As I finish my 30th lap around the sun, and start on my 31st I thought I’d share 30 things I’ve learned in business I would share with my 27-year old self.
- Have a business plan, or at the very least an idea of what your profit margin is and what sales goals you need to hit to keep your lights on.
- Referrals go a long way in business, but don’t count on them as part of your business model especially when you’re starting out.
- An hourly rate IS NOT equal to an hourly wage. It needs to be much higher.
- If you price yourself too low (hourly OR retail $) out of the gate you’ll shoot yourself in the foot. DO RESEARCH.
- Not every customer or every job is for you. Get comfortable saying no, and learning how to hear no. It’s not personal.
- Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. If you’re authentic in your business & marketing people will WANT to learn about what you do.
- Set boundaries including methods of contact & working hours (they don’t have to be 9-5!).
- Social media is an invaluable tool in marketing, networking, and connection. It doesn’t have to be as hard as you think it does in your head. Just post something, anythinggg…
- Unless you have an established relationship/agreement Get. Payment. Upfront.
- Learn how to deal with taxes and finances early even though they will never not make you want to barf.
- Ideas are great. An idea with a plan is even better.
11b. Not every idea will work out great. That’s ok. - If you stay organized you don’t have to GET organized. Just kidding, you’ll never really be organized.
- Even if you’re still figuring your shit out customers will still want to work with you if you conduct yourself with honesty, integrity & an open mind.
- There’s pretty much nothing you can’t learn with YouTube & Google.
- Always talk about your business with the confidence of a completely average white man.
- Know your unique selling point from the beginning (or intended USP) and work that in all of your copy & marketing.
- Know your target audience. And no, your target audience is not everyone.
- Don’t be afraid to be personable in your business. People buy from people they like. Also, you’re not a robot.
- Building relationships is the key to success in business. A few good clients are better than 100 fairweather ones. Referrals are priceless.
- Don’t forget to cancel free trials, and don’t get roped into subscriptions that you never use.
- Starting a business & running it by yourself is really. freaking. hard. There are a lot more sweatpants, cold cups of coffee & boxes of mac n cheese than Instagram would have you believe.
- Have a plan for how you can scale, grow, or increase your profit. If it doesn’t work without you working 100 hours/week you need to change your pricing structure.
- It’s ok to pivot in business to focus on one thing and drop another. That’s called learning, and truthfully everyone should do it at some point.
- Set realistic goals for yourself, but also set wild & ambitious ones. Write them down so you can look back and be like damn, I really did that.
- Sometimes you have to suck before you’re good at something. It’s ok, we’ve all been there.
- There are tons of lies that exist in the entrepreneurial world, such as you have to hustle 60+ hours per week to be successful, or that you ONLY need to work an hour a day to make millions. Those people can suck it.
- If you have an idea that’s good, unique, or profitable people will ALWAYS try to copy you. Let them. Effort & authenticity will always trump stolen ideas.
- Invest in things that will make you more money, such as professional pics, graphic design, and outsourcing timely tasks.
- Everyone is afraid to fail, but mistakes are nothing more than a step closer in the right direction.
- Making a full-time self-employed income from nothing is friggin hard, but growth is still growth even if it’s small, and comparing yourself to someone else will serve no purpose.
Is there anything else you’d add to this list? Drop me a line, I’d love to hear your top tip you’d tell your younger self.