Episodes

How to Get Clients for Your Business: 4 Ways I Find Clients Without Being Salesy

October 5, 2026

How do you actually get clients? You started the business. You created your offer. Maybe you built the website, opened the Instagram account, created a logo, and officially announced to the world that you’re an entrepreneur. And then comes the question almost every new business owner eventually asks: How do I actually get clients? As […]

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The Second Act Success Blog features articles to help inspire you as you navigate your second act career and business journey. My hope is that these quick reads will offer advice and comfort knowing you are not alone on your path towards second act success.

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How do you actually get clients?

You started the business. You created your offer. Maybe you built the website, opened the Instagram account, created a logo, and officially announced to the world that you’re an entrepreneur. And then comes the question almost every new business owner eventually asks: How do I actually get clients?

As a business coach for women who are starting and growing businesses, this is one of the questions I hear all the time. And I get it. Because having a great business idea and knowing how to find clients are two very different things.

The good news is that you don’t need thousands of social media followers, a huge advertising budget, or an elaborate sales funnel to start attracting clients. I certainly didn’t.

On the Second Act Success Podcast, I recently shared the four biggest ways I personally get clients in my businesses. They might surprise you because none of them involve cold messaging strangers or posting “BUY FROM ME!” every day.

They all come back to one thing: Trust.

Listen to episode #272 of the Second Act Success Podcast about this topic below…

Listen on Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube

How Do You Get Clients When You’re Starting a Business?

Let’s start with something important. People need to know you exist before they can hire you.

This sounds ridiculously obvious, but it’s where many new entrepreneurs get stuck. They spend months perfecting their business behind the scenes. They’re tweaking their website. Changing their logo. Rewriting their Instagram bio. Reworking their offer for the 17th time.

Meanwhile, hardly anyone knows what they’re building.

You don’t need to have everything perfect before you begin marketing your business. You need to start putting yourself in places where potential clients can discover you, learn from you, and begin trusting you.

For me, four strategies have been especially powerful.

How to Get Clients for Your Business: 4 Ways I Find Clients Without Being Salesy | #272

1. Speaking at Events Helps Me Find New Clients

One of the biggest ways I attract clients is through speaking.

I speak at virtual summits, conferences, live events, workshops, and other gatherings. Through my corporate consulting work, I also speak and facilitate experiences for companies, leadership teams, retreats, and conferences.

Why is speaking so powerful for getting clients? Because you’re giving people an opportunity to experience you.

They aren’t simply reading a sales page. They’re listening to you explain something. They’re hearing your story. They’re learning from you. They’re getting a feel for how you communicate and whether your personality resonates with them.

Especially at in-person events, someone can hear me speak and then walk over afterward and have a conversation. That creates connection. And connection builds trust.

You don’t have to become a professional keynote speaker to use this strategy either. Look for opportunities within your own community or industry.

You could speak at a local networking group, chamber of commerce event, professional association, online summit, panel discussion, workshop, webinar, library, community organization, or conference. Start with the rooms you can get into.

2. My Podcast Helps Potential Clients Get to Know Me

You’re looking at another one of my biggest client-attraction strategies right now. Content.

For me, that’s largely the Second Act Success Podcast.

Every week, listeners hear me talk about career transitions, starting a business, entrepreneurship, motherhood, fear, confidence, and the realities of creating a second act. Sometimes I’m teaching on a solo episode. Sometimes I’m interviewing a guest. But either way, listeners are getting to know how I think and how I coach.

By the time someone books a strategy call with me, they may have already spent hours listening to me.

Think about how different that is from discovering a random business through an advertisement. They aren’t walking into the relationship cold. They already know something about me. They’ve heard my advice. They know my personality. They understand what I believe.

That’s why content marketing can be incredibly valuable for a service-based business. And no, you don’t need to start a podcast.

You could create a newsletter.

Write blogs.

Post useful content on LinkedIn.

Create YouTube videos.

Share short videos on Instagram.

Pick a medium that feels natural to you and start showing up.

3. My Book Brings Clients Into My Business

My book, Start Your Second Act, is another way potential clients discover my work.

I published it in 2025 to help women navigate career change, entrepreneurship, and creating their own second acts.

This book also gives readers something incredibly valuable: My story.

I share my experience of leaving my television career, becoming a mom, starting my first business, and ultimately building the work I do today.

That vulnerability helps readers understand who I am and why I do this work.

I’ve had readers become clients after reading the book because they already feel connected to my approach and my story.

Again, I’m not telling you that you need to go write a book tomorrow. The bigger lesson is this: Share your expertise.

