How To Announce Your New Business (and steal my actual email!)

You’re excited to finally show up like you mean business. You want to announce your new business to your network — and maybe you’re a little nervous.

What will your friends think?

Will your family laugh at you?

Will your old colleagues think you've lost your mind?

How do you talk about yourself and your business without feeling salesy or pushy?

How can my network help me?

You’re worried they’ll think you, your business, or your message is silly.

First, this is totally normal. Second, get over it — you’ll be okay.

👉 Let me ask you an important question: Would you rather get the word out about your business and make a (great) living, or would you rather keep it to yourself? If you keep it to yourself, no one will know about it, you won’t get your first few clients, and it’ll be difficult to get that traction you’ve been after.

I get it. When I was working at my corporate job and putting a stake in the ground, declaring I was ready to start my business, I reached out to family and friends. You may be wondering why you’d do this. Here are some excellent reasons:

• You’ll feel more comfortable talking about your business. Starting with people you already know makes it easier. Before long, you’ll be talking about your business like nobody’s business.

• People in your network may hire you. This is how I landed my first few clients. And then, my first few clients turned into referrals, helping me grow my business to the point that I could leave my corporate job in 2017. If you feel weird taking money from friends or family, know that money is merely an energy exchange. You can also make trades or work with a handful of folks for free to get some practice and glowing testimonials.

• Even if your friends, family, or network don’t need you now, they might need you in the future. A dozen or so people hired me almost a decade after I initially told them about my business. Think about planting seeds for the long run.

• Your friends and family may know just the right person who needs you. Even if you have to explain what you do to your family a dozen times, they mean well and can be a great referral source.

• You’ll be planting seeds for the future. If the people you know don’t need you now — months down the road, they might, or they’ll hear someone talking about needing help with that specific thing you provide — be it health coaching, meal plans, virtual assistant work, or finding a new job. I sent these emails to my network in 2015, and people I told back then are hiring me in 2024.

• Practice! You get to practice refining your message and fielding the questions you get from folks. This means you’ll get the information you need to make your marketing even stronger.

These are all excellent ways to get used to feeling confident and completely natural when you talk about your business.

Convinced yet? I hope so. When you’re ready to reach out to friends and family, here’s how to do it without feeling weird, slimy, or gross. This is the exact strategy I used, and it landed me my first two paying clients immediately, a handful of clients a year later, dozens more referrals over the years, and at least a dozen more conversations and new connections with people who didn’t know I existed previously.

And if you’re not at all concerned with what others think about your business, and you’re just wondering…

How do I get clients?

Where do I find customers?

How do I start?

All great questions. First, let’s get talking about your new business.

How to announce your new business:

Here are the actual steps I took. If I were to start my business all over again or pivot in a new direction, I’d do the exact same thing.

1. Make a list of everyone you could reach out to. I looked through my email contacts, LinkedIn connections, and Facebook contacts. These were all people who I’d met in real life, so they were warm messages. I compiled this list in a spreadsheet so I could track when I reached out to them, who took me up on my offer, who shared my information, and if I needed to follow up. You might send this announcement message over email, in a direct message, or share a variation as a social media post.

2. Plan your emails. There’s a script below to make this easy for you. Plan to reach out to 10-20 (or more) contacts each day. Simply go through your list one at a time. This will take time and it’s worth it. For every hour you would normally be spending serving your clients, use this time to focus on creating awareness. If you don’t have emails for some contacts, a warm, direct message on the platform where you’re connected is perfectly acceptable.

3. Send your emails and track responses. Expect most of your emails to go ignored. And don’t take it personally. We’re all busy, and while someone may not respond, they may have still read your message and filed it away for when they’re ready to respond. To track your responses, keep a note of the date you reach out to them, note their response (if you get one), track any potential business it could bring your way, and note an appropriate follow-up date based on their response.

 Are you worried about this? 👇

😭 "But I don’t want to feel gross selling to my family and friends!"

You’re not selling; you’re telling them what you’re up to, planting seeds, and, most importantly — sharing your excitement! I reached out to almost everyone I had worked with in the past or had a connection with, starting with my LinkedIn and Facebook contacts. Consider these people your warm audience.

