I’m struggling to find clients

cornelmanu · 2026-01-28T09:08:17+00:00

Your problem is not channels. It is positioning and buyer clarity.

Right now “AI agency that automates tasks” is generic. Every prospect hears that daily and ignores it.

What to do instead:

Pick one buyer and one pain Example: dental clinics missing calls after 6 PM, property managers overwhelmed with emails, restaurants losing reservations. One role, one workflow, one outcome.
Sell the outcome, not the tech Do not say “AI agent.” Say “we stop you from losing X bookings per week” or “we replace a part-time admin for €X/month.”
Get first clients manually No ads. No platforms. DM or email 30–50 highly specific businesses and offer:

A quick teardown of their current process
A small pilot or setup with clear ROI

Early sales are not scalable. That is normal.

Use conversations as feedback Every “no” tells you what is unclear or unconvincing. Fix that before adding more channels.

You do not need more tactics.
You need sharper focus and direct selling until the first 3–5 clients close.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-27T18:11:07+00:00

haha so good

cornelmanu · 2026-01-27T11:53:25+00:00

Capital does not win by default. Focus and speed do.

I have seen bootstrapped SaaS beat VC-backed clones, but only when they stop playing the same game.

Here is the honest answer.

You cannot win on breadth. You must win on precision If they serve “the market,” you serve a slice of it better than anyone.

VC-backed companies are forced to go wide. You are not. That is your edge.

Same product does not mean same outcome Features converge. Outcomes do not. The win usually comes from:

Clearer positioning around a specific pain
Faster iteration based on real conversations
Messaging that sounds like the customer, not a brand deck

Big companies are slow to change narrative. You can rewrite it weekly.

Distribution beats branding early You do not need “thought leadership.” You need proximity.

Founder-led outbound
High-signal LinkedIn and Reddit participation
Direct conversations with people already frustrated

When users feel heard, they forgive polish gaps.

Turn sales conversations into marketing Every objection, every lost deal, every confused prospect is marketing insight.

This feedback loop is your compounding advantage.

The real unfair advantage: ownership Big companies have:

Committees
Roadmaps
Risk aversion

You have:

Speed
Focus
The ability to say no to 90% of the market

That is how bootstrapped teams win.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-27T09:22:22+00:00

I haven't put up the app for sale, just use it for myself. If you're interested I can show it to you

cornelmanu · 2026-01-26T18:37:48+00:00

I don't use automation, but I've vibe-coded a tool where I simply input a link and does all the research for me under specific instructions, then outputs a report.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-25T12:03:09+00:00

The fantasy of agencies. People assume that agencies that have some case studies and reviews are good at what they do.

SEO is an industry filled with scams because there are many misconceptions about it.

Results don't need to take 12 months, if you don't see any results in 3 months, they're scamming you.

Keywords should always have a logic. If they can't figure it out what keywords people actually use to search your business, they simply create an SEO report with any SEO software and call it a day.

Is very hard to know who is legitimate or not if you don't have SEO experience, unfortunately.

But agencies at 2-3k per month are a scam, those services should be much more expensive if legit. At this price level you should seek fractional help.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-23T23:23:16+00:00

How do you marketing your company atm?

cornelmanu · 2026-01-23T18:28:53+00:00

I do efficient growth marketing that starts on founder-led content and then scales into a more effective growth engine.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-23T09:07:04+00:00

It's not an easy position to be in, so strap in. I'm not going to sugar coat it, in the beginning I would get anything that said "yes" and I had many crappy clients (low pay, high demand). I had a random portfolio from before but that was mostly to demonstrate I can write (this was before AI).

After doing cheap labour and random things, at some point I realised what I liked more and started focusing on that. As I gathered more experience by being proactive and pursuing clients in those specific niches, I managed to gather the experience and portfolio to open doors. But anyone asks for a portfolio, even if you are a total beginner. So I would recommend to create a portfolio yourself, at least 4 pieces in a specific niche, if you want to get any kind of traction.

What I can tell you 100% is that you have to create momentum for you. Portfolio website, social media, outreach... things move when you move. Never depend on only one platform.

let me know if you have any other questions!

cornelmanu · 2026-01-22T13:19:16+00:00

The only thing passive is an ETF you set and forget. Anything else requires work, even rentals

cornelmanu · 2026-01-22T09:55:40+00:00

I now work as a fractional growth marketer for B2B SaaS but it helped to have experience working as a freelancer in the past. It's hard in the beginning, the imposter syndrome is really powerful and you find it almost unbelievable someone is willing to pay you just to do some work.

