diff --git a/pkg/commands/secret/create.go b/pkg/commands/secret/create.go
index d0bfc36..048c4a0 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/secret/create.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/secret/create.go
@@ -82,6 +82,12 @@ kp secret create my-git-cred --git-url https://github.com --git-user my-git-user
 
 			ctx := cmd.Context()
 
+			// First check that service account is available before secret is created
+			serviceAccount, err := cs.K8sClient.CoreV1().ServiceAccounts(cs.Namespace).Get(ctx, serviceAccount, metav1.GetOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
 			if !ch.IsDryRun() {
 				secret, err = cs.K8sClient.CoreV1().Secrets(cs.Namespace).Create(ctx, secret, metav1.CreateOptions{})
 				if err != nil {
@@ -93,11 +99,6 @@ kp secret create my-git-cred --git-url https://github.com --git-user my-git-user
 				return err
 			}
 
-			serviceAccount, err := cs.K8sClient.CoreV1().ServiceAccounts(cs.Namespace).Get(ctx, serviceAccount, metav1.GetOptions{})
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
 			updatedSA := serviceAccount.DeepCopy()
 
 			updatedSA.Secrets = append(updatedSA.Secrets, corev1.ObjectReference{Name: args[0]})