The enforcement of essential boundary conditions in mesh-free methods is a difficult task due to the lack of Kronecker delta properties of mesh-free shape functions. In this paper, two approaches are introduced to impose essential boundary conditions. The first approach is a node interpolation method (NIM). In this approach, the shape functions that are associated with essential boundary conditions are constructed using node interpolation. These shape functions are then combined with mesh-free shape functions. Because the shape functions from the NIM are true interpolants, the essential boundary conditions can be imposed with the same ease as in the finite element method. The second approach is the direct imposition method (DIM). This approach rearranges the discretized system equations, and directly provides the known values of the essential boundary conditions in the nodal variable vector. Thus, the true solution of the discretized equations can be achieved with the satisfaction of essential boundary conditions.