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.

Alexandria Gilliard

The first dollar I earned for my business came from a client that asked for organizer referrals in her mommy group on Facebook. And the rest is history! Never underestimate the power of social media! Read more>>

Dena Romney

I started my business in March, and when I did, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I decided to go with virtual assistance, project management, and niche down as I grow my business. So I applied to two vacancies looking for virtual assistants, one directly through a company and one through an agency. Unfortunately, the first interview I did was not successful, but a tremendous learning opportunity for my second interview. The second interview was very successful, and I quickly learned that I am more than a virtual assistant. I am an executive assistant. Read more>>

Brittany Donnelly

I first got into marketing as a job (no sights set on career… yet). I worked in the office of a small Italian restaurant running their social media as well as office administration duties. I knew instantly I had an eye for social media the way that most didn’t. Even on my personal Instagram account, I was able to make content that my followers couldn’t get enough of. Posting my daughter and me and my single mom life, people were drawn to what I had to share. So, I set my sights on something a little bigger. Read more>>

Marissa Schulze

One of my first social media management clients was the boutique hotel, The Dove Inn. It was a dream job, because this inn is tucked in beautiful Golden, Colorado and had just been newly renovated. It had beautiful wallpapered rooms, bathtubs, kombucha on tap, and a coffee bar. It was a marketing gem, for sure, and I was thrilled to be running their Instagram and Facebook. Read more>>

Nneka Roberts

I am blessed to have 3 companies, each specializing in different creative areas. First is NYO Designs, my graphic design company, which has 2 symbolic meanings. NYO is short for New York Original as I am originally from Queens, New York. I grew up there and moved to Texas in 1989, spent the summers yearly back in Queens and relocated back to New York as I attended Pratt Institute Brooklyn campus in 2000. My experiences as a youth, Read more>>

Martina Brugnoni

My first client of my own I got because someone told me I couldn’t! My old company had markets that we split up, and one day I realized we had no clients in New York City. I thought New York City would be a great market for insurance marketing because of how high insurance premiums are there. When I asked my co-workers why, one guy said “don’t even try New York City, they’re all jerks no one will talk to you there.” Read more>>

April Borge

There is a lot of skill needed in business but we often forget that a huge part of business is sheer dumb luck. I was lucky enough to be opening a studio at the same time the local brewery, Grapevine Craft Brewery (now Hop and Sting), was changing ownership. I wasn’t the only new kid on the block now and what better way to take this leap into the unknown than to do it together. A partnership was born. The brewery owners allowed us to “open shop” in their production space to offer free yoga classes to the community while our studio was still being built. Read more>>

Debbie Grossman

When I was a young child I thought that I would become an artist and fill my home with my own artwork. I never imagined that I would become a full time artist like I am today. My first sale occurred in 1995. I was working in a doctor’s office when one day I brought several of my paintings to work and the office manager bought 3 paintings and another employee purchased one from me as well. I felt happy that other people wanted to hang my artwork in their homes. From that day on I started selling more of my paintings to some of the doctors. That gave me the confidence to display my artwork in shows. Read more>>

Scott Clayton

In the 2000’s I was running a screenprinting business in Leucadia that my buddy owned. I also played drums in several bands in the evenings and performed all over town. The nearest free live music venue was Bar Leucadian just a few blocks from my residence. I would walk down there on weekends to see the bands and would notice there were no neighborhood locals in the room. I asked the manager “why aren’t the local drinkers in the room?” He replied with “we depend on the bands to bring the crowd!” Read more>>

Mark Morris

Starting a business is exciting and frightening for any entrepreneur but the support, encouragement, and counseling from friends and family that have done it themselves can ease the transition. I had spoken many times with my friend Lloyd, President of CounterCraft, about his manufacturing business and how their processes evolved to streamline the workflow and better serve their clients. His implementation of lean manufacturing processes, inventory tracking, and team building was interesting and provided valuable insights for when we formed Texas Sign Craft. Read more>>

Todd Murphy

This can work for anyone. If you want to get started painting murals you will need to build a portfolio to get paying clients. Fortunately, there are walls everywhere! I went to Home Depot and bought some paint in the “changed my mind” section. Quarts of various colors are $5 since other customers returned this paint when they changed their mind. I found a wall on a local business that looked like it needed to be repainted anyway and asked the owner if I could paint a mural on their wall for free. If they loved it, Read more>>

