I’d add a fifth or maybe first item: never underestimate the power of free advice. Biggest client I’ve landed to-date came from my willingness to “teach them everything I know” in the form of a free 3-hour workshop delivered at their annual marketing confab. Worked my ass off on that deck but in the end, it made the client realize how little they really did know and how much I seemed to know.

Balanced against honest advice and a willingness to say what our firm had and had not done in the SocMe world resulted in a trust that has now transitioned into a couple of sizable contracts.

Oh ya, and that patience thing… very, very important.
@TomMartin