First Money Stories

First Money Stories
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Entrepreneurship

You've listened to the advice. You've tried the strategies. You've done the research. Still no clients. First Money Stories is for people who are serious about making their first dollar, not through theory, but through real conversations with real people who were exactly where you are and figured it out anyway. Every episode breaks down one person's journey from zero to their first paying client. What they tried. What failed. What finally worked. No fluff. No gurus. Just honest stories from people who started from nothing. If you're close to giving up, don't. Listen to one episode first.

  1. 6d ago

    This Is Costing You Clients Without You Knowing It

    What do you do when you can't close a single client for months? Tony Hoong, Founder and CEO of The CPA Dude, ran into exactly that wall until one change turned everything around. He started The CPA Dude in December 2019 and built the website together with a friend at a Panera Bread in 2 days. He was grinding through Big Four, Uber, and DoorDash tax roles while building the business. His friend sent him his first client, but the hard part came after three brutal months running Yelp ads with 20 no's. Right as he was about to give up, he hit a realization about how to convey his business offer to a potential client. Fast forward to today, he's helped high-earning entrepreneurs and real estate investors save anywhere from $20K to $600K+ in a single year by catching what their prior CPAs missed, not because he's smarter, but because most CPAs are compliance-focused, not strategy-first. In this episode, Tony walks through his journey of what it was like before starting the business, how he took the leap of faith to go all in, and the lessons he picked up along the way. What you'll learn: Why he believes not selling your business offer is actually hurting the person you could helpHow 20 no's on Yelp turned into his first real client the moment he switched from texting to callingWhy referrals, not ads or paid marketing, built his client baseThe "math don't math" moment that convinced him to leave his job for goodWhy calling everyone on his phone to get his first client is the first thing he'd do if he started over todayWhere to find The CPA Dude: Website: https://thecpadude.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecpadude/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecpadude_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecpadudeYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecpadudeX: https://x.com/thecpadude_Phone Number: 254-CPA-DUDEWant to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.comFind us on YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@firstmoneystoriesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/firstmoneystories/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-money-stories/id1896275840Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eOV3V8LtIilYUqm7rr9XK?si=3106ee7af7ae407c

  2. Sep 30

    He Expected Pushback Pitching AI: Instead They Got It Immediately

    How do you get an AI company's first clients to say yes? As Co-Founder of Mesaya, Nathan Cohen didn't have to convince anyone the hard way: he just had to stop selling AI the way everyone else was. Before Mesaya, Nathan spent nearly two decades building Modani Furniture into a national retailer, starting from $30,000 with two partners after the 2008 downturn. Recently, Modani built 375+ AI agents running its finance, purchasing, imagery, logistics, and forecasting departments to help the business scale. When friends and fellow entrepreneurs kept asking how to do the same thing for their own businesses, Nathan and his partners realized they already had the product. So they turned Modani's internal AI workforce into Mesaya, a company that manages an AI workforce on your behalf and delivers finished outcomes, not just software. In this episode, Nathan walks through the pitch reframe that got Mesaya's first clients to say yes, what mattered to clients once onboarding started, and how marketing for AI taught him a lesson about how people actually feel about AI in the workplace. What you'll learn: Why he expected AI pitches to get pushback and what actually happened when prospects heard the pitchThe reframe that made a publicly traded company owner understand it instantly: selling a service, not a toolHow referrals from one partner's phone book turned into 4 to 5 interested prospects in a weekThe lesson from a video that taught them the reality of marketing AIWhy prospects saw no downside to trying Mesaya, thanks to a free trial and zero setup fees Where to find Mesaya: Website: https://www.mesaya.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mesayahq/ Want to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.com Find us on YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@firstmoneystoriesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/firstmoneystories/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-money-stories/id1896275840Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eOV3V8LtIilYUqm7rr9XK?si=3106ee7af7ae407c

