There are a thousand million things I have learnt within this first 15months of running my own business. I thought I would have the whole entrepreneur gig in the bag. With all the different industry's I have worked in, coupled with university study and juggling mum life - surely running a business would be a walk in the park. All I really needed was passion and some pretty designs, right?!
Ok, I wasn't that in the dark about what would be required of me but little did I know the crazy things I would be Google-ing to try and manage every aspect of business. The things I do to avoid spending money to outsource...but more of that soon.
I have put together a little list and info on some of the main things I have learned and wish I had done better from the very beginning of my business journey. This is to assist you and let my mistakes be a lesson for us both!
Have a plan - but expect everything will change, flexibility is key.
In most areas of life plans are great and are often a necessity, but don't get too bogged down in the plan. In business and life, you never know what you may come up against or how you will evolve through the process.
Lists are your friend.
Have them handwritten, in spreadsheets and in the notes of your phone. They are the best way of organising your thoughts. Create a list of everything you need to get started, everything you will need when packing orders if it's a product based business, and at night before bed make a list or do a 'brain dump' as you'll find your brain racing of an evening and you want to get that beauty sleep.
Outsource when it comes to areas you struggle with or won't enjoy.
As things get busier and you dive deeper into your business you will find the things you don't enjoy doing will fall to the wayside. Never be afraid to ask for help and hire professionals where necessary. For me, as much as I was a numbers person at school, when it came to my business creativity and customer satisfaction became my main priorities and I wish I had hired a bookkeeper/accountant MUCH sooner!
I was also lucky enough to win a competition where I gained access to a highly skilled Social Media Manager, Janisha from Good Hearted Studio for a month. Before this I never quite understood why I would hire someone for something I could 'easily' do myself. I quickly learnt that having someone see your business from the outside looking in, be able create a social media strategy that made sense whilst also being aesthetically pleasing, true to my business and values helped elevate my vision and structure my approach to socials. I wish I had found her at the start of my business.
Everything costs money, make sure you know what is happening with your cashflow.
I played naive for far too long in regards to the financials of my business. I focused on the areas I enjoyed; giving back to people, donating to charities, getting a crazy number of samples (these suckers are expensive!) and making all aspects of my business 'pretty' (think packaging, website, photography etc). But what I didn't focus on was the monthly subscriptions such as Shopify apps, Canva, CorelDraw, Meta & Google Advertising etc, yearly costs such as website & domain fees and then that fun little thing called GST and tax. In my business, things were going great, however, a few months of sales being quieter our accounts started suffering. I also didn't put aside a portion of funds for GST from the start - big no, no. I also had the habit of looking at funds in the business account and believed it could all be used for stock, attending networking events and upgrading/implementing business tools. If I were to go back to the start, I would ensure a bank account was set up to have a percentage of funds moved across monthly to ensure no big surprises come tax time and be more aware of how much money was being deducted weekly/monthly/quarterly/annually instead of focusing on the 'fun' side of business only.
Oh, and so many things are in USD - so multiply figures by 1.5 to get a more accurate cost!
Paid influencers and expensive content creators aren't a necessity.
Now this might be a controversial opinion but through my own experiences, they aren't all they've cracked up to be. I believe there was a time where influencer marketing was extremely powerful and worth the outlay AND I believe it still has it's place for the right product/market and with the right creator. For small businesses however, I believe creating relationships through brand ambassador and gifted product arrangements is the best option.
There's no denying cashflow is always tough in the first few years of business. Dropping 1k + on an influencer posting a story is a huge gamble, especially as they say a potential customer needs to see a product at least 3 times before they begin to trust a brand enough to buy. I have personally found far more success through content creation in exchange for free product arrangements. That's not to say some of these haven't been a total bust, but more often than not, you will find amazing people who love your product, are excited to help see a small business grow and enjoy being able to share products and send photos or video footage your way. This approach helps reduce your spending when it comes to photoshoots, adds variety to your content, you can use this as an opportunity to get feedback on your products to see where you may be able to improve, all while developing relationships with people across the country. You can even create an affiliate program to encourage people to share your product and content so that they can receive a percentage of sales referred to you. Brand awareness is one of the first hurdles in business, just getting your brand out into the world is key so affiliates are a great avenue to consider.
At the end of the day though with anything in life including business - without risk there's no reward.
Believe in yourself.
Believe that you can burst beyond the 'limit' of the sky.
Know you are capable and every successful person will fail sometimes, it's all about how you get back up and dust yourself off that matters.
Big love and smash those business dreams!
Steph x
