When you’re new to being a “coachpreneur,” finding clients is the first step, and often the most daunting one.
The first months in your business are sure to be a challenge; getting your name out, finding clients, and securing your first engagements are no small tasks. So how should brand new coaches go about establishing themselves in the market?
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It helps to remember this isn’t about becoming someone else, or performing a version of “coach” that feels forced. In my experience, most new coaches are already far more connected to their future clients than they realise. Finding clients has less to do with manufacturing new relationships out of thin air, and more to do with relaxing enough to actually look around at who already knows you, trusts you, and would welcome working with someone who shows up as genuinely themselves.
The short answer is to establish a repeatable process: use contact management software, and increasingly AI-assisted tools, to organise the people you know and meet, and stay systematic about outreach and follow-up rather than relying on memory. It isn’t just about having a list of names; it’s about building a rhythm you return to again and again so relationships get nurtured consistently. Frequent, steady contact is less about selling yourself than staying present, letting people know you’re there and that you care what happens to them.
But the long answer is more nuanced. It asks you to consider how you want to work, who you’re really suited to serve, and how to reach people in a way that feels honest rather than like a pitch.
From there, it’s less about strategy and more about tending relationships. The clients, and the work you do together, tend to follow when the relationship is real.
Here are the steps you should take to generate your first clients.
Decide What Kind of Business You Want to Build
Avoid a common mistake of many new coaches and don’t spread yourself too thin. Ask yourself if there’s a way to narrow your focus to the people or topics you find most interesting, or where you have the most to offer. Many coaches accomplish this by choosing a niche: specialising in executive and leadership coaching, career transitions, relationship coaching grounded in the Gottman Method, or systemic team coaching for organisations navigating change. Is there a population or type of client that draws you in? By focusing on a niche, you become known as the expert.
Niche has gone from a nice-to-have to essential. In a market where generalist positioning like “life coach” gets buried under thousands of similar profiles, naming a specific audience and a specific problem is what makes you visible, both to people and to the search tools they now use to find you. But the right niche isn’t manufactured; it’s usually already there, close to who you are. It tends to be the thing you talk about naturally, the problem people already come to you for, or the population you understand in your bones because you’ve lived it.
Don’t be afraid that you’ll miss out on business by not becoming a generalist. You have to keep your time, advertising costs, and other limiting factors in mind. If you’re going to focus on a niche, a good way to start is by offering a free discovery call, hosting a workshop, or reaching out directly to people in that community to introduce yourself and your work.
Remember, Everyone You Meet Is a Prospect
Keep an open mind about where you can develop these potential clients. Appropriate contacts are people you genuinely want to work with. Many coaches start with family and friends, but don’t stop there. Remember that people like your dry cleaner, barber, or fitness trainer, people you see often, have already met you. It’s a lot easier to do business with people who know and like you.
Most new coaches already know more potential clients than they think. This part of the work is rarely about hustling towards strangers. It’s about slowing down enough to truly see the people already in your life. Relax into it, and look around.
Include groups of people in your outreach system you don’t see often, too. These can include former classmates, club and church members, sports acquaintances, business networking groups, and neighbours. You’ll be surprised how many people you actually know.
Lead with something useful rather than an ask. Share an article you think they’d genuinely appreciate, or an observation about something they mentioned, and let the connection grow from there. In my experience, people don’t subscribe to newsletters or follow accounts the way they once did, but they’re still very much engaging with and receiving information, just more often through a text, a DM, or a conversation than a sign-up form. If it feels natural, you can let them know you’d love to stay in touch and hope to support them one day. But the contact information matters far less than whether what you shared actually landed. Some people won’t engage further, and that’s fine. Others will, and when they’re ready, they’ll think of you.
Ask Permission to Contact Prospects
Ask the people you know and meet how they prefer to be contacted, whether by email, business phone, or cell phone, and whether it would be okay to keep them posted about your work. You can do this through email newsletters, postcards, phone calls, and other means.
Plenty of people wonder whether now is the right time to engage a coach. You can keep them gently informed about how your work is evolving, not as a pitch, but as an honest update on where you are and what you’re learning.
Most people are curious about how they’re doing relative to where they want to be. Even if they have no immediate plans to hire a coach, they appreciate hearing something that speaks to their goals: a leadership insight, a pattern in how relationships thrive, a shift in how people are navigating change. You never know when a small piece of insight might be exactly what someone needed to hear.
