Reflection | Cheers to Year One
In September of 2023, I made a commitment to myself. Before I turned 33 at the end of the month, I would turn my part-time consulting business into my full-time job. I knew that creativity begets creativity and, instead of expanding on my own ideas, I was using all of my talent and energy to build out someone else’s big dream. My birthday, my deadline to make this change, was September 29th. I quit my job on September 15, 2023.
Now, a full year later, when people ask me how my first year has gone I always take a minute to pull a smile on my face and tell them that, while it’s been rough at times, I’ve learned a lot and I feel all the more capable to excel in the years to come.
In truth, some days I’m still convincing myself to believe that.
Entrepreneurship, in the beginning, is the fight of a lifetime! There is so much to learn and unlearn. The mindset shift it requires is nuts - you have to wrench yourself out of the learned perception of what you should be doing and what work should look like and find the courage and ingenuity to set a new path forward.
In my first year of business I’ve learned a lot of lessons, but these have been the most important:
Center your growth strategy around what you do best. The rest will fall into place.
The first few months of business I was so excited to set a launch day, create a logo and a website, print business cards, and purchase business management software. I thought of my business as a house and I wanted to present the world with a beautiful mansion. What I neglected to remember, was that it doesn’t matter how pretty the outside of the house is if the inside is empty.
I was so caught up in the tools I thought I needed in order to build the look of the business that I didn’t prioritize the substance of the business.
This is the best way to kill your business before it takes it’s first breath.
The lesson I learned, was that while infrastructure is important, nothing is more important that the quality of the actual work that you do. It would be better for your business to be a shack with a phenomenal reputation for amazing work, than a mansion with nothing in it. To this day, I get most of my clients through word of mouth based on my work - not my website.
The most efficient way to run a business is to build a team and maximize everyone’s strengths.
I am currently a one person business, meaning I hold 100% responsibility for every single facet of my company. Back when I was hyper-focused on building the infrastructure, I was also trying to do everything myself and facing a huge learning curve with every project.
For example, I do not have a background in graphic design. So when I was trying to create content for my social media it took me literal days to design a single post. And it was raggedy. I learned quickly that there are experts in these fields for a reason and a lot of these task are best done by a professional if I want my business to maintain a certain standard.
At the time, hiring marketing support was not in my budget. So I looked at my own strengths and I traded them. I found someone that was willing to design some social media templates for me in exchange for me creating copy for their website.
At this point in my business, hiring support will absolutely become part of my FY25 budget, because I recognize that I need a team. In the meantime, I’m finding creative ways to accomplish my goals.
Reputation is built on trust - once you lose it, it’s near impossible to regain.
A traveler meets a man named Joe at a bar. Joe is deep in his drinks, furious at life and grumbling. He’s been the best bridge builder in his town for twenty years. He turns to the traveler and rages, “You can build a hundred bridges, and no one will ever call you a bridge builder. But you f++k one goat, and you're a goat f++ker for the rest of your life!”
I tell this story because it’s a reminder that your reputation is a fickle thing that can easily be damaged with just a few interactions. Mid-way through my first year, there was a three month span where an external element took my focus and energy away from being consistent with my business. I wasn’t able to balance and I lost a lucrative contract.
Losing the contract was bad enough, but having someone out there that believed my work was below par was worse. I’ve worked to earn that trust back now that the external element has dissipated, but it is an uphill battle to regain the footing I’ve lost.
Warren Buffett once said, “Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.” and now I fully understand his meaning. It’s a lesson I’m glad I learned early.
Remember life is cyclical - you are guaranteed to have highs and lows, so plan accordingly.
One of my favorite poems, IF by Rudyard Kipling, has a line that says, “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same.” This line always speaks to me because it reminds me not to put too much weight on triumph, disaster, success, or set-backs. All of those things are subjective, and the consistent truth underlying each of these moments is that you are building a business, and this endeavor comes with all kinds of seasons.
When things are good - don’t get comfortable. Use that opportunity to prepare for any upcoming challenges, because they will come. When things are bad - don’t get discouraged. Use it as an opportunity to learn and adjust for when things start to get better, because that day will come too.
There were plenty of times this first year, when I kicked myself for not using my good periods to prepare for the challenges that came. And there were plenty of times when I honored myself for planting so many seeds: connecting with leads, attending events, and jumpstarting ideas, even when I wasn’t feeling confident - because those seeds grew and I was able to reap a harvest for my business.
Bet on yourself.
My first week as a waitress at Chilis in 2012, I remember standing at the ice machine in the back of house, waiting for an order, and letting my mind speed through everything I needed to do to have a successful shift. A disruptive thought shot through my mind saying, “this is hard”. I shrugged it off because, okay - and? Yes it was hard but that’s never been a justifiable reason to quit. So I grabbed my tray of food and hollered “corner!” as I headed back out to the floor.
That moment has turned into a core memory for me, because it always serves to remind me that:
Everything is hard at the beginning, but I’ve mastered hard things time and time again (I was a top earner at Chilis, okayyyy), and
We choose our hard. In this case, the first year of running my own business is difficult, yes, but so is working for someone else. So is not working at all and being broke.
Entrepreneurship is not the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s simply the hardest thing I’ve done for myself.
So yes there will always be a risk to betting on yourself, but the idea that working for someone else is a safer option isn’t true either. I’ve seen exceptionally talented people with years of experience laid off, people going to and leaving their job feeling frustrated and trapped because of the toxic company culture, and others feeling suffocated because their passions don’t align with their roles. A month ago, I found out that neither of my former bosses work at my old job anymore, meaning that within the year that I left there were some pretty drastic changes that would have impacted my day to day. Instead, I am in complete control of how far I take my work.
I am now 12 months into being a full-time business owner. My business started as a sole-proprietorship in 2019 and evolved into an LLC in 2023. When people ask me how it’s going, I think they instinctively expect me to give them a story full of sunshine and rainbows as I gush about all of my success. But I could never be that inauthentic.
Building a business is hard but I’m learning a lot, and honestly, I’ve done harder things in my life. And so have you. Don’t ever forget to take a step back and put things into perspective. Learn what you need to learn. Find inspiration. Listen to mentors. Pivot and adjust. Whatever ideas you have, big or small, give them a try. Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.
Lift your chin. Set your shoulders. Plant your feet.
You got this. WE got this.
- Morgan
