5 Tips on How to Get Your First Clients
If you’ve got your business set up and ready to go, you might be wondering how to get your first clients.
Here at Pursuing Private Practice, we work with many professionals in the beginning stage. We know it’s an emotional roller coaster! You are excited and thrilled at the possibility of being an actual business owner. And then you get scared and overwhelmed and think you might not be “experienced enough” to see a client (we encourage you to challenge this!)
The roller coaster never ends. You get better at managing the ups and downs as you go through the different stages of business.
Make sure to download The Ultimate Checklist To Start Your Private Practice. This resource is for beginners who want to know the steps to take to start a business!
In today’s blog, we’ll focus on graduating from the SET UP stage of business to the START stage, where you have your private practice set up and ready to see your first few clients. How will you get those clients to your business?
Read on to learn about 5 strategies to get your first clients, including mindset reminders to come back to when you need them most.
Your First Few Clients Will Come From Connections… Not Instagram!
It’s possible to grow a business without a huge social media following! While social media can be a powerful tool for reaching customers and promoting your brand, it is not the only way to build a successful business, and it’s likely not what you’ll start with to get clients (unless you have a large following already).
Instead, make a list of everyone you know: friends, family, people in your community, professionals, old colleagues, past teachers, etc. Announce your business, explain why you can help clients, and provide your contact information. Ask for referrals or connections to others who need to know about you!
At this stage of business, it’s helpful to have a simple email template to announce your practice, a “canned response” about how to make an appointment, and/or a simple directory listing (or google doc). You can easily send a potential client a link when they request more information! We recommend learning about directories like Healthprofs or Psychology Today. Most directory platforms have a free trial!
Think About Your Ideal-Ish Client
Believe it or not, we discourage niching down right away. It’s pretty difficult to know exactly who you serve at the beginning of private practice. You need some experience!
Instead of targeting your 100% ideal-for-you client, we encourage you to find your ideal-ISH client.
Think about where this person might be looking for solutions to their problems and the pain points that they’re experiencing. “Pain points” simply means what problems they have, and how this affects their life.
By thinking about your ideal-ISH client, you’ll be able to work with different clients as you discover more about who you truly want to work with. With more experience seeing clients, you will gain insight into what topics you’re passionate about and what subject areas you don’t like talking about. As you gain more experience, you will naturally “niche down” as you find out who you want to work with in private practice.
Don’t Just Hand Out Business Cards
One of the most important tips on how to get your first clients is to network to actually build relationships. Do NOT just hand out business cards and expect referrals!
Not every networking opportunity is going to work out for you. You’ll waste time in this stage of business meeting people who don’t share your values. But the more people you meet, the more opportunity to find authentic connections.
Here are 3 tips to help you form those genuine relationships with networking:
- Be Authentic: Just be yourself! Let your personality shine, and people will sense that you care about the people you want to work with in business. Share your interests and connect on a personal level.
- Listen Actively: Pay attention to what people are saying and ask thoughtful questions. Take the time to listen and get to know others.
- Follow Up: Treat your business connections like relationships. Follow up with your connections and continue to build the relationship over time.
- Decide to Like “Selling”: Selling isn’t sleazy. Read on to find out why!
Do you enjoy selling?
Honestly, most professionals don’t like selling. It’s probably because there are so many people out there who try to take advantage of humans and “sell” in a way that’s just gross. YOU do not have to “sell” in that way. Let’s change the definition of selling.
When you treat a sales conversation as figuring out if you’re a “match” for one another, you don’t feel icky about those conversations. Ask your potential client why they want to make an appointment and what brought them to your practice. Talk to them about you, what you provide, and how you work. You never pressure anyone to work with you. Instead, you are simply talking about your business and finding out if it’s a match for the potential client. We have an entire lesson on “deciding to like selling” in our Business School program.
If selling feels uncomfortable and like a challenge, I want to remind you of something.
Each time you face a challenge, you have different choices in front of you. Be comfortable and “stay the same”, or choose to be uncomfortable and actively do something different to get a different result.
Sometimes this “different thing” works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes business (and life!) is a series of experiments to see what works for you. And eventually, you figure it out.
Mindset Reminders for How to Get Your First Clients
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or anxious about getting your first few clients, you’re not alone. I want to end this blog with some reminders of why you should take up space in business.
Here are my top 10 reasons for dietitians. If you’re not a dietitian, I challenge you to evolve these mindset reminders for your profession!
- Dietitians help people change their relationship with food from negative to positive. This is life-changing for so many people.
- Dietitians see people get excited about food, rather than fearful and scared.
- Dietitians get to the root of the problem of eating disorders, allowing clients the space to heal and find lasting recovery.
- Dietitians support body image healing and help clients end the war with their bodies.
- Dietitians see the difference that nutrition makes in a client’s mental health.
- Dietitians witness the power of hunger and satiety signals returning in clients.
- Dietitians help clients learn to fuel their bodies for joyful movement.
- Dietitians continually learn and provide the latest cutting-edge nutrition information to our clients.
- Dietitians embrace that sometimes there are no “right” answers when it comes to nutrition but that there is always a “next step” in someone’s journey.
- Dietitians collaborate! If we’re not the best fit for a client, we can almost guarantee that we know someone who is or where to find a referral.
Don’t forget these things when you’re trying to get your first few clients.
You can do it!
Want to work with me to build your private practice?
Business School is a comprehensive 6-month program designed to guide you through every stage of building a private practice: getting set up, seeing your first clients, growing until you’re fully booked, hiring a team, expanding your offers—and even learning how to coast when needed. Inside, you’ll follow a step-by-step curriculum with the flexibility to choose the path that fits your current stage of business and life. You’ll get access to advanced toolkits, templates, and systems for business topics like marketing and finances, but also for counseling skills and client support. Beyond the curriculum, you’re supported by personalized 1:1 coaching, weekly office hours, and monthly themes that address the real challenges of private practice. The program keeps you moving forward with built-in accountability that builds resilience and confidence so you feel like a legit business owner. Learn more and apply!
