I don't care who my 'ideal client' is...

It's true. Against every guru's guidance, I don't care - or know - who my ideal client is.

And I'm okay with that.

I'd posted on social media some time ago that I was (irrationally) irked by people banging on about ICAs (because the business world doesn't have enough jargon), and more so annoyed by the fact that the A stood for 'avatar'. Ridiculous at best, redundant at worst. Everyone can work out what the phrase 'Ideal Client' means as it stands, and we don't need to keep thinking of new ways to say the same bloody thing to make it look like we've just invented some brand spanking new way of doing business.

Anyway, that was a previous rant, but this blog is more of an gentle admission, because although we're told that we should have an ideal client, know our ideal client, and pretty much figure out the inside leg measurement of our ideal client, I don't have/know/want to know any of those things. And, whilst we're told to speak directly to our ideal client, I don't want to, because I love what I do and I want to share it. With everybody. Somebody out there may not think they need me, but by speaking to everyone - about everything - I have the opportunity to attract people who didn't even know I could bring them value. And vice versa!

Please do not mistake this for thinking that I'll work with just anyone. I won't, and the joke I've made previously about an ideal client being a paying one, well, we all know that whilst this certainly helps, it's not always the most important factor in a transaction. I've worked hard in my business over the years to get to a point where I know what projects I like working on and I know who I enjoy working with. Having said that, I only know these things as a result of getting to know those projects and those people - at least to some small extent.

There have been people in the past who seemed ideal for me and appeared 'aligned' with me and my work, who still ended up messing me around, causing me upset and/or leaving me in the lurch. On the flipside, though, there were also clients who, at the first interaction, I kind of felt hesitant about working with, and only tentatively agreed to try out working on their project in the hope that it may at least broaden my skillset. On most of those occasions, I ended up loving the projects, and loving the people even more. An ideal client on paper is a set of stats and descriptions. In real life, an ideal client is someone you find you have a relationship with - even if you didn't see it coming.

My point is this. Not only don't I know who my ideal client is because I haven't worked with all people yet, but I also don't want to know who my ideal client is. As with my personal life, I like the idea of just getting to know people, and figuring out the weird and wonderful ways in which we can gel, and the productive ways in which we can do great things both with and for each other. And, when it comes to speaking to people both in real life and on social media, I don't want to just speak to those who I think are my ideal clients, because as people get to know me, there may be things within my professional skill-set that I can offer them that I didn't even previously consider.

I'm not saying that finding, knowing and addressing your ideal client is a bad thing. It's most certainly not, and as I've already said, the concept has been swinging around successfully for years before being re-branded in various guises by various gurus with every new moon. If it's something you need, and you and your business can really benefit from it, do it. Find your ideal client. Know them, speak to them, turn up at their house with their mum's favourite flowers - whatever you need to do. I don't think everybody does need it, though, because if you're confident and strong enough in your own personal brand, all the right people (regardless of if you ever pinned them as ideal or not) will come to you.

Why? Because you're their ideal provider.

I like that.

(I guess this is a bit like that time I wrote about not having a niche, which gained popularity purely based on the fact that I accompanied the text with an image of a quiche, just because it rhymed. If you enjoyed today's blog, then you can read the niche quiche post and marvel at my 'set featured image' skills here: I have no niche! )

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