  3. Sep 16

    Most First Time Founders Skip Milestones: Here's Why You Shouldn't

    How do you build a global education business from zero clients and no outside funding? As Founder & CEO of Zenith Education, Serge Nader did it one milestone at a time until the machine started running itself. Before founding Zenith, Serge was closing enterprise AI and cloud deals at Amazon Web Services across the Middle East and Africa with complex public and private sector institutions. He holds a Master of Science in Computing from Imperial College London and a Bachelor of Science in Management with First Class Honours from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He had every reason to stay comfortable. Instead he decided to build Zenith Education, the education infrastructure that helps schools, counselors, students and universities work better together. Their goal is simple: to become the school counselor's best friend. Through human expertise and purpose-built technology, Zenith helps high schools scale their orientation and university guidance operations without losing the personalization that students need. Today Zenith has helped over 600 students get placed into the world's best universities with a 100% top three placement rate and supported high schools across 25+ countries. None of that happened because of one big break. It happened because of completing milestones. In this episode Serge breaks down exactly how he got his first paying client with no case studies, no proof and what it took to get there. What you'll learn: The Milestone Mindset: why you should focus on small wins first rather than trying to land one big client right awayHow to sell a service before you have results by understanding the customer's situation to suggest what you should do, not what you've doneWhy it's good to hear no's at first since they give you data on what to address and how to improve to get to your yes quicklyWhy the client experience matters more than the outcome by guiding them through the stress to get to the resultsWhy your first yes is not the victory but the real victory is how you build from that yes Where to find Zenith Education: Website: https://www.zenith-education.co/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zenith-education-llc/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zenithedu.co/Serge's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serge-nader-a931b6147 Want to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.com Find us on YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/

  4. Sep 2

    Their First Client Came From A Rejected Internship Application

    Sometimes your first client finds you in the most unexpected way. Homero Ruiz is the Co-Founder and CEO of Foreko, an AI supply chain operating system that helps companies that make, move, or sell physical products know what to order, when, and from whom. The business was built by a team with experience from Harvard, Google, Red Bull, and PepsiCo and headquartered in Bentonville, the Silicon Valley of supply chain. Starting with just a landing page and conversations with potential customers, Foreko now has paying clients bootstrapped without raising a single dollar. When his co-founder reached out to a company for an internship, he got rejected. What happened next was something the Foreko team didn't expect. In this episode Homero breaks down exactly how that first client happened, how they priced their product from scratch, and what building a supply chain company in the backyard of Walmart, the world's largest retailer, taught him about getting your first client and growing from there. What you'll learn: How a rejected internship application turned out to be Foreko's first paying clientDon't mistake signups for traction and talk to potential customers before building anythingCharge more than you think by understanding how much you can save your clients and never undersell yourselfWarm intros and being physically present where your customers are beats any ad campaignIf you don't have a paying client within the first two months you should start to think about pivoting Where to find Foreko: Website: https://www.foreko.app/enLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/forekoai/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forekoai/Homero's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/homero-ruiz/ Want to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.com Find us on YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/

  5. Aug 19

    How He Got Through His First Client Negotiation

    Getting your first client rarely goes the way you expect it to. Aaron Hauger is the Founder and CEO of Dvanjoy, a data solutions company dedicated to helping social impact organizations leverage AI and analytics for resource allocation, crisis prediction, and donor accountability to meet the rapid push for data-driven decision-making. He has spent over a decade doing international development work including conflict resolution in Southeast Asia and educational initiatives in Malawi Africa. He is also the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Story Time, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit he started in 2013 in Malawi Africa that has contributed to successes such as supporting over 1,500 girls in overcoming barriers to high school enrollment. As Founder of VOICE Educational Consulting he has collaborated with C-Suite members on high impact organizational development projects. When he landed his first client for Dvanjoy, the path was anything but straightforward. He got feedback to cut the budget and cut the activities. And he was convinced they were going to say no. In this episode Aaron breaks down how he got through his first client negotiation and what his decade of international development work taught him about building trust and earning that first yes. What you'll learn: How Aaron got his first client through word of mouth and his network rather than a marketing campaignThe importance of going into every client conversation with an abundance mindset knowing there are always more conversations to be had with more peopleWhy the magic wand question is the way to understand what any client actually needsWhy going straight to the decision maker changes everything about approaching your future clientsBeing vulnerable with clients and upfront about experimenting together to find what serves them best Where to find Dvanjoy: Website: https://www.dvanjoy.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dvanjoy/ Want to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.com Find us on YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/

