How to Get Your First 10 Customers (Without Spending on Ads)

You get your first 10 customers by asking the people who already know you, doing those first jobs better than anyone expects, and then asking each happy customer who else they know — not by running ads. Paid advertising works best once you have reviews and a clear idea of who actually buys; before that, it's the most expensive way to learn those lessons. This is the zero-budget playbook, in the order that works.

Start with the people who already know you

Your first customers almost never come from strangers. They come from your phone contacts, former colleagues, your footy club, your kids' school and the tradie who did your kitchen. These people already trust you, which is the hardest part of any sale.

Build the list

Go through your phone contacts, LinkedIn connections, Facebook friends and email, and write down every adult you'd feel comfortable messaging. Don't filter for "would they buy" — most of your list won't buy anything, and that's fine. You're asking them to know what you do and pass it on. Fifty names is a reasonable start; a hundred is better.

The message

Send it one-to-one and personalised, by whatever channel you'd normally use with that person — text, WhatsApp, Messenger, email, or a call for the closer ones. Something like:

Hi Sam — quick one. I've just started my own bookkeeping business for tradies (BAS, payroll, keeping the ATO happy). I'm taking on my first handful of clients this month at a founding rate. If you know anyone who runs a trade and is drowning in paperwork, I'd really appreciate an intro — and no worries at all if not. How are things with you?

Four things make it work: it's short, it names a specific kind of customer so the reader can picture someone, it asks for an introduction rather than a purchase (much easier to say yes to), and it gives them a graceful out. Most people will reply with encouragement and no lead. A handful will say "actually, my brother-in-law…", and that's where your first customers come from. Keep it personal and one-to-one — bulk commercial emails and texts fall under the Spam Act, covered below.

Make a founding-customer offer

A founding-customer offer gives people a reason to buy from an unknown business now rather than "once you've been going a bit longer". It's not a fire sale. They take a chance on you, you give them something in return, and you get the reviews that let you charge full price to customer number eleven.

Offer type	Example	Best when
Discounted founding rate	First five clients pay 20% less for three months	You sell an ongoing service and want recurring customers fast
Full price, extra value	Standard price plus a free follow-up visit or extended support	You don't want to anchor yourself as the cheap option
Pilot with a review	Reduced price in exchange for detailed feedback and, if they're happy, a testimonial	You're still refining the service and need proof more than margin

Cap the number — "first ten" means the tenth is the last, or the offer wasn't real. Put an end date on it and stick to it. And keep the pricing honest: advertising a "normal price" you've never actually charged is a misleading claim under the Australian Consumer Law, and the ACCC does pursue small businesses over pricing claims. Our guide to misleading advertising explains where the line sits.

Set up your Google Business Profile on day one

Do this the day you settle on your business name, even with no website, no logo and no customers. Google Business Profile is free (as at September 2026) and it's what appears when someone in your suburb searches "mobile dog groomer near me" — the map with three businesses above every other result. Verification isn't instant and a new profile takes time to earn its place, so start the clock early.

Fill in every field, choose a specific primary category, add real photos of you and your work, and write a plain-English description with your service area in it. Our Google Business Profile guide walks through claiming, verifying and optimising it. Once your first jobs are done, this is where the reviews land.

Show up where your customers already gather

Every suburb has a handful of places where people ask "can anyone recommend a…?" Local Facebook community groups are the big one. Others: neighbourhood apps, school and sports club newsletters, industry groups and forums if you sell to other businesses, and weekend markets if you sell a product.

The rule in all of them is the same: be useful first. Read the group rules (most restrict self-promotion to a set day or a pinned thread) and answer questions in your area of expertise without pitching. When someone asks for a recommendation in your trade, other members will start tagging you — which lands far better than tagging yourself. If a group allows a business post, make it specific and local: what you do, which suburbs, your founding offer, a photo of real work, and a direct way to contact you. For a product business, a market stall does the same job face to face for the cost of a table.

Partner with businesses that already have your customers

Somewhere near you is a business that talks to your ideal customer every week and doesn't sell what you sell. Find them, and you can borrow their trust.

You are a…	Partner with…	Why it works
Cleaner	Real estate agents, property managers, removalists	They're constantly asked for end-of-lease and pre-sale cleans
Bookkeeper	Accountants, business coaches, trade suppliers	Accountants hand off the day-to-day work they don't want
Personal trainer	Physios, dietitians, workplace HR managers	Their clients are told to "get moving" and need someone to go to
Electrician	Builders, plumbers, real estate agents, solar installers	Trades refer trades constantly

The pitch is not "send me clients". It's "how can I make your life easier?" — turning up on time for their customers, making them look good, and sending business back the other way. Start with a coffee, not a contract. If you later agree on a referral fee, put it in writing, disclose it to the customer where relevant, and ask your accountant how it's treated for tax and GST.

