Lessons of a Small Business Owner
Baby small business owner me circa 2016.
This September 4th will mark RAW Made’s 8th year in business. Actually, September 4th is an honorary date I chose to mark the brandversary because this wild person didn't think to write down the official date when I launched. And, so, this marks my first lesson learned since becoming a small business owner:
Sh*t gets real busy, real fast.
And not just with clients, if you are ever so lucky. There is SO much to do to even get your name out there. Keeping up with social media, blogging to keep up with SEO, updating your website with work, keeping track of your expenses, networking. 😮💨 What I've learned is to ask for help. You'd be surprised by the number of people who want to genuinely lend a hand. Also, find routines and tools to help you automate time-sucking tasks. And start prioritizing your life. What can you do without? Can you meal prep on Sundays for the week ahead? I know. It can all be so overwhelming. Fun, but overwhelming. Which leads me to lesson 2:
Your mind is your own worst enemy.
Right around that time when years have passed and all you've done is stay afloat or when you get more unfollows on Instagram than followers—your mind starts to play tricks on you. Self-doubt kicks in and pretty much takes over what little brain energy you have left after doing all those things I listed in the paragraph above. This is when I simply had to trust all that “small-business-owning-research” I had invested in that said fraudy feelings are excuses to not get the work done. Sit your *ss down and get the work done, because:
Done is better than perfect.
As a one-woman brand consulting and design studio, there is absolutely no time to waste on the unrealistic notion of perfection. It does not exist. Period. Even if something looks perfect today, I dare you to look at it in 2 months and not find something you would change. And this does not mean you should stop caring about doing things right. What I mean is to work smart and make mindful decisions that will allow you to get work done efficiently and promptly. For example, an Instagram post doesn't need to take 3 hours to design. Design templates ahead of time and plan your content in bulk. Does it create the perfect Instagram grid? No. But you're posting something on-brand and staying in the eyes of potential clients. And, oh, those infamous clients:
Sealing the deal is harder than it looks.
Sure I have a couple hundred followers on social media here and there. And my friends say I'm incredibly talented. But where are my paying clients?! It’s so hard to predict who will become a client. Some have come to me through referrals and others were looking for exactly what I had to offer (female business owners looking for branding help from a fellow female service provider who will understand their business). But I learned clients don't magically appear simply by posting on social media or having a pretty website. I didn't start getting any traction until I did the most fear-inducing thing I could think of—networking. In person. With other real people. It wasn't until I started getting my name and face out there that others started asking to work with me. Me!! Those people I had met many moons ago started following my journey and trusting in my abilities. And through the crazy algorithms of this small world, their friends and friends of their friends started to follow me. Until one perfect person, at the right time, with the right amount of money, said the magical words: “Yes, I would love to work with you.” And, I said:
What is it that I’m offering?
The lesson I've learned the most as a small business owner is that what I thought I wanted to offer—that makeshift business plan I'd poured hours into before I launched—is not exactly what I should offer. My price point was way off for my dream clients, my services made no sense for what my clients really needed from me, and my delivery system was confusing. And, what I thought I would enjoy doing the most is what I actually would be happy to delegate.
It’s been so exciting to be on this small-business-owning adventure. I'm perpetually half scared / half excited for lessons to come. So this is me, an emoji that I never know if it's half scared or half excited. 😬
Ready to be a small business owner who gets branding help?