You know something your potential clients don’t. Teach them. Help them. Show them how you think. Give them a reason to remember you.

4. Referrals Are One of My Biggest Sources of Clients

If you’re wondering how to get more clients without constantly searching for leads, don’t overlook referrals.

This has become one of the biggest sources of clients in my coaching business. When someone has a positive experience working with me, they often tell someone else. That person comes into my world differently than someone who finds me randomly.

There’s already trust. Someone they know essentially said: “You should talk to Shannon.” That’s a warm lead.

Referrals don’t only come from past clients. I’ve had friends, acquaintances, podcast listeners, social media followers, and other people within my network recommend me because they understand what I do. When someone tells them she’s unhappy in corporate and wants to start a business, they think of me.

That’s why being clear about what you do matters. People can’t refer you if they don’t understand how you help.

Want More Referrals? Give People Something Worth Talking About

Referral marketing begins with doing great work.

It’s not complicated. Give your clients a great experience. Care about their results. Create a great product. Solve the problem you promised to solve.

Then don’t be afraid to ask happy clients for testimonials and referrals. Reviews and testimonials create social proof for people who haven’t worked with you yet.

I’ve become much more conscious of this since becoming an author myself. Once I understood how meaningful reviews can be to an author or small business owner, I became more intentional about leaving them myself. It’s a small action that can have a meaningful impact on someone’s business.

Authentic Marketing Can Be Your Competitive Advantage

If you’re starting a business, you may feel pressure to suddenly sound like a “business owner.” Please don’t try that. Don’t put on a fake persona, simply try to sound like you.

Your potential customers don’t need corporate jargon or generic AI-generated marketing language. They need to understand:

Who are you?

What do you do?

Who do you help?

What problem do you solve?

Why did you create this business?

Why should they trust you?

That’s the foundation of good marketing.

As I shared in the episode, the more you try to copy someone else’s voice or simply copy and paste generic messaging, the harder it can become for people to connect with the actual person behind your business.

Your story is an advantage. Use it.

Trust Builds Business

If I could boil this entire episode down to three words, it would be: Trust builds business.

Trust doesn’t usually happen after seeing one Instagram post. It develops over time. You show up. You share something helpful. You show up again. You tell your story. You help someone. You send an email. You speak at an event. You deliver a great client experience.

Someone recommends you. Another person starts following you. Eventually, when that person needs exactly what you offer, you’re the person who comes to mind.

That’s why consistency matters so much.

You Don’t Need More Followers. You Need More Cheerleaders.

One of my favorite ideas from this episode is this: You want a room full of cheerleaders rather than a room full of followers.

I’ll take an engaged group of people who understand what I do, believe in my work, and tell other people about it over a giant follower count any day. Because those are the people who help build a business.

They refer. They share. They buy. They hire. They recommend. They cheer you on.

Don’t become so obsessed with growing an audience that you forget to nurture the people already in the room.

How to Get Your First Client

If you’re at the very beginning and wondering how to get your first client, simplify this.

You don’t need to do everything I do. Pick a few things that make sense for you.

Tell people what you’re building.

Share why you’re building it.

Talk about the problem you solve.

Teach something useful.

Reach out to your existing network.

Attend an event.

Join a networking group.

Ask someone for an introduction.

Post on LinkedIn.

Send an email.

Turn on the camera and talk about why you created your business.

Then keep showing up.

Your first clients aren’t looking for perfection. They’re looking for a reason to trust you.

Stop Waiting Until Your Business Looks Perfect

If you’ve been holding back because you’re afraid you aren’t ready to get clients yet, here’s your permission to stop waiting.

Your website doesn’t have to be perfect.

Your social media doesn’t have to be perfect.

Your offer doesn’t need the fanciest name.

Your branding doesn’t need to look like a Fortune 500 company.

You just need to let people see what you’re creating. Remember, they can’t hire you if they don’t know you exist.

As you continue showing up, you’ll refine your message, improve your offer, gain experience, collect testimonials, and build confidence. But you can’t refine something you haven’t started.

Ready to Get More Clients?

If you’re starting a business and wondering how to find clients or grow your customer base, start by thinking less about selling and more about building trust.

You don’t need to be everywhere. You just need to start showing up somewhere.

If you want help figuring out how to get more clients, strengthen your offer, or grow your new business, I’d love to talk with you.

You can book a free Second Act Strategy Call with me at secondactsuccess.co/strategy. We’ll talk about your business, where you are now, and what might help you bring more of the right clients or customers into your world.

👉 Book your free strategy call with me at https://secondactsuccess.co/strategy

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https://startyoursecondact.com

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