Do the first jobs for testimonials, not just money

Your first few jobs aren't really about the invoice. They're about producing the proof — reviews, before-and-after photos, a named quote — that makes customer number eleven's decision easy.

So where you have a choice, favour first customers who match your ideal customer and will happily tell others. Then over-deliver on the small things — confirm the day before, turn up on time, tidy up, follow up two days later to check everything's fine. These cost nothing and are exactly what people mention in reviews.

Ask for the review at the moment of delivery, when they're happiest, with a direct link to your Google profile: "If you've got two minutes, a Google review mentioning the job we did would genuinely help me get started."

Keep it clean, though. Google's policy prohibits offering discounts, gifts or anything else in exchange for a review, and it can remove reviews or suspend the profile over it. The ACCC's position is that any incentive for a review must be offered regardless of whether the review is positive or negative, and disclosed so readers know — and reviews from friends, family or staff who don't declare the relationship are treated as fake. Just ask, and let the work do the talking. The full playbook, including how to handle the inevitable bad one, is in our customer reviews guide.

Should you work for free? Occasionally, and deliberately. One or two free jobs for well-connected people in your target market, explicitly in exchange for feedback and (if they're happy) a testimonial, can be worth it. Working for free for anyone who asks is how new businesses run out of money.

Ask for referrals on delivery

The best time to ask for a referral is the same moment you ask for the review: the job's done, they're pleased, and the value is fresh. Most new owners skip it because it feels pushy. It isn't, if you ask the right way.

Don't ask "do you know anyone who needs a cleaner?" — the honest answer in the moment is usually "not off the top of my head". Ask something specific enough to trigger a name: "Do you know anyone else in the street who's renting and might be moving out this year?" Then make it easy: offer to send a short message they can forward, and leave a couple of business cards or a link.

Follow up two weeks later with a quick "how's everything holding up?" message. It reminds them you exist right around the time a friend mentions needing what you do. Our networking and referrals guide has a simple system for turning this into a habit, plus a 30-second pitch that doesn't make anyone cringe.

If you're going to cold-call or cold-email, know the rules

Cold outreach isn't on the main list because it's slow and most people hate it, but for business-to-business services it can work if you're targeted. Two sets of rules apply.

Phone. The Do Not Call Register covers personal numbers, not business lines — ordinary business numbers can't be registered, so genuine business-to-business calls fall outside it. A number used for both work and personal calls can be registered if personal use is more than half, so if a sole trader's number is also their personal mobile, check the register first. The telemarketing industry standard still applies either way: identify yourself and your business early in the call, say why you're calling, keep to the permitted calling hours, and end the call if you're asked to.

Email and SMS. The Spam Act 2003 needs consent for commercial messages. Consent can be inferred where a work email address is conspicuously published without a "no marketing" notice and your message is directly relevant to that person's role. A one-off, personal email to the right person is generally fine; a bulk blast to a scraped list isn't. Every commercial message needs your accurate contact details and a working unsubscribe option.

What a realistic timeline looks like

Getting your first 10 customers is usually a six-to-twelve-week job for a local service business, longer for high-ticket B2B work with slow decision cycles, and faster for a product sold at markets.

When	What you're doing	What to expect
Week 1	Set up Google Business Profile; write your founding offer; build your 50–100 list; join local groups	Verification pending; first replies from your network
Weeks 2–3	Send all the warm messages; have partnership coffees; answer questions in groups	First one to three jobs, often from second-degree contacts
Weeks 4–6	Do the first jobs well; ask for reviews and referrals at delivery; post real photos	Reviews appearing on Google; first referral lead
Weeks 7–12	Follow up everyone; second round of network messages ("we're now booked until…"); refine the offer	Customers five to ten; the founding offer closes

If you hit week six with nothing, don't buy ads — diagnose. The usual culprits are an offer nobody can explain in one sentence, a network list you never finished sending to, or a service pointed at the wrong customer. Our complete small business marketing guide walks through the three questions that fix all three.

Key takeaways

• Your first customers come from people who already know you, so build a 50–100-name list and message every one personally.
• Set up your free Google Business Profile on day one so it's verified and collecting reviews when the first jobs land.
• Use a capped, honest founding offer to give people a reason to buy now, and close it when you said you would.
• Treat the first jobs as proof-building: over-deliver on the basics, then ask for a review and a referral at delivery.
• Never pay, discount or gift for reviews, and don't blast unsolicited emails or texts.

Where to get help

• business.gov.au — free marketing guidance, plus the Digital Solutions program offering low-cost one-on-one digital advice to businesses with fewer than 20 employees.
• ACCC — online reviews — what you can and can't do when asking for reviews and testimonials.
• ACMA — avoid sending spam — consent, identification and unsubscribe rules for email and SMS.
• Do Not Call Register — telemarketing rules and how to check numbers before you call.
• Your accountant — before agreeing any referral fee arrangement, and to work out what a discounted founding rate actually costs you.