5 Things I Have Learnt Since Starting A Business

Over the last three years since starting See See, I have been continuously learning on the go. Every day is a learning day, as cliche as that sounds, it’s so true, and it’s important to not be so hard on yourself if something goes wrong.

Here are five things I have learnt, and I hope some of these will help you too. I don’t mean this to be a negative blog post, just a post that tells the truth about some things you may encounter when running your own business.

Don’t Be Afraid To Be Selective.

When I first started, I thought I had to work with everyone who came through my email inbox or DMs. I put this down to the fear of being newly self-employed and worrying about money. I thought I had to sign up every single enquiry, and this is the wrong approach to take. Not every client is going to be a perfect match with your business, and this is important to remind yourself. Don’t be afraid to tell anyone that you think they may be better off with someone else or using another service. Now, don’t just leave them high and dry, recommend some other service providers or different routes for them to check out.

I highly recommend having a consultation with any potential clients and checking out to see if you will be a good match. You will be grateful down the line rather than running into bumps on the road.

Take Deposits

If you are starting work on a big project, take a deposit and don’t lift a finger until you receive it. Unfortunately, I have learnt this lesson the hard way. Sometimes you want to believe in the good of people, but there are people out there who will take advantage of you. Ninety-nine per cent of people are happy to give a deposit as it secures your services but also gives them the confidence that you will complete the work.

Contracts

The last point leads to this point. You may want to look at getting legal contracts set up so that if a sticky situation comes up, you are covered.

Again, I learnt this the hard way. I had a situation where someone had agreed to start work, I didn't take a deposit or have a contract signed, and even though I had completed the job, they didn't pay and then somehow disappeared off the face of the earth.

In this situation, I would have found it hard to get the money if the matter turned in to a legal one. Whereas if a contract had been signed at the start of the job, as it is a legally binding document and I would have had more of a chance of being successful at claiming compensation for the work that I had completed. Again, as I said at the start, I am always learning from my business and different situations that arise. I felt stupid in this case for not doing the above steps, but I have learnt from it. Remember, if something bad happens, learn from it, dust yourself down and move on.

Set Boundaries

Ok, this one is a big one. Do not be scared to set boundaries with clients or potential leads.

Sometimes when potential leads reach out and ask for some help or advice, I tend to want to help people out as much as I can and sometimes give away so much information that I am borderline doing work I should be getting paid for. In these situations you need to speak up and say, if you want any more help with this issue, book in for a consultation call for x amount and I can help you even further. Value your time and knowledge.

With clients, there have been times where I’ve received a message on the weekend and been expected to sort an issue out there and then.

Being self-employed, it is sometimes hard to switch off so you can forget yourself and tend to sort this out straight away. Don’t. You need to make sure you can have days off too, so you don’t burn yourself out.

Don't be afraid to message a client and say thanks for messaging, I'll take a look at this on Monday. I've been guilty of it in the past myself. Sometimes you can easily forget yourself and message someone at a ridiculous time. This is why setting the boundaries are important, so everyone knows what's acceptable and what's not.

There Will Be Days of Doubt

There's been so many times where I have hated the work I have been producing, and have given myself a hard time. Sometimes I feel like I am not good enough to be doing particular jobs and then compare myself to other companies or people doing similar work and then feel absolutely shit. This then leads on to doubt if I am doing what I want to be doing.

I am 99% sure self-employed people go through this at least once a month. These darker times of self-employment will be there, but it is so important to remind yourself that it’s not as bad as you are making it out to be. People are coming to you for this work and putting trust in you to help them, and this should be your reminder that you are good enough. Those days of doubt will be there, I think they are there in every job but they will pass. Surround yourself with other self-employed people and have a rant with them sometimes, you’ll be surprised how many of them feel the same.

Keep going, you are enough, your doubt will lift, and then you have to believe in yourself.