Let’s face facts: you cannot help everyone.
You cannot even help a fraction of all possible clients. This has nothing to do with your talent, this has to do with having limited time and resources.
So you need to decide which clients to help, and which ones to leave behind. To help decide, here are some questions to ask yourself.
You are a problem solver. Who’s problems do you want to solve? Who’s problems do you not want to deal with?
The world is grouped into industries. What industries do you enjoy working with?
You have values. What kind of clients are aligned with your values?
These questions become slightly easier to answer with experience. Over time, the answers kind of present themselves. So if you won’t know these answers just yet, experiment and increase your overall experience.
For example, after working with multiple industries, I realized I enjoy working with nonprofits the most. Making shareholders richer doesn’t appeal to me. It’s also about community and social impact.
The takeaway
Find your people by asking yourself important questions about the type of work you want to do, and the kind of people you want to do it for.