It’s going to sound simple, but for many people it’s much harder than you can imagine: if you want clients, you have to be willing to tell people that you have the skills to help them.

A lot of people think of a used car salesman when they think about promoting themselves – suddenly they’ve transformed themselves into a guy with slicked back hair, a tweed suit and a fake smile. Many people want someone else to do the marketing for them, just so that they never have to imagine themselves in this light. And you know, the hard sell can sound like that, but it doesn’t have to.

Step 1: Get a business card.

Simple, right?

“Oh, but business cards are expensive. I can’t afford a business card until I have some clients…but I can’t get clients until I get a business card.”

Ok, let’s back up.

Step .5: Decide what you’d like to put on a business card.

It doesn’t have to be fancy to start with. It doesn’t need to include your title if you don’t know what your title is yet. In this day and age of 450,000 ways to be in contact with someone, it doesn’t even need to include your phone number! A business card can be as simple as your name and email address on a white background.

So, back to step 1: Take whatever information you’ve decided to put on your business card, and buy about 100 business cards with this information on it. There are plenty of places online to buy 100 business cards. There is no reason to buy 250 or 1000, because as you pass out your business cards and start talking about your business, you’ll realize what other information you might want on your business card. You might want someone to help you create a logo. You might actually want to include your phone number, or you might decide that you want a website for your business.

Once you have a business card, make sure that you carry some with you, someplace where they won’t get bent, folded or stained. When you’re talking to someone – regardless of whether or not it’s a friend or a stranger – and they start to tell you that they’re looking for a necklace to wear that’s really unique to them and you just LOVE making jewelry, you can fish that card out of your wallet, slide it over the table, and say, “I could help you with that.”

The smarmy salesman doesn’t show up, and someone suddenly has new information that they could choose to use to help themselves. Most importantly, you have promoted yourself.