Can the same person be a partner and a client?
Yes. A partner is someone you trade referrals with, and a client is the person a referral is about. The same person can be both, and ReferralPulse handles it without making you keep two separate records.
There are two common versions of this, and each has its own simple path.
When your client is also one of your partners
Say you send a referral and the client happens to be someone already in your network as a partner. When you log the referral and type the client's email, the form checks your partners. If it finds a match, it shows a blue badge that reads Linked to [Partner Name] (existing partner).
Leaving that badge in place links the referral to that partner's record, so the work shows up on their profile and in your network map as one person instead of two. If it isn't the right match, click the × on the badge to unlink before you save.
Where to find it: Sidebar → Referrals → Give Referral or Receive Referral → enter the client's email in the client section.
Linking matters most for reporting. When the client and the partner are the same record, your reciprocity numbers and the network graph stay accurate instead of splitting one relationship across two names.
When a partner becomes your own client
Sometimes a partner hires you directly. You met at a one to one, you got to talking, and now they are paying you for your work. That is a self-referral: the partner referred themselves to you as a client, with no third person in the middle.
When you log a received referral, check This is a self-referral. The form uses the partner's details as the client and skips the introducing-party section, since there isn't one. The referral still tracks value, status, and commission like any other.
Where to find it: Sidebar → Referrals → Receive Referral → pick the partner → check This is a self-referral.
Use a self-referral when a partner becomes your client in a single step. If someone else connected you to that partner in the first place, log it as a normal referral and link the introduction instead, so the credit goes to whoever made the connection.
On the iOS app
You can log either kind of referral by voice or in chat. Tell your assistant something like "log a referral, my client is Dana Reyes, she's already one of my partners" and it will match the partner and link the records for you. For a partner who hired you directly, say "log a self-referral from Dana Reyes."