  6. Aug 5

    He Didn't Expect Their First Sale To Go Like This

    This is what happens when your first sale goes better than you ever expected. Alex Varga is a technical founder and AI researcher with nearly a decade of experience in machine learning and AI. He trained his own neural networks before transformers were mainstream. His bachelor's thesis alone generated $12 million for Yandex, often called the Google of Russia. Alex also built a 40,000 developer community, earned an O1 Talent Visa, was recognized as a Top 50 Hacker by Major League Hacking, and exited a $500K ARR business before founding varg.ai. When he launched varg.ai, an operating system for creative teams that runs the full pipeline from brief to finished ad automatically for bulk video generation, his co-founder shared some videos with a former colleague. What happened next shocked the entire team. In this episode Alex breaks down exactly how that first sale happened and what his journey as a founder and AI researcher taught him about getting first clients. What you'll learn: How one video share led to their first paying client and the response that shocked the entire teamHow Alex priced his first clients by asking what they already paid video creators and matching that priceOut of 15 early meetings they got 10 yes responses and started experimenting to find their ideal customer profileWhy being early to the field, extremely detail oriented, and on daily calls with clients is what Alex says made clients choose them over anyone elseWhy Alex says openly sharing what you know creates trust and works as your most powerful lead magnet Where to find varg.ai: Website: https://varg.aiX: https://x.com/vargaiHQLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vargaai/ Want to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.com Find us on: YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/

  7. Jul 22

    How A Seasoned Founder Thinks Differently When It Comes To Getting Your First Client

    Your technology alone won't get you your first client. Here's what Yashar Ahmadpour has to say about it. Yashar is an AI Product Executive, Founder and CEO of Impressive, with a strong background in Agentic Systems, Enterprise AI, and Product Commercialization. He's been founding startups since 2004. His last startup, Advice Analytics, was acquired by Turnqey Labs and later integrated into the Morningstar ecosystem reaching over 16 million plan participants. Impressive is an AI-native execution platform for generating and deploying operational agents, workflow systems, and business infrastructure from natural language, with early traction among private equity and hedge fund operators. Since launching Impressive, the platform has grown from 37% retention to over 90%. He focused on something most founders overlook. In this episode Yashar breaks down exactly how he got his first paying clients, what a seasoned founder does differently when approaching the market, and why the founders who win aren't always the ones with the best product. What you'll learn: Why Yashar says customer experience matters more than you thinkHow he used research and outreach to find his first paying customersThe pricing framework he uses to set introductory prices that actually convertHow Yashar thinks about setbacks and why he always focuses on the solution not the problemWhy Yashar says you must come out of your shell if you're someone who doesn't do well in communicating with people Where to find Impressive and Yashar: Website: impressive.devEmail: y@impressive.dev Want to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.com Find us on YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/

  8. Jul 8

    How He Picks The First Client To Get More Clients

    What if the first client you're chasing is the wrong one? Keith Newman says your first client should grab the attention of everyone else in your market. Keith is Managing Partner at The GTM Firm, where he advises early and growth-stage founders on go-to-market strategy and revenue acceleration. He's been operating at the intersection of startups, media, and technology for over three decades, longer than most founders have been building companies. His career spans well-known names in tech media and entrepreneurship, with roles including President at IDG (International Data Group), Head of Business Development at Recode, and VP of Programming and Partnerships at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, where he connected over 500 founders to institutional resources and investor networks. In this episode Keith breaks down exactly how the team landed that first client, what made that one account unlock dozens more, and what his decades in startups has taught him about getting clients and building momentum. What you'll learn: Why Keith says your first client should open doors, not just generate revenueWhy reframing every no is an opportunity to learn what a client actually needsHow you know a business has real momentum when clients start calling you firstWhy you should talk to 50 potential prospects before you commit to starting a businessWhat he tells every founder who thinks they understand how hard the journey really is Where to find The GTM Firm: Website: https://www.thegtmfirm.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-gtm-firm/ Want to be featured on First Money Stories? Email us at firstmoneystories@gmail.com Find us on: YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStoriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/

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5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

You've listened to the advice. You've tried the strategies. You've done the research. Still no clients. First Money Stories is for people who are serious about making their first dollar, not through theory, but through real conversations with real people who were exactly where you are and figured it out anyway. Every episode breaks down one person's journey from zero to their first paying client. What they tried. What failed. What finally worked. No fluff. No gurus. Just honest stories from people who started from nothing. If you're close to giving up, don't. Listen to one episode first.

Information

  • Creator
    First Money Stories
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 First Money Stories
  • Show Website
    First Money Stories