Things I’ve Learned in My Five Years of Business

Wow. I made it to five whole years, and for me this is a huge milestone as many don’t get this far.  But what a year it’s been.  I would say in all honesty it’s probably been the hardest year, and that includes the ones where I couldn’t pay my bills.

Why? Well, it was easier because it was just me, I had to worry about but now have six – yes SIX -people working for me and it’s terrifying!  The pressure and responsibility I feel to pay their salaries or invoices each month is huge, but I have to take a step back and remind myself that I have actually been doing that for the past 18 months already, even as costs have risen. Somehow it doesn’t seem to get any easier, but I’m always learning.

Speaking of lessons learned… it was the first thing I said last year and has been even more relevant this year:

No one tells you how hard the growth of a business is

Literally no one.  Yet when I speak to other business owners they either have been or are going through many of the same things as me.  I mean, shouldn’t there be a support group or something?!

What’s made this even more prevalent this year is having a team.  It’s tough, everyone responds differently to information, feedback, and training.  Some are introverts, some are not, some communicate well, others can be challenging.

But the next thing I’ve realised is:

You can’t be friends with your team

I’ve always believed that if you look after your team, make them feel valued, they’ll be loyal and work hard for you.  I was kind of right, but what you can’t do is be their friend.  I got myself into a situation where I didn’t raise issues because of the friendship I had with one of my team, which ultimately led to the end of our working and personal relationship.

Could I have handled it better?  Absolutely.  Do I regret the outcome?  Absolutely not.  It showed me the loyalty I felt was not reciprocated and the response made me realise that it probably worked out for the best.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

While I’m pretty good at communication, (we chat in Teams and have a weekly team meeting), I’ve realised that I assume people understand what I have meant without confirming.  Now it falls on both of us to do this but communicating your expectations clearly will ultimately lead to fewer issues down the road.

And it’s the same with clients. I’ve learned over the years to be as specific as possible when it comes to what I will and won’t be delivering on projects.  This means the client has less room to take advantage of an open and unclear scope of work which results in scope creep on my side.  If you are ever unsure, always clarify. It will save you time and money in the long run.

Delegate, delegate, delegate

I have improved massively on this from last year, I’ve had issues trusting people to do the work they have been tasked with to the level that I needed; however, I have a great team in place now who I can place my trust in, and who I’m letting manage parts of the business process without having to check in on everything they are doing.

Which moves nicely on to…

Having the right people in place is critical

This is possibly THE most important piece of advice I can give you, and if you don’t find them the first-time round, don’t give up – keep trying!  I went through four virtual assistants (VA’s) in two years and had all but given up until coming to the realisation, and a discussion with my coach, that it wasn’t a VA I needed, it was an executive assistant (EA)/business manager.

I needed someone that was exclusively working on my business and supporting me, and that’s what has made the difference.  So, if you’re struggling to fill a role, review if it’s really what you need, or is it something else?

Because once you have those people in place, it makes delegation so much easier, and the trust comes naturally.

And once you have this in place, it becomes easier to follow the next piece of advice:

Don’t BE the business

I’m not 100% there yet, but I am now passing on my knowledge and skills to my team so that all this information is not just sitting in my head anymore.  It’s a slow and steady process but I feel confident in letting go.  I can still be the FACE of the business; I just don’t have to be the business itself.

The money in the bank account?  Not mine.  Not anymore, it belongs to the business now.  The responsibility of paying the team?  Not mine, it’s the business.  Although I’m still working on letting go of the responsibility on that one…

Don’t undersell yourself/the business

I often forget to look at the value from the client-side, and the services that we provide.  We could save them months of time, if not years in some cases, plus drive profitability, and that’s not including the cost savings, yet we charge based on our time, rather than what the value to the client is.

I could quote the same piece of work to two different clients, one would accept and the other would reject it, so I’m learning to not take this personally anymore.  At the end of the day, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Cashflow is a b@tch

It’s getting slightly easier, but at the same time my overheads are so much greater I need to be pulling in bigger projects.  And if they don’t pay on time, it’s a nightmare.  Last year I had to threaten to publicly post about a client to get paid, it was a nightmare, but also an effective tactic and so I have since used it again as a last resort.  Unpaid invoices are sadly not uncommon.

You can put as many plans and buffers in place as you like but if several invoices are all late at the same time, you’re in a pickle.  Having a couple of months of money in the bank is a great idea and I’m working towards it but every time I put something away, I need to use it to cover something else.

Let’s just call it a work in progress…

Things still take a long time to come together

This never changes.  Your timeline is not your client’s timeline. It may be important for you to get that project, but it might be low on the list of priorities of your client – always keep working to build up your pipeline while balancing the fine line of not overloading yourself with too much work.

Most of our projects take months, rather than weeks to materialise.  This is tough when you have a small workload or cash flow issues, but as we’re growing it’s getting easier to manage.  And quite often there will be an unexpected project that pops up which always helps.  Being aware of this is the best preparation you can have.

There will still be meltdowns

This never goes away, regardless of what stage you’re at, it’s perfectly normal to question absolutely everything you are doing, feel overwhelmed, and both a success and a failure at the same time. Many times I have questioned if I was doing the right thing, should I just give it all up… but I would be miserable if I had to go and work for someone else – I’m pretty much unemployable.

You need a coach

I say this every year and as each year goes by, I am more thankful for having my coach.  She has helped me navigate new and tricky waters this year and has been invaluable.

I never believed in coaches until I met Vicki Connor (connorcoaching.co.uk)  – a straight-talking no-nonsense coach.  She’s developed my tone, language, thought process, helped me curb my limiting beliefs, and manage those meltdowns I just told you about.

She has undoubtedly helped me progress forward at a rate faster than I could have achieved alone, I cannot recommend getting one enough, but it has to be the right one for you.

Not everyone will be your cheerleader

As sad as it is, not everyone will celebrate your successes with you.  It can be for many different reasons, but it’s important to remember it’s not anything that you have done, you just keep being you, working hard, and being awesome.

Aim high

Aim higher than you think you could ever achieve and just go for it.  Say yes to as many opportunities as you can, and if you’ve never done something before, well just figure it out.  Because of this, I’m now a published author of “Between the Spreadsheets”, a TEDx speaker, and I’ve been listed as a DataIQ100 thought leader.

I’m growing my business in ways I never thought possible and speaking at events all over the world online and in person and getting paid for it.

Never in my wildest dreams…