How I Got My First Clients
25% effort, 25% good decision-making, 50% luck
Hi, I’m Dan. Welcome to my weekly newsletter where my key aim is to give you a sound understanding of the issues, risks and opportunities involved in managing your money and the ability to apply that understanding to the financial decisions you make throughout your life.
When I first launched my business in 2022, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.
I didn’t have a ready-made brand. No mass audience. No real lead funnel other than thinking I’d bring clients across (once my 12 month “no contact” period ended).
Just a very real conviction that financial planning and the lives of our clients, rather than investment management, should be front and centre.
But how do you build a business like that from scratch?
Client One: The Banking Executive
My first few months solo weren’t great, mostly because I had no idea what I was doing. I was trying to act like a financial planning veteran. It was a generic ‘Use me, not them’ approach cursed by the arrogance of a newly crowned “solopreneur”.
But, remarkably, it did get me my first client; a 50 yr old banking executive, who saw something in my approach and was a great supporter in my early days. That first client set the tone for everything that followed: someone at a career crossroads, aware that complexity was building in the background, pensions scattered, tax creeping, lifestyle ambitions unvoiced.
It was a wake-up call, for him and for me. He didn’t just need investment advice. He needed a roadmap.
I spent a lot of time in those early days building out my proposition and service and gained only one client in the first few months. But I wasn’t too concerned. I figured I’d keep going, generating content and trying to get noticed.
Clients Two and Three and More: Unexpected Turns
Then came my first referrals. Not my usual client types. A pair of OAPs, passed along by a former colleague. Not the audience I’d set out to serve, but I took the work seriously. They were referrals, my fee was paid, I enjoyed the work.
Shortly after, I reconnected with a former client from my previous life as a financial adviser at Raymond James. Again, we were talking pensions as I’d initially set them up with a Royal London PP, but it quickly turned into understanding what they really wanted from the next chapter of life. I’m pleased to say client four remains today and we meet regularly as golfing friends.
Starting Out: Not What You Think
If you’re reading this thinking I had it all mapped out from day one. I didn’t.
Like most who go it alone, I figure I put 25% of my time into hard graft, 25% into decisions that seemed sensible (some were), and 50% was simply timing, relationships and luck.
But I made a few intentional choices:
I chose a business model that was different from the norm, prioritising advice, not product sales.
I focused on fixed-fee, project-based planning, not AUM.
I started this business for people like that first client, professionals who are brilliant at what they do, but often too stretched to stop and get financially intentional.
And while I’ve worked with a few outliers along the way (and still do), my mission remains rooted in helping those high-earning, not-yet-rich individuals, the overlooked middle, cut through complexity.
What I’ve Learned Since
You don’t need a big audience. You need to be useful to a small group of the right people.
Referrals beat ads.
Clarity beats cleverness. People want to understand. Not be bamboozled.
If you’re a time-stretched professional feeling the weight of “shoulds”:
Should I sort my pension?
Should I consolidate?
Should I be saving more, am I behind? Then I built this for you.
And if you’re already working with someone but feel like like there “should” be more, maybe it’s time for a different kind of conversation.
Dan
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