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Uncomplicating Business with Sara Torpey

Business gets WAY less complicated when you keep it human. In the Uncomplicating Business world, we use a simple, flexible four-part framework—ground, plan, connect, sell—to help you simplify decisions, set (and keep!) effective timelines, and show up consistently without burning out. You’ll hear bite-sized solo episodes and thoughtful interviews that turn messy challenges into actual actions, from pricing with confidence to building trust with yourself, your offers, and your community. Come for the clarity, stay for the momentum. Let's create *functional success* - where successful businesses are one part of our successful lives - together.

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Uncomplicating Business with Sara Torpey

How to Get More Clients Without Waiting for Them to Find You

September 15, 2026 • Sara Torpey • Season 4 • Episode 16

0:00 | 16:02

This episode is for you if clients aren't coming in and you're not totally sure why.

Here's the thing: when people come to me for coaching, there are really only two reasons. Either they don't have enough clients, or they have so many they've stopped sleeping. This episode - and the next few - are for the first group. And we're starting with the simplest, most skipped piece of the whole puzzle: connection.

Not a CRM. Not a cold outreach strategy. Just actual human connection - and four honest questions to help you figure out where yours might be falling short.

Three things you'll walk away with:

**Posting is not the same as connecting. If your whole strategy is sending things into the internet and hoping people find you, that's likely what's stalling things. Business happens when people buy from people - and people need actual conversation to do that.

**The people who already know you might be your fastest path to new clients. Do the people closest to you actually know what you're offering right now? Because sometimes you send one honest email and the response is "oh my god, it's me." It really is that simple sometimes.

**Connection is a trend YOU set. If you're frustrated by the lack of engagement you're getting, check your own. You're the trendsetter here - and you have way more control over this than you think.

There's a 30-day free trial in the Lab available through November 15 - reach out directly on LinkedIn, Facebook, or at sara@torpeycoaching.com to grab it.

Join the Uncomplicating Business Lab: https://www.torpeycoaching.com/thelab

Grab your free masterclass: https://torpeycoaching.kit.com/freemasterclass

Welcome to Uncomplicating Business. I am Sara Torpey. I am glad you're here. After an irregular summer, I am looking forward to more regularity here with you guys this fall, and more regularity in life, and kids back to school.

And happy New Year if September is when you also celebrate. What we're going to talk about today is, you know, I've I've been thinking about why people come to coaching, and there are lots of reasons that people offer on the surface, but ultimately there are really only two reasons. Reason number one is I don't have enough clients. There's not enough business coming towards my business. Reason number two is I have more than I can handle, and I'm not sleeping anymore.

If you are reason number one, the next couple of podcasts are for you because it's the more common problem, certainly, for people to seek out help with, and it is the one that people are more reluctant to spend money and get coaching on, because if you have too much business, you're willing to pay for help. If you don't have enough, it's really hard decision to make, right? To invest in yourself, pre-clients to have that kind of trust. So what I'm going to do over the next little while is talk about what is going on. If you know, for me as a business coach, when somebody comes to me and says, "Hey, I don't have enough clients. I don't know what's happening. I need more people. I need more business. There are really four things that I look at as a business coach and sort of dig into with people to sort of diagnose what's happening, and that's what we're going to talk about.

The first of these that I want to talk about today is the one that I think in is the simplest to address, right? So we're going to go in order of difficulty over the next couple of weeks. Less so about the difficulty to diagnose on my part, but it is the easiest, simplest-not necessarily always easy-thing for you to change right now. So the core question I have when I talk to new people who come at me and say, "Hey, I am not getting enough business, is-is it your connections or lack thereof? And so you're going to be like, "Wait, what? What do you mean? So there are some questions that I ask people. There are some really important things about connection. If you've been a part of this podcast all along, you know how I feel about connection.

For me, it is one of the core tenets of having an uncomplicating business and of selling and growing a business as a human being who is working in service to others. If you're an experienced provider, if you are an expert in your field, and you're trying to run a business, and you're not getting enough clients. One of the fastest things you can change is connection. So, for example, right out of the gate, ask yourself, "How and where am I meeting new people? Because more often than not, when I ask people that question, they're like, "Whoa, what do you mean? I write posts, and that's all well and good, but that's not people. Ultimately, what I know as a business owner, and I see examples of this day in and day out every single day, is that business happens when people buy from people. So if your only best friend right now is the internet, and you're sending things out into the ether and not actually having human connection, conversation, asking people to get to know you one-on-one through those platforms and those conversations, that's what's falling apart, right? You actually know people.

You are in business because you like people. Even as an introvert, I have to admit I like people. I find them really fascinating. I just don't want to spend all my time with them. I need quiet, which is why I'm recording today because nobody's in my house because everybody went back to school, hooray! Side note. So the first question is: It how and where are you meeting new people? And if you're not sure what to do with that, it's time to sit down and think it through. The second question is where and how are you keeping up with people you've met recently?

That you've gotten to know locally that are sort of newer into your world. Like I'm thinking about the people you've met as a grown adult in a business context, who may or may not become your clients, but who are people you're supposed to sort of like stay connected with somehow. This is not a question that leads to you need to develop a CRM and every day you need to reach out to five people to say hi and poke them. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is even unless that really works for you. Very few people that I know are like, yes, let me do it like that. That feels like a lot of pressure, but you know where and how are you keeping up with people? Do you periodically go back to that networking meeting and see everybody? Do you have a Zoom sometimes? Are you sharing on social platforms and sort of following the people that you're keeping up with? Are you commenting on their posts and like having conversations that way? Do you send them funny memes sometimes? Like I might when I see something that reminds me of someone. Do you, you know, make connections to them for for them, to new people that you're meeting, you know that's a great way.

