Where do the first clients come from?
From people who already know your work: former colleagues, people you’ve helped for free, people in the communities you belong to. Strangers find you later. Write to the people who know you one at a time, say what you do in a sentence, and ask who they know.
- 1
People you’ve helped for free
The friend whose CV you rewrote, the colleague you talked through a pricing decision. They know what you’re like to work with, and they’ve been waiting for a way to pay you back.
- 2
Former colleagues
They’ve seen your work for years. Check what your old contract says about soliciting your employer’s clients, and write to the people, not the accounts.
- 3
People who refer for a living
An accountant who meets new businesses, a doctor who sees the problem you solve, a recruiter whose candidates need interview practice. One of them can send you more clients than a hundred friends.
- 4
The communities you’re already in
A professional association, a parents’ group, a sports club, an online forum. Answer questions there for a month before you mention you take bookings.
- 5
Directories for your kind of work
Most professions have a directory clients search: the coaching federation’s finder, a therapists’ register, a tutoring site. A listing that links to your page costs an hour, and some clients look nowhere else.
- 6
Your first client’s friends
The best source of the second client is the first. Ask once the work has gone well, not before.
The message
Short, about them, and with one question. “I’ve started taking clients for [what you do], for [who you help]. If you know anybody who’s stuck on [the problem], would you send them my page?” Then the link. No newsletter, no announcement to everyone at once. One person, one message.
What doesn’t work early
Paid ads before you know who books, posting every day to people who don’t know you yet, and discounts to strangers. Each one costs more than it brings in until the people who know you have run out.
Checked 2026-10-11.