There are so many varied experiences when it comes to starting a business. From what we’ve seen, there is no one, right answer. Some people found success by writing a business plan, spending months or years perfecting the idea and only then approaching their first client while others found their first client before they had even settled on a name for their business. Below, you’ll find the stories of how entrepreneurs from across industries and markets found their first clients.

Latrice Claiborne

My first client was actually the 9-5 I left. When I decided to leave, my boss cried. They recognized my value and made the decision to come with me and sign as my first client. Being a contractor I was able to set my own pay rate which was higher than if I were a full time employee. This higher rate influenced my boss’ decision of how much work to contract me for. Ultimately, this gave me the freedom I wanted: to work a lower volume for a higher rate. Read more>>

Haven Viola Photo

Starting my photography journey at 17, I never dreamed that it would become a full-time job 5 years later. I wanted my first camera because I loved to sing. I wanted to make better quality videos for the covers of songs that would later be put on YouTube or Instagram. After receiving my first camera, Canon rebel t6, I realized that I loved to take pictures, it was so fascinating to me. Read more>>

Lacie Heckathorne.

I started my business before social media was a thing so I had to figure out how to get creative with finding clients. After I decided to start my business the first thing I did was learn as much as I could about building a website. I bought a book about adobe dreamweaver and built my first basic website. There wasn’t much there, but it showed a few areas of projects I had done for myself and my family. The next step was advertising my business with my new website in a local community magazine. Read more>>

Martin Cordido

since I was young I was creative and I liked to make things I imagined come true, I always had a facility for manual tasks, when I started my company I worked mainly as a handyman, once a client who had already done several jobs showed me an image of an accent wall and he asked me if I could do it, I immediately said yes! although I did not have the best tools for that the result was very good, I posted it on my social media and many other clients asked me to do something similar for them, over time I focused only on custom interior work. Read more>>

Justin Clark

I was in my 4th year of teaching and I just started at a new school. I was surprised to find out my new school didn’t have a yearbook. I decided to make a digital yearbook from my phone so the students could experience it. I made a promo video and went around to each class playing the video in an attempt to draw interest and secure sales. One of the teachers saw my edit and asked if I could shoot his wedding. At this point I had no professional equipment, but I said yes, and the rest is history! Read more>>

Anna Lenis

I started baking a traditional Venezuelan Christmas bread called Pan de Jamon. A rolled dough filled with ham, olives and raisins. Every time I was invited to a friends house I would bring that to share. So everyone loved it and people started to order from me. My first customer was a couple who ordered pan de jamon and a pumpkin pie for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was in Nov 2018. They were referred by some friends and told me they wanted to try my famous Venezuelan style ham bread. Read more>>

Toluwa Oyekanmi.

When I first stated my lash business, I was posting on Facebook marketplace to get some “models” so I could practice more on other types of eyes other than my family. An old friend from high school found my post on the marketplace and messaged me to book an appointment. She also said she wants to pay the full price that I would charge and she’s been sticking with me ever since. Read more>>

Kenisha Darden

I was actually approached by my first client before I added this service to my business. Prior to adding this service to my business, my first client approached me three times. Initially, my business operated only as a remote staffing company. It was through his lawn care service that I met my first client, he came out to cut my grass. I briefly mentioned my business to him. I saw him in passing several months later and he confided in me that he was looking for an answering service for his lawn care business. This is not the nature of my business, as I explained to him. Read more>>

Brandon Dukes.

I had just started my Realtor career. When you first start there are a lot of unknowns but quite a bit of eagerness. I had no firm clients yet but my peers certainly did, so I decided to see if I could shadow an Open House which basically means your there to observe and talk to the other Realtor but stay in the background. I was very excited to attend my first Open House even if it wasn’t my listing. It was a great learning opportunity. Read more>>

Ashley Kennedy

I’ve been in business since March 2020. I did not get my first client until a year later. I had just revamped my website and added my business to Google. Once I could of googled my business, which was a huge deal, I reached out to my previous clients asking them to write an review. My first client had googled resume writers in the Grand Rapids area and reached out to schedule a consultation. He mentioned how impressed he was with my reviews and truly needed new professional documents (resume/cover letter). With this being my first client that was not a friend/family/friend-of-a-friend, Read more>>

Kelsey Houston

I landed my first (real) client in 2017 by responding to a Facebook post in my subdivision community group. Tracy was the owner of a pet-sitting and dog-walking business that served my neighborhood and she’d asked for recommendations for a website designer. I responded that I was interested in speaking with her to see what she needed and if I could help her. Read more>>