The silent business killer: Making potential clients do all the work

Photo by Holly Landkammer on Unsplash

For a long time after I started freelancing, I struggled to attract the right clients. Not because I wasn’t good at what I did, but because I wasn’t making it easy for potential clients to figure out what I actually offered—or how to hire me.

Once I got crystal clear on what I do and who I do it for, and started being more strategic with my marketing, everything changed. Suddenly, I wasn’t chasing opportunities; the right clients were finding me.

Looking back, I realized that before this shift, I was making potential clients work way too hard. They had to piece together information from my website, guess whether I was the right fit, and sometimes even reach out just to ask what exactly I did. And most people? They’re not going to bother.

If your business isn’t as busy as you’d like, it’s possible potential clients aren’t sure exactly what you do or how you help them.

Are You Making Clients Work Too Hard?

Potential clients don’t have time to play detective. If they land on your website or social media and can’t immediately tell:
✅ What you do
✅ Who you help
✅ Why you’re the right person for the job
✅ How to contact you

… they’ll move on. Not because you’re not great at what you do, but because they found someone who made their decision easier.

Here’s the truth: for a lot of people who decided to work with me, the deciding factor was likely that I was in front of them when they were looking for me.

The easier you are to find, the more likely people are to work with you.

Look at it this way: When was the last time you struggled to find a service provider and thought, "You know what? I’ll just spend an extra hour digging around for someone harder to find."

Probably never. Probably as soon as you found someone who seemed like they adequately fit the bill, you went with them.

We choose the easy option almost every time.

• If a friend recommends someone? Boom—decision made.

• If we search online? We rarely go past the first page of results.

• If a website or profile makes it clear they’re the right fit? We reach out without overthinking it.

Your potential clients are no different. If working with you feels effortless, they’ll choose you. They’re more likely to feel that working with you feels effortless if finding you was somewhat effortless. If they have to work to figure it out? They’ll move on.

Here’s how this shows up in real life:

• Your LinkedIn headline is too vague (Freelance writer instead of I write conversion-focused content for SaaS brands).

• Your website isn’t clear on who you help.

• Your contact info is buried (or worse, missing).

• Your messaging is focused on you instead of how you solve problems for clients.

I’ve been there. And the good news? Fixing this is easier than you think.

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The Fix: Make It Obvious

The goal is to remove friction—anything that makes a potential client hesitate or work harder to understand how you help them.

1. Get Specific About What You Do

Vague: “Freelance writer”
Better: “I write high-converting email sequences for e-commerce brands.”
Why? Because specificity makes it obvious who you help and how. And because it has keywords that your clients are likely to use when they look for you. You don’t have to niche down super far to get here, but you have to define what you do.

Now, here’s another important point—we all love words (that’s why we’re writers and editors), but when was the last time you were thrilled to read through four dense paragraphs of copy to determine if someone could provide you with the goods or services you needed?

Don’t use your website to show off how many words you know; use it to show off how clear and concise you can be. Your clients don’t want to pick their way through reams of text to figure out whether or not you edit annual reports. They want to see it clearly laid out, with as little work as possible.

2. Make It Easy to Take the Next Step

A potential client shouldn’t have to dig for your contact info or guess how to work with you. Spell it out:

• Have a “Work With Me” or a “Contact Me” page on your site.

• Make sure your email is easy to find (you might be surprised at how often this isn’t the case).

• If you use social media, include a call to action in your profile (e.g., “Need engaging blog content? Let’s chat—email me at [your email]”).

Don’t forget to review your contact information every so often. Emails change (mine has). So do phone numbers and links to social media profiles. At least twice a year, go to your website and double-check that all your contact information is still relevant. Also, double-check your email signature.

3. Show Up Where Your Clients Are Looking

Some clients search online. Some ask for recommendations. Some search on social media. If you aren’t sure where they are, talk to people you want to work with to find out where they are. Then make sure they can find you and understand what you do. If your profile is empty, vague, or not optimized, you’re making them work harder than they need to.

I work a lot with corporations, and their people tend to be on LinkedIn. So that’s where I am.

One of the simplest fixes for me? Optimizing my profile with the right keywords so clients can actually find me. I put together a free guide with six quick LinkedIn keyword hacks to help you get discovered by the right people (without spending hours on social media).

🎯 Grab it here: [Get your LinkedIn guide]

Making it easy for clients to say yes is one of the biggest shifts you can make in your business. Take a few minutes today to check your social media, your website, and anywhere else clients might be looking for you—are you making it easy or making them work?

Let’s build something great together!

Heidi