space in our hearts, every time we give for the joy of giving, we fill ourselves up with contentment and joy. 

Every time we love the kids inside of us that have been yearning for our love, wrapping our loving arms around them, we support ourselves in living our why, we nurture ourselves so that we have the ability to give back from a full and overflowing heart.

And even though the world that we live in often focuses on fear, lack and limitation, focuses on what separates us, our differences, we can choose to focus on what unites us, our similarities.

We can choose to focus on what makes our hearts sing, what brings joy and contentment into our lives and how we can best model that for others. 

As we embrace our why and share our passion for being on purpose, we plant the seeds that others might  discover their purpose no matter where they're living on the planet.

The energy of our excitement is there for the taking, just like when many people around the world discover something new about the same time.  It's somehow there for ones open to it to come to a new knowing, to have an 'ah ha' moment and be open to more abundance and love.

We can make a difference by how we bring ourselves to the world.  We never know how our heartfelt purpose ripples out and touches the lives of others.

That's hopeful and encouraging.

That sheds new light on how we bring ourselves to the world, what we choose to focus on, and the excitement and passion we bring to life.