Before Verrocchio received a patron, what did he have to do?

Verrocchio had to be trained as an artist under the master before he could receive commissions and patronage.

He was first train goldsmith before switching to art. It is not much known about his life, but it seems he was working under the master Fra Filippo Lippi who was a Renaissance painter in Prato.

Only after years of training did Verrocchio receive the patronage of Medici family. Famously, his work was encouraged by Piero and Lorenzo de' Medici whose family was leading art patron in Florence of hat time.