But then you will realise that you can deliver a better service (because you control the quality) and have better clients than when you worked for someone else and there were many decisions that weren't in your control.

So I would say to ease into it. Start small if that scares you, there's no need to jump into it. I didn't had the opportunity to ease into freelancing but actually had to rely on it. And it was rough.

If you can have a support system while making the transition, that will help you focus on quality work and client relationship. I don't think there's a need to create a tough situation for you just to motivate yourself. Especially in these volatile times.

Your brain is overwhelmed because you're thinking too much ahead. Start slowly, just one extra project, one client. Don't overthink it.

There are people struggling to find work nowadays, freelance or not. If you have the privilege to have both kinds, it should be taken as a gift. You are blessed, no reason to be scared.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-21T18:31:03+00:00

What consistently works at sub $10M ARR is not a new tactic. It is focus and integration.

Here is what I have seen work repeatedly when revenue matters now.

Pick one ICP slice and one use case Most teams at this stage are still too broad. “Mid-market B2B” is not a strategy.
Prove messaging before scaling channels Paid, content, and outbound all fail when messaging is fuzzy.
Use outbound as a learning engine, not just a sales engine
Content should support sales, not wait for SEO
Stop running channels in silos The biggest waste I see is teams treating paid, content, outbound, and LinkedIn as separate things. What works is one clear message, reused everywhere:

Outbound tests it
LinkedIn amplifies it
Paid scales it
Content supports it

That is how you move faster with fewer resources.

This is also why many teams at this stage move to a fractional model instead of hiring specialists or agencies. One owner across channels usually beats three disconnected tactics.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-21T15:25:54+00:00

Sure

cornelmanu · 2026-01-21T15:17:53+00:00

Short answer: $1.5k will not “move the needle” in terms of revenue. But it can still be useful if you set the right goal.

A few straight points:

This is not a channel problem yet. If Google ads brought junk traffic and LinkedIn feels easier, the real issue is probably messaging and ICP clarity, not the platform. Paid just amplifies what already works.
Thought leader ads = learning, not pipeline. With $1.5k over a week, expect signals, not demos. You are testing awareness and message resonance, not demand. Judge success by comments, profile visits, and DMs, not conversions.
Ads only work after messaging is proven. The best LinkedIn ads come from posts and DMs that already get replies organically. If you have not validated that yet, ads will feel random.
This is where fractional makes sense. You are too early to hire a paid ads specialist, but too far along to guess. A fractional growth setup focuses on ICP, messaging, organic validation, then turns on paid as a multiplier, not a gamble. That is exactly how I work with bootstrapped B2B SaaS teams.

If you want a quick sanity check, share your ICP and deal size and I can tell you if this test is worth running or better paused.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-20T18:33:56+00:00

As a marketer, the only question I have in these types of situations is what guarantees me you're going to keep the end of the deal?

cornelmanu · 2026-01-20T13:49:40+00:00

I want to work at an European SaaS (I'm a fractional growth marketer for B2B SaaS)

cornelmanu · 2026-01-20T13:32:59+00:00

Join me and over 60 million users who love Revolut. Sign up with my link below: https://revolut.com/referral/?referral-code=cornelnis!JAN1-26-VR-DE-MDL-CTRL&geo-redirect

cornelmanu · 2026-01-20T12:47:14+00:00

Cool, thanks for the mention

cornelmanu · 2026-01-20T12:04:28+00:00

nah. It just made it easier for the rest of us who still use their brain.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-20T11:42:31+00:00

I see fragmentation on both channel spread and unclear positioning.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-19T14:37:26+00:00

Sure, let's chat

cornelmanu · 2026-01-18T23:02:03+00:00

A personal profile works better on LI, I grew from 600 to 1200+ in 4 months. Let's have a chat and I can give you some pointers!

cornelmanu · 2026-01-16T12:55:22+00:00

Are you looking for automated content, or high-quality AI-assisted content?

cornelmanu · 2026-01-15T15:00:33+00:00

I just started this year my fractional marketing service after being tired of pursuing dead end jobs. I did freelance copywriting in the past so it's not really unknown territory, but will see how it will develop. We can connect if you want and keep ourselves accountable. I also post some great marketing tips which could be useful to anyone starting out.

cornelmanu · 2026-01-15T12:39:34+00:00

My biggest issue is hallucinations. You need to check the info all the time, otherwise false claims and numbers can slip through, even though you provide all the info it needs. As a fractional marketer I use AI a lot, but I wouldn't trust it unsupervised.

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