The next question is like, where are people learning from and following you once you're connected? Because that is, you know, as a business owner, yes, you're making connections because you like people, but really, we're talking about connections for creating business. And if all you're doing is like, "Hi, my name is Joanne, and that's it, and then they never hear from you again, they have no idea what you're working on. It's really hard for them to remember that you're there when they need you to refer people to you when someone else needs you, or even to know kind of in their brain what you're up to, right? We have a lot of information coming at us in any given moment, and so having a way to sort of continue to remind people that you exist and to you know, just stay connected and help them know what you're doing and how you think is really important. And then the last question is the worst, right? This is the one that people hate, which is: Do the people that know you best actually know what you do. Have you told them? Have you said, "Hey, friend, I need you. I this is what I'm working on.

This is my current offer. If you or anyone in your world need or want this, please, like, let's connect. Here's how you get that help. I and I have a great example of this. So a couple of weeks ago, a business friend of mine is transitioning her business. She's doing something different. She sent me an email, and I'm sure she sent it to a ton of people. That was like, okay, in the time that I'm transitioning, here's this thing I'm doing on the side. If you or someone you know need this kind of support, it's sort of the bridge I'm building for myself. Great, it was super clear. I asked her a couple of questions about who it's for, if there were things on the list she didn't want to do, so that when I run into people that need that, I kind of know what I'm looking for, and then earlier this week I thought to myself, "Oh my God, it's me, right? I need her because she was offering a sort of support that, like, I have a really short-term need for right now, ahead of some projects I'm working on in the fall. And I was like, "Oh God, it's me! But if she hadn't sent that email a month ago, I would never have thought of that, because it just wouldn't have occurred to me, and I didn't really understand that that would be something good for her right now.

Another example of something in this bucket is I have a longtime client who one of the things she decided to do about, shoot, four years ago, is just send a monthly note to. She works with students and families.

She has providers in her areas: psychologists, psychiatrists, school people, school counselors, all kinds of people who refer students to her, and so what she does every month is send like a hey, here's what's happening in the business. I hope you're well. Here's a quick thought on some of this kind of work. Here's a trend I'm seeing with students and families, and. And here's what I have available this month. Let me know, you know, what your thoughts are. That is how she is sharing content and expertise. It's how she's reminding people she exists, and it is an easy way for them and her to maintain a conversation when she meets someone new that fits that category. She asks them if it's okay, and she adds them to the list, and that's it.

Excuse me. So, for you, think about connection. If there are no people in your world coming in, is it because you are not talking to people? Because this is the simplest next step. I know it sounds too simple, maybe, and it is not an instant fix necessarily. But being connected makes a huge difference in sales, and honestly, sometimes it is an instant fix because sometimes you send a note to somebody, you say, "Here's what I'm working on right now, and they say, "Thank God! Right? They are like, "Oh my God! Right? This right now. So it can work very fast, but if you find that you are waiting for people to come to you, if you are waiting for engagement. If you're frustrated by lack of engagement, check your own engagement, because we are, as I tell the kids all the time, we are the trendsetters. It is our job as business owners, as human beings, as friends to set the trend. So, what trend are you setting right now in terms of connection, because if it's not the trend you want, you get to you get control of that.

You can change it. Okay, if this is something that you're like, oh my god, but how and where and you have all of the how questions, please come into the uncomplicating business lab connection and being connected is one of the four core components in the lab. We ground, we plan, we connect, we sell, and every month we sit down and talk about connections. We talk about how many connections you're reaching out to. We talk about what kinds of connections and what the reach out is like. We work on co-work in co-working on those connections. We make suggestions on language. We support each other, and we hold you accountable. Because if you said I'm going to send 30 outreaches this month because I have this list, there's a client in the lab right now. We just had September goal setting.

Part of the things she's going to do towards her goal is make outreaches. I think she has a list of 36 names to people known to her into her world who don't know exactly what she's doing right now, and we're going to be checking with her. I'm going to be checking with her to really help her get through that because it can be intimidating as you're getting started, and help her make sure she's doing that outreach so that people know and can buy from her and can refer people to her. That matters. We do those kinds of plans in the lab all the time, every month, every week, and then we stick to them because there's accountability. You can between now and november 15 start in the lab with a 30 day free trial, which means you can be in for 30 days and you can try it all out without without spending any money. And then at the end of 30 days, if you decide it is really not for you, that's fine. You can go. We would miss you, but you can go. I get it. But if it's really helpful, I hope you stay, right? If you want that free trial, you need to reach out to me directly. It's not something I'm putting out in the universe and easy places for any old random stranger to access.

I want it to go to people who really want it, and so the easiest way to do that would be to send me a message on LinkedIn or Facebook or email me at sara@torpeycoaching.com and just say hey heard it on the podcast would love to look at the free trial send me a note. If you have questions about connection, reach out. I'm a human being. I am someone you could connect to. I am not scary. I promised. I got on a call somebody with somebody recently who listens to the podcast, and she said, "Oh my gosh, it's so weird to hear you like say my name and talk to me in person. And I just laughed because like I'm a regular human. You're a regular human. We're all gonna be okay.

The last thing is, if this podcast is really useful for you, it would be great if you could rate it and review it on your favorite platform, this is how people find it, and it's a huge help towards making sure the people who need it actually have access to it. From there, have a great day, happy connecting, and go forth. Let's make some sales.