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.

Ryan Stewman

My first client was a random person from the internet who happened to come across my youtube video in the middle of the night. I was selling energy drinks and I called the guy at 2am to see how he found my online store Read more>>

Kimberly Campbell

The first dollar my business earned outside of a family member, or a friend was within the first 48 hours of business. With several weeks of sleepless nights due to researching, brand messaging and website building, I was finally up and running. Read more>>

John McClellan

We were at 2018 PAX East, one of the biggest gaming conventions in the country, and we stumbled upon 2 of the most enthusiastic and promising developers I have ever met – Ashley Cooper and Brady Wright, a husband and wife development team with a dream. Read more>>

Marcy Karpowitz

At the time, I left my agency gig. I knew I needed a change, yet I was uncertain of what I was going to do next, another agency, start my own, be a consultant…I took off for Thailand and Cambodia and threw up my current career plight up to the universe. Read more>>

Taylor Ojeda

My first client was a friend of mine, and it kind of spiraled from there. I still look back at some of my first posts on my personal page before I made an official business page and it just makes me smile. The growth is by miles. Read more>>

Amber Amaru

The first client I got at the DRIPBaR was during the month of June 2021. I had a rough year and a half trying to build the startup location of my iv vitamin therapy company over the pandemic. The DRIPBaR is one of the fastest growing franchises in the country right now and has won awards for it. I was the first franchisee and sometimes it takes a lot of figuring it out before a model is scalable for early adopters. Read more>>

Kat Farrior

After I left my last position as an office manager for five beauty schools in Texas and New Mexico, I had to come to terms that starting a business and being successful right away wasn’t a thing. Read more>>

Krysten Strauser

Following my own wedding I started the launch of my business. Over the course of a year, we built a bar out of an old horse trailer. The venue my husband and I got married at was super supportive of our journey in building our business. Read more>>

Tiffany Biddle

How we received our first customer is hilarious but I love our story. I had been playing around with cookie recipes for awhile. I finally developed one that I liked and decided to go with the idea of premium stuffed cookies with a southern accent. During the beginning of the pandemic, I developed the recipe and just sat on it. Read more>>

Dominique Robinson

My first client was Kochease, Platinum producer of ‘I Know You See It” by Yung Joc. He heard about me through word of mouth from an executive in the music industry in Atlanta, who knew I was interested in assisting creatives and professionals with getting their RIAA and Billboard plaques. Read more>>

Audrey Coates

When you hear about developing a business, you always hear about the background of developing the initial idea, the long-sleepless nights, and usually an inspiring quote to motivate you on your own journey. But we rarely hear about the first client that truly took a chance. Read more>>

Clarissa Wyatt

How did I get my first client? This is a tough question to answer without mentioning the people that have always supported me along the way of creating DIWyatt Design. The more I started talking to friends & family about starting a business the more the concept became a reality. Read more>>

Dani Glover

How did I get my first client? I believe my first paying client was Tamara. She was a teacher at the daycare my daughter attended. I remember getting my daughter ready for her first day and thinking “yes, my baby looks cute, her hair is laid, all the moms will want their daughter’s hair done”. Read more>>

Brandon Reed

It was November of 2016, I was interning with a radio station at the time. One of the co-host from that station was a former photographer and she had inside favor with other brands looking for videographers. Read more>>

Tianna Campbell

In 2020 during the pandemic I decided to start selling plates again in Orlando, it had been quite a long time but I was finally able to get my business back up and running. I remember posting my flyer on Instagram and a group of friends that I did not know randomly ordered. Read more>>

Kiara Howard

My first client I got was from marketing on Facebook. There’s a group out here where clients can go to find stylist and I actively was promoting myself. When this lady reached out to me I was super excited, to have someone see my work and want to book was an unimaginable feeling when I’m in a field of work that is heavily saturated. To this day this wonderful lady still books me for her hair and with growth my skill she always say how she’s glad she found me. Read more>>

Scott Stokes

The first client I had was with Kalamazoo Contractors. The client was a contractor for Mel Zimmerman when I was doing my apprenticeship for him. Ten years later after Mel had retired I ran into who would be my first client Dennis Kohler. He offered me the opportunity to bid on a house he was doing that needed stone work. Ever since then I have bid on and completed several projects for him going on fifteen years now. Read more>>

Shavonnah Schreiber

I have always said that business owners can go much further with partners than alone. We made our first official client dollar through a project I was asked to partner on with a friend who also owns a marketing firm. We decided to partner on a project because I had subject matter expertise. Read more>>

Brian Smith

When i first started to look into getting my feet wet as a home inspector I knew if I wanted this to work long term I had to put the work in. The first 3-4 months after getting my license I spent every weekend Sat/Sun going to every Open House in about a 15 mi radius of my home. Read more>>

Kevin Orosz

Extremely early in my coaching career I was co-facilitating retreats internationally, primarily as a yoga teacher and breathworker. I living in LA when not traveling and was taking a coaching certification program (as I thought this was what I needed to start) that I was quickly outgrowing. Read more>>

Briea Williams

To be honest my first client was unpaid, I was ready to get my photography career off the ground and knew I needed to create an opportunity for myself. I met a guy named Zane who owned an event planning business and he knew a woman who owned a bridal shop. Read more>>

Dani Marco

Well, I am going to deviate from the guideline a bit — as an artist does! I actually do have to include one of my first client stories. Although, I had created paid painting commissions in the past, my best client is ex of mine who asked me to paint a flamenco dancer, and he’d “pay top dollar for it”. Thus spawned the flow of other paintings, commissions and selling of my work. I believe that it takes only one creative endeavor to start the abundant juices to spill over. Read more>>

Dionté Franklin

My first client was actually a friend from college. We met in TV performance class and had been close ever since. She was graduating soon and she knew that I had just received all of my camera equipment the month prior. We set up a date and then went from there. Read more>>

Stephanie Sage

I had just got back from my three weeks of training to learn how to operate my new business and was out making sales calls my first week back. It had literally rained the entire time I had been gone and was still raining when I got back, Because I was so new to this business I didn’t think a thing about it, but in the restoration industry what often occurs when there is heavy rain for several weeks and the ground starts building up with water, homeowners start experience water back up in their basements thus dealing with water damage. Read more>>

Zach Knoll

I had just started my paintless dent repair company in the heart of winter, which is generally one of the slower seasons in the industry but I was determined. At that time, my main advertising was the old fashioned approach of going from business to business (car dealerships primarily) and introducing myself and my company. Read more>>