The real measure of what you send is whether it’s genuinely useful, not just a reason to stay in touch. Save people time rather than asking for more of it: summarise an article instead of just linking to it, distil a few ideas from a book or training you’ve just finished, recommend a resource you trust. When what you offer is something people are glad to receive, staying in touch stops feeling like marketing and starts feeling like care.
Even without a lot of experience yet, you can embody expert by paying close attention to what’s happening in your field. Read industry publications, follow thought leaders, and stay connected to your professional community, whether that’s the International Coaching Federation, the EMCC, a coaching cohort, or a local business network. Your professional association will have meetings and resources for members, so you’ll stay current on emerging research, trends, and opportunities in the coaching world.
Build Visibility Where People Already Look
Word of mouth still matters, but many people now find their way to a coach by searching first, whether that’s reading a blog, following someone on LinkedIn, or hearing them in conversation on a podcast, before they ever ask a friend for a referral. If your work leans towards business, leadership, or career coaching, LinkedIn is likely where the people you’re meant to serve already are. If your audience is younger or broader, a video or podcast conversation tends to open a door that a directory listing simply can’t.
None of this means abandoning who you are for the sake of an algorithm. Choose the format that feels most like you, whether that’s writing, speaking, or conversation, and let your own voice carry the message rather than trying to be everywhere at once. AI tools can help with some of the mechanics, like session prep or staying organised with follow-up, but they’re an assistant to the relationship, not a substitute for it.
It’s also worth tending a small circle of people who know your work well: past clients, peers in complementary niches, other professionals who care about the same population you do. A few real relationships, kept up over time, will matter more than a wide net of shallow ones.
Stand in the Value You Already Bring
Don’t worry about being new to the industry. There’s plenty of support for new coaches if you know where to look. Don’t be afraid to cite research from the ICF or other credible bodies when they have relevant statistics or findings to share. Attend association meetings and listen to what experienced coaches, mentors, and thought leaders have to say. Join a networking or peer group. Keep building your online presence.
Your previous career and life experience are valuable to your clients, so use them. If you’ve ever led a team, navigated a career change, managed conflict, built something from scratch, raised a family, or worked through your own personal growth, you have real insight to offer your prospects.
You also have powers of observation. Listen closely when people talk, and you’ll start to hear the tell-tale signs that someone might be ready for a change: a comment about feeling stuck, a mention of burnout, a new role they’re stepping into. You’ll get a feel for who might be open to a conversation about coaching.
People appreciate enthusiasm and are inclined to give new people a chance. If you don’t have the answer to something, say so, and follow up by letting them know you’ll find out.
Get help if you need it. Offer to assist an experienced coach with a workshop or group program so you can watch someone more seasoned in action. Don’t be afraid to co-facilitate with another coach until you learn the ropes. Take advantage of every training your certifying body or association offers, and hire your own coach or mentor to support in the ways that only trained coaches can.
Don’t lose hope. Getting your name out there is the hardest part of being new to the business. But if you follow these suggestions and show a genuine willingness to serve your clients’ needs, you’ll soon have enough business to match your desires.
And when it starts to feel like a lot, come back to this: you don’t have to invent connections out of thin air or force yourself into a strategy that doesn’t fit. Slow down, look around, and trust that the people already in your life, and the version of you that shows up naturally with them, are enough to start.
One more thing I’ve come to trust: when we’re genuinely in this flow of engagement, offering value, staying present, showing up as ourselves, clients have a way of arriving by other means entirely. It’s as though something shifts in the universe once we’re in that energy. Just because you’re not seeing results in the specific place you’re focused on doesn’t mean results aren’t coming. When you signal, in a real way, that you’re open for business, it can show up from directions you never expected. I love this part of the work.
Coaching for the Coach Ready to Fill Their Practice
At the heart of most coaches’ hesitation to reach out is an old story about what it means to ask, to be visible, or to take up space in the market. Tracey Burns helps coaches meet that story with clarity and steadiness, so building a practice stops feeling like performance and starts feeling like a natural extension of who they already are.
Coaching and support for coaches building their practice:
- Finding the niche that is already close to who you are
- Building a rhythm for outreach that feels like you, not a script
- Meeting the resistance that shows up around visibility and being seen
- Creating structure and process without losing your natural way of connecting
- Trusting that showing up as yourself is enough to start
You don’t have to build your practice by becoming someone else. Start your journey with professional support today.
