The Biggest Lesson Learned from Building my Business

After the initial glow of entrepreneurship has dimmed, reality sets in. Yes, you are able to spend your days the way you want, building your business, doing what you love, BUT you also have to MANAGE your business. As I look back on my progression from fledgling entrepreneur to successful  entrepreneur, I’ve noted a number of lessons I’ve learned about investing in my business that I now share with the clients I work with who are just launching a business.
Invest in your business! I know it’s hard to justify spending money , especially at the early stages. But think. You’ve started your business to DO WHAT YOU LOVE. That likely doesn’t include accounting, marketing, and scheduling meetings. Those are time suckers, especially if they are not your forte. Even as a former accountant, I found it wise to hire my accounting out.

1. Hire an accountant, especially for taxes. If you simply hire someone to file your taxes, you’ll save money in the end. An accountant is likely to be less expensive than penalties and interest you’ll pay from filing incorrect taxes.
2. Subscribe to an online calendar tool. I love Calendly.com. I save time and my clients can schedule and reschedule as needed. You can even set it up to collect fees at the time of booking! These cost less than $20 month and save you HOURS of emails and phone calls arranging your schedule.
3. Hire a coach. You need someone to bounce ideas off of. No, your husband, best friend or others close to you are not the best for this role. You need someone objective who will be straight with you without an agenda at hand. Have a different coach for different phases of your business. I help people put together their business plan, conceptualize things and get started. Then there are coaches to help you learn to be a CEO, and some to help with marketing, etc.
4. Take time off! This is a hard one. I used to work 7 days a week, 12+ hours a day on my business, spending all my time giving to my clients and my business….until I realized the rest of my life was suffering. Limiting my work to weekdays and taking evenings off, restored my sanity and my relationships. I lost my Mom shortly after making this commitment and am so grateful that I made time to spend with her. Life is short! It’s not all about the business.
5. Find a way to work outside of your home. Isolation is one of the biggest negatives of being an entrepreneur. I invested in a co-working office that provides not only a wonderful ambiance for my client meetings, but people who have become, in a sense, coworkers who I share those colleague-type moments with. Get involved in professional organizations that support your line of work. There are plenty out there. Even check out MeetUp. There are many groups for what you do.

 
Those are my top 5. What are yours?