How to get your first client
Ali Abdaal
The hardest part of starting a business 0:00
You might want to start a business to make independent income on your own terms, but the real struggle is landing your very first client. Coming up with a business idea these days is fairly straightforward, since there are plenty of processes for that. The much harder step is going from an idea on paper to someone actually handing you money for your product or service. This question came up while filming at a team offsite in Thailand for the Lifestyle Business Academy, an online business school that helps working professionals start their own businesses, and the coaches there were interviewed one by one about how they landed client number one.
Carol's referral through a friend 1:30
Carol spent 20 years as a VP of marketing before leaving corporate America to start a leadership and team coaching business. She got her first client after doing free trial sessions, including one for a peer who loved the experience. Carol mentioned she was about to start her LLC and charge for her services, and that peer connected her to her husband, who then introduced her to his boss, Caleb, her first paying client. From there, 80 percent of her business became B2B. Clients two through six came from Caleb himself, who referred her to peers on his UX design team, and later, whenever those contacts moved to new companies, they brought her in again to work with their new teams.
Nathan meets people at a chamber event 3:30
Nathan worked in web development, video production, and marketing before starting his own marketing services business. He got his first client by attending a local chamber of commerce event, not to pitch anyone, but simply because he enjoyed meeting business owners in a new town. A casual conversation revealed someone wanting help ranking their website, which led to coffee, a discussion of the problem, and an offer to do an audit before discussing price. That client, part of a local church, then referred Nathan to several other business owners in the same church, giving him clients two through five.
Katherine finds clients through community 7:30
Katherine spent ten years in marketing, PR, and hospitality before running her own executive and life coaching business for five years. Her first client came from a Slack community for a women's professional network, where she casually shared that she was going through coach certification. Someone she didn't know personally reached out, said her son could use coaching, and that son became her first paying client for 75 dollars, later turning into a long-term client. Clients two through six came from a small post-pandemic networking conference, where she connected with a woman who eventually hired her to coach her five-person team. Client number seven came later from a small men's mastermind group she hosted, where one participant asked for one-to-one retainer support.
Andrea starts through her best friend 11:00
Andrea worked in marketing and project management at large corporations before starting her own boutique marketing agency. Her first client came through her best friend, who worked in sales and knew a business needing paid advertising; because they already trusted her friend, the deal moved quickly, with a proposal and start date about a week later. Clients two and three came from actively applying to marketing jobs on Upwork during the pandemic boom in new businesses. The rest came from a previous agency she had worked for, which agreed to pass along smaller clients it couldn't handle, congratulating her for starting her own venture. Andrea noted she stayed in touch with former employers and friends through small gestures like LinkedIn birthdays, so reaching out never felt sudden or awkward.
A childhood web design client named Stan 13:00
The first business, started as a kid, was a one-person web design agency dressed up to sound legitimate. The first client, Stan, was a friend's stepdad whose email happened to be on hand; a mass email to contacts led Stan to reply asking for a website, which he paid 30 pounds sterling for at age 13. Years later, as a first-year medical student at Cambridge, a business coaching students for the BMAT medical school admissions exam began with a Facebook post in a school alumni group, naming a competitor and charging around 50 pounds per day. Only four people saw it, but one became a first student, and a brother's friends filled out a small living-room class. In later years, growth came from asking previous students to refer anyone they knew applying to medical school, with online marketing and YouTube only entering the picture five years in.
A hackathon leads to design clients 15:00
Toward the end of medical school, a side hustle in user interface and user experience design for medical technology companies began at a hackathon, an event where teams build a product prototype together, hosted by a society for plastic surgeons. Two plastic surgeons on the team, each running their own medtech company, needed UI design help. By taking charge of the team's pitch presentation and making it look polished, the surgeons noticed the design skill and both spontaneously asked for help with their businesses afterward. That in-person event, combined with visibly demonstrating a skill built over years, led to two clients worth tens of thousands of pounds, all before the YouTube channel existed.
Owen reactivates an old network 16:30
Owen worked at a B2B tech startup, a branding agency, and in Hong Kong's nightclub industry before starting his own marketing agency. His first client came from reactivating his existing network, specifically an old employer he had worked for as a sports coach during university breaks. He reached out showing results he'd generated in his current job and offered a free marketing audit, which the former employer accepted; that free audit turned into a paid engagement after they met for coffee. Clients two through five all came through referrals, since other business owners saw the visible results of his ad campaigns and asked who was running them.
The WIIFT principle in outreach 18:30
Owen's approach illustrates a useful acronym for outreach: WIIFT, meaning "what's in it for them." Offering something valuable upfront, ideally for free, like a marketing audit, makes it much easier for someone to say yes, and a good job on that free offer often converts into a paid relationship and further referrals.
Your first client is not a stranger 19:30
The pattern across the video's conversations is that people worry about selling to strangers, but your first client is rarely one. More often it is someone you already know, a friend of a friend, or someone from a community you belong to, online or offline.
The magic question 20:30
Imagine starting a bakery. You would not get your first customer through Instagram ads, TikTok, or a billboard. You would tell friends and family you just started a bakery and offer them a discount. This is called the magic question in the Lifestyle Business Academy: asking people if they know anyone who needs what you offer, in exchange for something like a free audit or free coaching.
Simple but not easy 21:31
You do not need to reach strangers for your first client or even your first ten thousand dollars in revenue. But selling to friends can feel scarier than selling to strangers, because of emotional hurdles like fearing you seem scammy or worrying your boss or colleagues will see you posting. Once people send those first messages, they usually find the world does not end and people are generally supportive.
AI-generated summary. It can be wrong or incomplete - check anything that matters against the original.