The seeds started sprouting, and people would come back, saying they knew someone who needed my copywriting or editing help or that they needed help themselves. More than half of my initial clients came from a referral and then another referral. Another significant portion of clients came from interactions on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and people randomly finding me.

✅ My business gained traction quickly because I invested hours in these personal communications — NOT from SEO or ads (which I only recommend after you’ve proven you can get traction on your own).

Never underestimate the power of consistently getting your message out. You might be surprised when someone will need exactly what you offer.

Feeling stuck about how to get started with your first email?

I get it. Think about the kinds of emails YOU like to receive. Are they super salesy? Probably not. They probably feel like friendly messages from one human to another. Write the kind of email you’d want to receive. The emails you love to get most are probably friendly, clear, and simple.

I’m living proof that the model works. See my personal case study and discover the 10 lessons I learned after just my first year. And even How I Made $107K in Year 1 of My Business (I know the title looks clickbaity — it’s the honest truth).

What to say when you announce your business

In each email, you’re going to do a few specific things:

• Personalize it. Yes, it takes time. It’s worth it.

• Tell them what you’re up to

• Make a specific ask (or two) to make it easy for your recipient to take action

• Ask them to spread the word AND give them an email template to make it easy

Sample creative friends and family emails

Here’s the exact email you can send. It also includes a secret weapon — an email for them to send. This is the smartest way to make it easy for people to pass your name along. I used a very similar version in my emails to friends and family. Tailor this to fit your personality and business, and fire away!

AUTHENTIC WRITING TIP:

Be sure to send these emails individually. While it might be tempting to send a mass email to everyone at once — DON’T! A personal response is so much more, well — personal. Take the time and email people individually to make your message and your recipient feel special.

Authentic & Personal Email Templates

* A business owner who focuses on authenticity in their writing builds trust. And people only buy from people they trust to help them get what they want or solve their problems.

Here are some examples of wording for new business announcements.

Email to family member/friend/contact (customize for your business):

Hi [name]!

I hope you’re doing well. I love reading all about [thing they’ve been sharing on social media lately/know about their life/business].

I’m excited to tell you that I’m officially starting my own business. Scary and exciting, and I’m working on getting my first few clients. I’m excited to step out on my own because [reason 1 and reason 2]. I’m planning to leave my day job by [date].

Can I ask you for a favor? If you know of anyone who could use my expertise, I’d be forever grateful if you could share a version of the email message below. Of course, customize it as you see fit. You can learn more about what I do here [link to your website].

Here are some things I can help with:

• Thing 1

• Thing 2

• Thing 3

Thanks [name]! If you have any questions at all, reply and let me know.
I appreciate your support!
[you]

Email template to include with your friends and family emails (customize this to fit your business!):

Hi friend!
Meet a friend / family member [note about where you know each other - customize this first] – [your name].

She’s been super successful in their career. These days, she’s a [role name at current job and company]. While she loves her work there and thrives on the great experiences, she’s decided to go full force into building her [type of work] business. She’s getting great momentum and already has a bunch of paying clients! (like example 1, example 2).

Combining her love of [thing] and [thing] with a life of [your big WHY - freedom and location independence perhaps] has become a MUST for her. She needs the [freedom to enjoy more time with her kids in an unhurried way, be around for her son's hockey practices, and to help more small businesses get their message into the world - customize with your message.]

She hasn’t left her day job just yet—this is where you come in.

My invitation to you: If you know anyone who needs writing or editing expertise - please send them her way.

Email her at [your email].

Here’s what she's good at:

• Thing 1 you can help with

• Thing 2 you can help with

• Thing 3 you can help with

Ready to work with her right now? Click here. [link to your work with me/services page]

Thanks, friend!
[their name]

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Want more ways to announce your new business?

Get more email suggestions, 6 social post swipe files, and my best tips for sharing about your business authentically.

These are great for announcing new offers, courses, or programs to your warm leads too!

No spammy, icky, or slimy marketing tactics required.

Love note: I only teach empathic and authentic messaging. If you’re interested in ChatGPT writing prompts, or using generative AI to write your messages, this is NOT for you. We can tell when you use AI to write for you 😉

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