Most small business owners think you have to chase. Cold calls, paid funnels, networking events you don't want to be at. Graphic designer Amy Weiher has run her Seattle studio for 20+ years entirely on referrals and repeat clients — no cold outreach, no funnel, still booked.
In this episode, Amy walks Jo through what she's actually done. The 4-week warm email system she uses to bring new nonprofit clients on board. The networking decision that filled her client roster. And the cortisone shot 15 years in that forced her to stop saying yes to everything.
You'll learn:
- Why hoping for referrals doesn't work — and what cultivating them actually looks like
- Which networking groups are worth your time and which are a waste
- Amy's 4-week warm email system for landing nonprofit clients
- Why AI-written outreach emails go straight to the bin
- The first thing to change if you're burnt out, undercharging and saying yes to everyone
- How putting your prices on your website filters out the wrong clients
- The conference conversation that turned into a client two years later
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CONTACT JO:
The Jo Show is for small business owners in their first one to five years — people doing the work, wearing every hat, and trying to figure out what's actually working in marketing right now.
Hosted by Jo McKee, founder of McKee Creative.
Subscribe to The Jo Show for more conversations with builders, inventors and operators → https://www.youtube.com/@the_jo_show
Apply to be a guest on The Jo Show → https://mckeecreative.store/the-jo-show-guest-application/
Hire McKee Creative for your marketing or AI systems → https://mckeecreative.store
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mckeecreative/
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CONTACT AMY WEIHER:
Website → https://weihercreative.com/
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyweiher/
Book → Good Work — Practical Advice for Starting and Scaling Your Creative Freelance Business: https://goodworkbook.com/
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CHAPTERS:
0:00 Twenty years booked on referrals
0:59 The yes that ended in a cortisone shot
2:30 Hoping for referrals doesn't work. This does.
4:30 The networking group that filled her client roster
5:46 Stop joining every networking event you find
7:44 What worked in your 30s won't work in your 40s
11:05 How to push back on rushed deadlines
12:04 The clients I refuse to work with
14:49 Every yes is a no to something else
17:33 The 4-week warm email system that wins nonprofit clients
19:28 The course I bought after nine years of watching
20:46 Why AI-written emails don't land
21:15 Burnt out? Raise your rates first
22:30 Why my prices live on my website
23:37 A conference chat that became a client two years later
24:47 Start with how you want your day to feel
#SmallBusinessMarketing #MarketingPodcast
