About once a month the confession comes with a wry smile. "I'm blessed," they'll say, "I really don't have time for any more clients right now."

Marketing has to be 20% of business activity - at full capacity. So how can Sally keep showing up to maintain credibility, and reaching out to meet new people, and following through to attract GateOpeners, when she really does not have time to take on any more clients?

The Pareto principle says that 80% of profits come from the top 20% of clients.

Ponder that.

It means if Sally has 10 clients,
and is making $100,000 a year,
two of those clients are responsible for $80,000.

Her client list looks like this, and truth be told, the bottom two clients, the two who ask for the most help, call her on weekends and never pay their invoices on time, actually cost her money. Sally doesn't want more clients like Hestor and Ian - she wants more like Alex.

In fact, she knows there are potential clients who would be -- dare she hope -- more profitable than Alex.

So the answer to what Sally should do is keep marketing and

Only talk about 100 point clients.

Alex is a 64 point client - she bills him $64,000 a year, which he always pays right on time, with a note of thanks. What would a 100 point client look like?

Only talk about 100 point clients.

When she's at full capacity it's comfortable to market to bigger better clients. Grab that opportunity with both hands! And what will she do if she lands one? What will Sally do if Zig comes along and his invoices each month are double what Cameron, Del, Erica, Frank and Greg pay in a year?

Well that's what options are for - and there are options: