In a previous post, I had written all about the 10 things I did to start my business. It may not be obvious, but that post was written in the midst of initiating things and before my business was fully launched. I said at the time that I wouldn’t have done anything differently, but —
LMAO okay it wasn’t a full lie. I do think that I went about starting my very first business in the best way I knew how. However, now that I’m an active business, working with clients, and have a WEALTH of knowledge under my belt, there are several things I will change for future business endeavors. Here are the top 4 things I’d do differently if I started this sh*t over.
#1 – Get a Business Bank Account
Looking back on this now, getting a business bank account was something I should’ve done right from the start. I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t. I suppose I thought it didn’t make sense to have a bank account if I didn’t have any income yet.
Though I didn’t have any income, I had a sh*t ton of expenses that were required to get this business off the ground. I funded all startup fees with a personal credit card that I didn’t really use. This was great for getting a bunch of travel points lol. However, it made it harder to consolidate which expenses were considered startup fees and which were just regular maintenance fees.
In hindsight, I wish I had just self-funded a business bank account and made all purchases for the business from that account instead. It would’ve just made things cleaner and easier to keep track of from the beginning.
Business Credit
A lot of people use a credit card or take out a business loan to fund their business. My business was personally not big enough to require a full loan, in my opinion. I don’t have any overhead building fees or physical products that require a large amount of capital. Also, I’m doing enough damage with my own personal credit cards, so adding another one on top of that was not appealing to me 😂
I just wanted to comment on credit since it is an option many people pursue. Do what’s best for you and your business. And of course, consult a CPA if you have one on your team!
#2 – Less Legal, More Marketing
Now don’t get ahead of yourself here. By less legal, I do not mean illegal ✋🏾. I simply mean that I would have focused a little less on having every single contract and formality in place right at the beginning.
The basic stuff like a privacy policy, terms and conditions page, and a really simple contract would have been perfectly fine for me to start out with. I’d even go so far as to say that I prooooobably could’ve held off on my LLC formation and functioned as a freelancer/sole proprietor for a while. Why didn’t I? I think I was concerned about the tax designation, only to find out that it didn’t really matter under a certain income amount. Oh well, you live and you learn!
Modern Day Marketing
While I was so focused on getting all of the legal documentation squared away (not a bad thing either I should say, it’s helped a lot now), I feel like I should have spent more time on my marketing. Spoiler, I also have no marketing background 😂. This was a big learning curve for me, and I am still finding new strategies every day! Creating freebies, getting my email list built up, and determining my content pillars → these are the things that would’ve helped me actually GET clients so that I would’ve had someone to make a contract for 😅.
Speaking of getting clients, do you know if your website is helping you do just that? If you have a website and aren’t sure if it’s helping you win your dream clients, download my FREE WEBSITE REVIEW CHECKLIST below 👇🏾
#3 – Clarity on Who I’m Helping
Another thing I should’ve done that would’ve made the marketing piece a hell of a lot easier was get CLEAR on my audience and business goals. As a self proclaimed multi-passionate woman, 4/6 manifesting generator, AND Gemini (for my HD & Astro girlies) 💁🏾♀️, the thought of niching down was the BIGGEST turn off to me. Why would I ever place such a limit on who I could help with all of the skills that I have??
Here’s what I learned about niches: they don’t have to be SO specific like everyone says they should be. It doesn’t have to be a specific person, or a specific type of business. It can be a style, or vibe, or energy that a lot of different people and businesses can fall into.
A niche should not limit you, but you do need to know who you’re talking to in your messaging.
Your business goals should also be pretty clear, as they will drive how you structure the content you create. I’ve learned that if you are using social media to market your business, then you need to have a way to measure certain social media interactions to determine if your business goals are being met.
#4 – Building My Portfolio
The final thing I wish I would’ve done sooner rather than later is build up my portfolio with mockup content. Mock content, or inspirational pieces, are SO important to your business when you’re just starting out. Not only does it help build your portfolio and show potential clients what you can do, but it also helps you figure out what kind of work you like to do. Essentially, it probably would’ve helped answer my niche/audience question earlier in the process.
I ended up waiting to create inspirational portfolio pieces until after I figured out what client systems I wanted to use. My reason? I wanted to treat my “mock clients“ as if they were real clients and test my entire process from start to finish. I did this for one “client” and realized that I was wasting quite a bit of time. In the end, I just cranked out mockups without really utilizing my CRM after that. Practice makes perfect, so I likely would’ve ended up with even better portfolio pieces to display by the time I started taking clients if I had started practicing sooner.
Bonus Tip
Before I wrap this up, I wanted to leave you with a little bonus tip that would’ve saved me quite a bit of money as a new business owner.
DO NOT feel pressured to jump into everyone’s everything all at once, especially if your revenue is smaller right now.
What do I mean by this? People are always going to offer some time-sensitive discount, freebie, course, etc. Hell I do it myself. That’s business baby 😎. But if you’re new and like me, you may feel the need to jump on them all. Yes, learn all that you can, but PLEASE make sure these are aligned moves for you. Really meditate on the offer or whatever it is, and make sure it makes sense for you.
Find One & Be Done
Also, try to find someone who really speaks to you and has multiple offers that will get you what you need through one person/platform. It just keeps the clutter down and helps reduce confusion because everyone’s message is slightly different or can be conflicting. If you take their lowest offer (freebie or whatever) and you find it’s not for you, find someone else. This will save you SO much money and keep the overwhelm to a minimum. I spent so much money on different marketing courses only to find that the first 2 people I paid money to didn’t speak to what I actually needed or wanted. Be smart with your money, my friend.
Okay that’s it! Those are the 4 things I’d do differently if I started my business over today. Talk to me in a year or five, and I may have a completely different list. That’s the beauty of all of this though, right? We learn, we implement, we grow, and then we learn something new. If you’re like me and realize that you made a good decision but maybe could’ve made a better one, I encourage you to look at everything as a learning opportunity. Then use that knowledge to help educate others who are coming behind and beside you.
I’m a firm believer that everything plays out exactly as it’s supposed to regardless. So here’s to being the lead in your own, epic story. Don’t be afraid to give yourself a plot twist or two 🥂
With light,
Ty ✨
Enjoy this read? Learn something new? Tell me everything in a comment below! And remember, it takes no effort to be kind 😊
Disclaimer: The information in this post is for entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to serve as business, legal, medical, educational marketing, or sales advice.
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June 12, 2024
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