There I was at 3 AM, scrolling through LinkedIn for the fifth time that night.
My wife Duong slept peacefully beside me while I wrestled with the same gnawing question that kept me awake most nights: “Why aren’t the right clients finding me?”
Just two years ago, I ran a supposedly “successful” digital marketing agency. The numbers looked decent on paper. We had clients. We made money. Yet something felt off.
Each morning, I’d wake up with a knot in my stomach about our client roster.
Sure, we could handle their projects, but they weren’t the dream clients I’d imagined when starting my business.
Some haggled over every invoice. Others ignored our strategic advice. Most treated us like glorified task-runners rather than trusted advisors.
The real problem? I was terrified of narrowing down my focus. The thought of specialising made my palms sweat.
What if I picked the wrong niche? What if I turned away good money? What if I failed?
This marketing anxiety paralysed me. I said yes to any client with a pulse and a PayPal account. I tried every marketing tactic that crossed my feed.
I wrote generic content trying to appeal to everyone. And in doing so, I made myself invisible to the very clients I wanted to attract.
The Hidden Cost of Playing It Safe
Here’s what nobody tells you about trying to appeal to everyone: it’s actually the riskiest strategy of all. When you’re afraid to stand for something specific, you end up standing for nothing at all.
The costs add up in ways you might not expect:
You waste money on scattered marketing efforts that never quite hit the mark.
You lose precious time with family because you’re constantly chasing new leads instead of working with a steady stream of ideal clients.
Your confidence takes a hit every time you work with a wrong-fit client who doesn’t value your expertise.
Your brand becomes diluted, making it even harder for perfect-fit clients to recognise you as their solution.
When Traditional Marketing Advice Makes Things Worse
That knot in your stomach? It actually gets tighter when you follow conventional marketing wisdom. Here’s what I learned after wasting thousands on courses that promised to solve my client attraction problems.
The “Be Everywhere” Trap
You’ve probably heard this one: “You need to be on every social platform.” I fell for it. I stretched myself thin trying to maintain perfect profiles on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even TikTok.
The result? Mediocre content everywhere and meaningful connections nowhere.
I wasn’t just failing at marketing – I was failing at life.
The Perfect Social Media Myth
We’re sold this idea that if we just post consistently enough, use the right hashtags, and follow the latest algorithm tricks, perfect clients will magically appear.
Reality check: I had a client they posted three times daily for six months straight.
Their engagement? Crickets. Why? Because they were speaking to everyone and therefore connecting with no one.
The Generic Content Carousel
Remember those marketing templates promising to help you “connect with your audience”?
They’re about as effective as sending a mass-produced Valentine’s card to someone you fancy. Your perfect clients can smell generic content from a mile away.
I used to spend hours crafting posts that wouldn’t offend anyone. You know the type:
“Want to grow your business? Contact us today!” “Looking to scale? We can help!” “Ready to take things to the next level?”
These messages are so broad they become invisible. They’re the marketing equivalent of beige wallpaper – inoffensive but utterly forgettable.
The Hidden Truth About Client Attraction
Living in Vietnam taught me something crucial about finding your perfect clients.
When I first moved to Da Nang, I tried to fit in everywhere. I joined every expat group, went to every networking event, said yes to every coffee meeting.
I was visible everywhere but memorable nowhere.
The Clarity Paradox
Here’s the counterintuitive truth I discovered: The more specific you become, the more clients you attract. It seems backwards, right?
But it works like a compass – when you know exactly where north is, every other direction becomes clear too.
Take my friend, a web designer who worked with “anyone who needs a website.” She struggled for months to find clients.
Then she niched down to focus solely on estate agents who want to stand out in their local market. Within weeks, she had a waiting list.
The reason? When you speak directly to a specific audience, they feel like you’re reading their mind. You’re not just another service provider – you’re their solution.
Why Saying “No” Makes You More Attractive
The moment I started turning away wrong-fit clients, something magical happened.
My marketing anxiety dropped dramatically. Instead of trying to please everyone, I could focus on creating content that spoke directly to the clients I wanted to work with.
No more generic posts. No more watered-down messages. No more trying to be all things to all people.
And guess what? The right clients started finding me. They’d say things like, “It feels like you’re speaking directly to me” or “Your content describes exactly what I’m going through.”
Finding Your Visibility Sweet Spot
I spent months posting daily LinkedIn updates about general digital marketing tips. The engagement was decent, but it wasn’t attracting the right people.
Then I started sharing specific stories about helping service-based businesses in Southeast Asia navigate cultural differences in their marketing.
My overall reach actually decreased – but my perfect-fit client enquiries tripled.
Where Your Perfect Clients Actually Look
Most businesses waste time trying to be visible everywhere their clients might be. The smarter approach? Be unmissable in the few places where they definitely are.
Think about it. If you’re looking for a nice coffee in Da Nang, you don’t check every café in the city.
You ask other expats who love good coffee. Your perfect clients work the same way – they hang out in specific spaces and trust specific people.