Bo Talley-Williams

I started Bo Fitt LLC officially in 2019. I have always been into fitness and I’ve been a personal trainer for 16 years or more, however I didn’t officially make it a business until 2019. When I realized over the years the impact my fitness knowledge has had, along with just sharing my workouts via my social media platforms, I began to notice, what an impact I was making and how I have contributed to peoples lives. I started realizing I was inspiring people to want to live a healthy lifestyle. People see me living a Healthy, Fit, Fine, and Fabulous life and they want to live that too. Read more>>

Dee Powell

I wouldn’t say my first client but rather my first opportunity and first business relationship was from Better Block. A placemaking and urban design group that reached out to me as my own firm. It was honestly surreal and I wasn’t really sure if I could fill the shoes of it especially since it was my first true and true paid project as my own entity. They reached out to me in October of 2020 about the project, the MLK Food Park in South Dallas, for early 2021 and at the time I said yes not truly knowing what I was doing but was grateful to be included. Read more>>

Leia Nicole

When I first opened my Day Spa, I put out a deal on Groupon. Yes, I would be giving half price massages at first, but I thought of it as my chance to “audition” so to speak… it was my chance to wow them, and make them a return client for life. I looked at is as an opportunity to show them what makes me different. Read more>>

Bobby Schuman

Before we even started the business we wanted to make sure there was a market for it. We really had no idea if people would be interested in hiring some twentysomething year old punks like us to hang their Christmas lights. So during a heat wave in early October I decided to go door-to-door in a few neighborhoods just to gauge interest. I remember how hot it was because I heard the same joke at every door I went to about how funny it was that I was asking about Christmas lights on a hot day in October. Read more>>

Kristen Elizabeth Stewart

Well first and foremost, shout out to Blanche Ely High School class of 2005!!! I was in the Medical Sciences Magnet program at Blanche Ely high school and elected to do the LPN track. This track required us to finish our classes in 2 years with our remaining 2 in clinicals. At the time we only had school 4 days a week and on Fridays we had the option to take additional course hours or to volunteer. I did both. As I started the LPN track in junior year I was not interested completely and I was too afraid to graduate early by myself. Read more>>

Aujanae McKinney

It was 2016, I was working on a ship in a blue room, tracking radars and ships in the cold and I found no fulfillment in what I did. I found out about my current job from two previous co-workers and it interested me because I had family background in it. So I did my research and I applied. When I finally got the acceptance to go and do my interview it was very nerve-wracking because they asked a lot of personal background questions and I actually cried during my interview, but it wasn’t a bad thing it was them seeing if I was “human” or not. Read more>>

Lauren Powell

Ten years ago I decided I wanted to be a personal trainer. I’d recently made some decisions that led to a healthy lifestyle and wanted to make it a career. The problem was I had absolutely no experience with exercise. I did some running and some yoga videos at home but that was it. I honestly couldn’t have told you the difference between a squat and a lunge. Read more>>

Andrea

Question: Why do I do what I do? My story about becoming a chiropractor is one that actually changed every aspect of my life. I was 30 years old and in a sales career that had moved me from WI to Colorado Springs to LA to Miami to Charlotte all within six years with the company I was with. As I got further along and gained more responsibility, the new roles and increasing pressure started to really weigh on me, especially with the added stress of moving and starting over every year or two in a new place. Read more>>

Laina Gossman

It was the summer between high school and college and I started looking for a job. There was an opening for a Shoe Sales Representative at a local shoe boutique and they were paying $14/hour which sounded amazing at that time so I jumped on sending in the application. I landed an interview and borrowed a pair of shoes from my sister to try to pass off some fashion sense. Somehow, with no experience in shoes, the owner decided to give me a chance. Read more>>

Cylenthia Hoyrd

I was unemployed at the time and took a trip to the Department of Labor. I enrolled in a few workshops and one of those workshops was “How to Secure Grant Funding.” I had been a grant writer for many years doing non-profit work. I thought the session might provide some new insight from the State perspective. During the first workshop I ended up practically teaching the class. Right then and there the department representative asked me to begin teaching the class weekly and in return receive referrals from the agency. Read more>>