After working virtually with companies across North America for over a decade, last year I decided it was time to land more local clients in Toronto. That I could meet with in person. Though I had been living here for 12 years, the closest clients I had were in Mississauga that I would commute to a few times a year for lunch or to train teams on their marketing strategy.
Inspired by this Client Acquisition Strategy episode where I interviewed 2X exit entrepreneur Andy Strote (also based in Toronto) on leveraging the relationships of existing clients to grow your business (a hill we will both die on), I decided to go all in on this geo-focus.
Around the same time, my friend Susan Diaz from Peaceful AI Marketing invited me to an event where she was speaking. The ticket was an investment, but the venue was less than a 10-minute walk from my house. No excuse not to go!
Getting Intentional About Going Local
While at this event sitting beside her, I randomly got invited to a fundraising yacht party for influential entrepreneurs. When I first moved to the city I got invited to some cool events but it had been years since a random opportunity like this came through. I turned to Susan and shared my surprise.
A few days later, Susan messaged me: “When are we getting tickets?” Again, it was an investment, but come on, a fun party on a yacht while growing my business? That was the nudge I needed to pull the trigger on going. I messaged the host to ask how I even ended up on the list. He said they had invited proven entrepreneurs.
When Action Sparks Opportunity
Not long after buying that ticket, a recruiter reached out about a fractional gig. Now, I don’t exactly trust recruiters based on past experiences. But, to be fair, they’ve also brought in great opportunities throughout my career. My expectations were low, but I needed a big account to land after working part time and hanging with the twins, so I played it out.
The day of the yacht party, I signed the contract for my next large account. The best part. The company’s office? Five minutes from my house. Talk about manifestation coming to life!
At the yacht party I was able to network with no pressure. And now it was time to celebrate!
While at the event, I overheard one of the hosts mention that they had used some AI-powered profiling to crawl LinkedIn and build the guest list. Random, right?
Trust the Energy You Create
Later on, I told this story on a coaching call with my client John. Who at the time, had also been intentionally setting his own goals to land his next big account as a contract was wrapping up. And a few days later, one of his past clients from years back randomly reached out and became his next big gig.
Now, I wouldn’t recommend relying on woo as your core business strategy. But let’s be real: there’s energy and momentum that builds when we start investing in our desired outcomes. Opportunities show up.
