Every so often we come up with these random episodes and this time we're talking about 10 things that we've learned from running our own business. Maybe some things that we'd even realize that we've learned. So stick around, this will be a cool one!
10 Things We’ve Learned From Running Our Own Business
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Investing in your business is key - Since the beginning we’ve had this mentality of growing and investing in the business. Making sure that we had the right software, hardware and education to keep growing. And as we’ve grown, something pivotal to our business was investing in hiring the right people. Hiring isn’t cheap, but there’s no way we could grow without them.
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Being a leader AND a manager are equally important - Being a leader is one thing, but being able to manage people is another. Leadership and management usually gets thrown together and used interchangeably, but the skills needed to be effective are different. Leadership involves looking at the big picture, while management involves focusing on the details. As a business owner you need to be able to handle both sets of skills. You need to be able to motivate and get your employees to see your vision but also keep them accountable.
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You can definitely live on less income than you think - It’s not easy by any means but you can definitely do it. Having to cancel Spotify Premium and cut back on eating out is painful but you can do it if you have a goal and action plan to follow.
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There is a steep learning curve - As a new business owner you have to learn about LLCs, sales tax, creating proposals, insurance, websites, hiring, developing a culture, etc. The range and depth of topics you need to learn about are endless. Business owners and entrepreneurs have to be constantly learning and adapting to all these new things.
- Time management is absolutely crucial - To be your own boss you need to be self-disciplined and have a clear understanding of how your time needs to be used throughout the day, week, month. It is very important to keep a calendar with set deadlines.
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You need help - We used to do our own bookkeeping and accounting and found that we couldn’t keep up, so we hired a CPA. We made friends in the industry and in business to help us bounce ideas off of. Sometimes it’s a professional in a specific area or sometimes it’s another business owner down the hall. Trying to go it alone is a recipe for disaster.
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Your business will never outgrow you. Making sure that you are constantly pushing the vision and developing yourself personally is crucial to overall success. In the same vain, stop being the smartest person in the room. It’s cool for a little bit, but you never grow.
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Passion isn’t a business model. Just because you love something or you like doing it doesn’t mean you will be successful. It’s popular to say right now that you should follow your passion, but without execution or understanding how to turn a profit, you are probably better off working for someone else.
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Being an entrepreneur is not what society says it is. It’s not lambos, beds full of money, and riding on private jets. At least not for us it isn’t. Being an entrepreneur is giving up time with family, sleeping less, putting others before yourself all while trying to bring in more business and make sure you can pay everyone. Now, we have not had this problem (knock on wood), but we talk to real entrepreneurs every week and most of them can’t keep their head above water because they are chasing a dream. Entrepreneurship is absolutely glorified right now, but 15 years ago it was looked upon as similar to a starving artist. Nothing has changed except the public perception of them.
- We’re just happy to have a glass - There is no reason we should have quit our jobs in September of 2015. We both had very little savings and only a small profit from starting the business. To be fair, we didn’t have many expenses either. We opened our business banking account with $2,000 and that was supposed to pay for operating expenses and give us enough money to live on. Our parents thought we were crazy, and in hindsight, we were. We were blinded with a vision of what could be. So, looking back, whether the glass was half empty or half full, we were just happy to have the glass.
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