# Content brought in customers, but what made them decide to pay?
I always thought the content I posted was what brought me customers. Later, I realized that what actually won their business might have been something I made specifically for one person.
Last October, while promoting an English-speaking app, I tried reaching out to potential users. I found 30 people on LinkedIn, and only 2 replied. By contrast, a post I shared on X brought in around 200 downloads.
At the time, I wrote in my journal: The ads failed; the content worked. Content was the only growth engine.
This February, two clients came to me for design consulting. Both reached out on their own. For a while, I thought that maybe if I just kept making good content, clients would naturally come along.
Then I read Sahil Lavingia’s *The Minimalist Entrepreneur*. One line really stuck with me: Some people hope to get customers through SEO or content marketing, but what they’re really doing is avoiding sales.
I started thinking again about how that client had found me.
He found me through a LinkedIn search. After a 15-minute chat, I spent two hours auditing his product. We talked for another half hour, and then he signed a contract. Later, he told me that the audit was what really convinced him.
So, yes, content is useful. But having someone find you and having someone willing to pay are two different things.
The day I signed my first client, I wrote in my journal: It wasn’t really that easy after all. I’d just put in the work before the proposal.
Looking at that line from *The Minimalist Entrepreneur* again, I think I’d add one thing: **Content can help you build trust, but when it’s time to win a client, you still have to be willing to put in the work for a specific person.**
At least for me, those two hours spent on the audit may have been closer to a real sale than many of the posts I’ve shared.
I always thought the content I posted was what brought me customers. Later, I realized that what actually won their business might have been something I made specifically for one person.
Last October, while promoting an English-speaking app, I tried reaching out to potential users. I found 30 people on LinkedIn, and only 2 replied. By contrast, a post I shared on X brought in around 200 downloads.
At the time, I wrote in my journal: The ads failed; the content worked. Content was the only growth engine.
This February, two clients came to me for design consulting. Both reached out on their own. For a while, I thought that maybe if I just kept making good content, clients would naturally come along.
Then I read Sahil Lavingia’s *The Minimalist Entrepreneur*. One line really stuck with me: Some people hope to get customers through SEO or content marketing, but what they’re really doing is avoiding sales.
I started thinking again about how that client had found me.
He found me through a LinkedIn search. After a 15-minute chat, I spent two hours auditing his product. We talked for another half hour, and then he signed a contract. Later, he told me that the audit was what really convinced him.
So, yes, content is useful. But having someone find you and having someone willing to pay are two different things.
The day I signed my first client, I wrote in my journal: It wasn’t really that easy after all. I’d just put in the work before the proposal.
Looking at that line from *The Minimalist Entrepreneur* again, I think I’d add one thing: **Content can help you build trust, but when it’s time to win a client, you still have to be willing to put in the work for a specific person.**
At least for me, those two hours spent on the audit may have been closer to a real sale than many of the posts I’ve shared.