How to Nurture Clients Relationships And Overcome Small Talk Anxiety

Bimma Williams | October 30, 2023

It's Claim Freedom Monday Y'all!

Here's some wisdom to help you land your first client.

Ideas From Me About Networking Anxiety

Networking might bring up mixed feelings. Some creatives love it and some creatives absolutely hate it. But one thing that none of us can deny is how much it impacts our ability to get paid.

Fear of Rejection At Events

Rejection is natural. Don’t take it to heart if someone declines what you’re offering. Just because it’s not for them doesn’t mean that you aren’t good enough. It just means it ain’t for them. Your speciality will not be everyone’s preference. It’s like cilantro. Some people love it, others think it tastes like soap. Every single creative faces rejection, even if they don’t show it on their Insta page. Flip your perspective. Rejection is not scary. What’s scary is folks not knowing your services exists all together. Sometimes the win is just going up to someone. Keep putting yourself out there because closed mouths don’t get fed.

What To Say

Small talk can be annoying, but avoiding that CultureCon party or ComplexCon because you’re anxious about speaking to people is purely self sabotage. Yes, networking is daunting. But missing an event could be the difference between dealing with that toxic work environment you hate or working from wherever you desire. If you have trouble with what to say at these events, practice your conversation with the homie. Yes, ask your podnuh or friend to talk through it with you. I promise, you’ll feel way more comfortable.

Preparing For A One On One

Chasing a business owner down to schedule one on one time, but then just winging the whole thing could do more harm than good. You run a high risk of having an unproductive conversation and your potential client might feel like you’ve wasted their time. Do yourself a favor. 1. Ask Thoughtful Questions: It shows you’ve done your homework. 2. Share an agenda: Know what you want to achieve during the meeting. 3. Bring Value: If you can offer a solution to a problem, don't hesitate to share it.

Corey Populous' 1st Graphic Design Client Was Rapper Vince Staples

Before getting Circulate off the ground, Corey landed his first client, Vince Staples, through a network he built while working as a graphic designer at Diamond Supply from 2009 - 2015. For $2,500 a month, he designed Vince's tour merch in 2015. When it comes to building relationships, Corey maintains that doing it in real life is the main way he’s been able to get consistent work.

Going To Random Events

"Always network bro, like it doesn't matter if it's local or on a whim, going to Paris Fashion Week and you're not invited to any shows, but there's a bunch of parties that you might be able to get into. You don't know who you’re gonna rub shoulders with and what that amounts to."

Reaching Out To People

"Once you start building all those contacts, you never know who's gonna either reach out or who you could reach out to, and be like, yo, I'm doing X, Y and Z. And maybe they just started a new company and you fit right into that. "

Followers Don't Matter

"People always ask like “oh how did you do this NFL project, you only have thirty thousand followers or whatever.” Bro because I have great relationships. It doesn't matter about the internet, that's just all optics that's doesn't matter."

See you next week,

Bimma Williams

Co-creator / Host of The Claima Stories Podcast & Freelance Host​