For me, that meant:
- Focusing on LinkedIn rather than trying to master every platform
- Speaking at selective expat business events rather than every networking opportunity
- Writing detailed case studies instead of generic marketing tips
The Clarity-Visibility Connection
Here’s what nobody tells you about finding clients: Clarity acts like a lighthouse. When you’re crystal clear about who you serve and how you help them, you naturally attract their attention.
I learned this lesson after a particularly frustrating month of zero new clients.
I sat down with my wife Duong and asked her to help me get brutally honest about who I really wanted to work with. Not who I could work with – who I wanted to work with.
Your Clear Path Forward
Let me share exactly what worked for me – not just theory, but real steps you can take today. After spending countless nights worrying about finding clients, this approach finally helped me sleep soundly.
Step 1: Define Your Perfect Client (Actually, Really Do It)
Don’t just think about demographics. Get specific about their mindset. For each potential client type, ask yourself:
“Would I want to get a WhatsApp message from them at 9 PM on a Friday?”
If the answer’s no, they’re not your perfect client. Simple as that.
Try this exercise: Write down your last ten clients. For each one, note:
- How did working with them make you feel?
- What problems did they face that you genuinely enjoyed solving?
- Which ones would you clone if you could?
Step 2: Speak Their Language
Remember when you last googled a specific problem you were facing? You probably clicked on the result that seemed to read your mind. That’s what we’re aiming for.
I spent a week saving screenshots of every post, article, or email that made me stop scrolling.
What made them stand out? They spoke my language. They understood my specific challenges. They weren’t trying to appeal to everyone.
Here’s what I discovered works:
- Share real stories about client problems you’ve solved
- Use the exact phrases your perfect clients use when describing their challenges
- Talk about specific situations they face, not general business advice
Step 3: Choose Your Platform Wisely
Here’s the truth about marketing platforms: you only need one, maybe two, if you show up properly.
When I stopped trying to maintain five different social media accounts and focused solely on LinkedIn, my results improved dramatically.
Pick your platform based on two simple criteria:
- Where do your perfect clients actually spend their time?
- Which platform feels natural for you to use consistently?
For me, LinkedIn felt right because my perfect clients – business owners looking to expand in Southeast Asia – were already there, actively searching for solutions.
Step 4: Create Your Magnetic Content
The secret to content that attracts perfect clients? Stop trying to sound professional and start sounding real.
Some of my most successful posts came from sharing genuine struggles and lessons learned.
Try this content framework:
- Start with a specific problem your perfect client faces
- Share a real story about how you or a client overcame it
- Add the practical steps others can take
- End with a question that encourages real conversation
For example, instead of posting “5 Tips for Better Marketing,” I shared “How a British business owner lost £20,000 targeting the wrong audience in Vietnam (and what we did to fix it).”
Your 30-Day Path to Clarity
Let’s break this down into manageable steps. No overwhelming changes – just consistent, focused actions that add up to real results.
Week 1: Clarity Sprint
Monday to Wednesday: Audit your current clients. Rate each one from 1-10 based on:
- How much you enjoy working with them
- Their respect for your expertise
- Their willingness to pay your worth
Thursday to Sunday: Write your perfect client profile based on the patterns you spot in your highest-rated clients.
Week 2: Content Reset
Clean house. Look at your recent content through your perfect client’s eyes. Does it speak directly to them? If not, archive or delete it.
Pro tip: I deleted 90% of my LinkedIn posts when I did this. Scary? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely.
Week 3-4: Focused Visibility
Pick your primary platform and commit to showing up properly:
- Post three times per week minimum
- Engage with potential clients’ content daily
- Track which topics generate real conversations
Key Metrics to Watch
Don’t obsess over vanity metrics. Focus on:
- Direct messages from potential perfect-fit clients
- Quality of conversations in your comments
- Specific client problems mentioned in responses
Moving Forward With Confidence
Coming full circle, I no longer lie awake at night worrying about finding clients. The knot in my stomach has gone.
Just last week, I turned down a potentially lucrative project because the client wasn’t a perfect fit – and it felt great.
More importantly, I don’t miss family events anymore.
Last week at my daughters school performance, my phone buzzed with a message from a perfect-fit client who found me through my focused LinkedIn content.
They’d been following my posts for weeks and felt like they already knew, liked, and trusted me.
That’s the power of being specific about who you serve and how you help them.
You don’t need to be everywhere. You don’t need to appeal to everyone. You just need to be unmissable to the right people.
Ready to get started?
Pick one action from this post – just one – and commit to it this week.
Your perfect clients are out there, and they’re looking for exactly what you offer. It’s time to help them find you.

Jack AM Austin helps successful entrepreneurs break free from their content prison. After rebuilding his life and business from scratch in Vietnam, he now combines his expertise with marketing experience from P&G and L’Oreal to help others build businesses that work while they rest. His mission? Turn entrepreneurial success from a prison into freedom.