4 truths about being a small business owner + tips for success

The truth about being a small business owner

4 truths about being a small business owner

I’ve been a small business owner for 5 years now and when I tell people what I do, people love to hear our story of how we got started and how we run our business. I get a lot of “That must be so fun!” Which it is, no lie. I love what I do and have had a lot of fun this whole time.  However, we never really get to the part about how HARD it is to run a business, especially a small business as most of the time, the owner/founder is not just creating products, we are also doing the marketing, social media, inventory management and so much more.  My sister and I do have a team that helps us run parts of the business but I also have plenty of friends that just do it all themselves which I think is amazing and so incredibly hard.  I’ve been wanting to share more about my business and also help out other small business owners so I thought it would be a great time to start with just what it really entails to be a small business owner and the 4 things that I’ve found to be the hardest part of being an entrepreneur.

Flexible Schedule:

My most common thing that I hear is “You can work from home AND manage your schedule, that’s a dream!” I do have to agree that it is awesome that I can have a flexible schedule and that if my daughter is sick, I can keep her home from school and take care of her myself.  Or I can have coffee dates with my friends during the day (this doesn’t happen that often) or if I need to go to the grocery store in the middle of the day, I can.  So yes, I love that about my schedule, but the reality is, is that I also work ALL THE TIME.  So even though I might not be sitting down at my office for 8 hours like you do at a regular office, if you accumulate all the hours in a day that I’m working it’s more than 12 hours a day every day.  When you own your business and work from home, it literally never leaves you, mentally or physically. I am always thinking about my business and my laptop or phone is always nearby.  My sister and I text or call multiple times a day and sometimes we text just to gossip or talk about personal stuff but the majority of the time, it’s about our business so it literally is always there.  I’m not complaining as I’ve come to accept it as part of my life and I tell people that I don’t have a “work-life balance” I just have “life” it’s all one thing for me and I’m OK with that.

TIP FOR SUCCESS: Stick to a schedule and allocate times for yourself where you don’t look at your phone/computer.  It’s just way too easy these days to get immersed in emails and all that when we always have our phones on us.  Being strict with yourself about the times you can check your emails and social media (relating to your business) will not only save your sanity but also make the actual time you allow for your “work time” to be efficient. In the past year, I’ve been much better about managing my schedule and allowing myself to have times where I don’t even pick up my phone and honestly, it’s changed me.  I’ve found not only does it end up being better for my business and my family, but my stress levels as well.

The truth about being a small business owner
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Working From Home:

If you’ve never worked from home before, it does sound like an ideal situation.  You don’t have to get all dressed up, you don’t have to sit in traffic, you never have to worry forgetting your lunch… Of course all those are pluses and I agree it’s pretty great.  On the other side though, for me it was hard to separate “home” from “work” in a physical sense.  So I would go to make myself lunch and end up seeing all the dirty dishes in the sink and spend the next hour cleaning the kitchen and then realize how much time I just spent doing that when I should be working!  It gets so distracting to not want to do those things while you are at home.

TIP FOR SUCCESS: Make a space in your home dedicated to your business only.  It doesn’t even have to be an entire room, even if it’s just a corner, it’s important that you have that space.  Also, decorate it so that you actually enjoy working in there! Pack yourself a lunch so that when it’s lunch time you’re not spending a lot of time prepping it (and accidentally cleaning the kitchen too!) and just grab it out of the fridge, heat it up and enjoy!  And another thing, give yourself an actual lunch break! It’s easy to work while eating but you really do need that mental break during the day.  Music is also a big thing for me.  Since I’m at home by myself, it drives me crazy to work in silence so we have a Amazon Dot in every room and we also subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited which is awesome as I always have music to listen to! If you don’t have it yet, try Amazon Music Unlimited and get a 30-Day Free Trial

Home Office Inspiration
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Growing your business:

The first year is sometimes all what people think about, because there’s so much to do that first year from the idea, to putting it all together to the launch of the business.  It’s all so exciting and keeps you so busy. The 2nd year is still about growth as you are still fairly new and getting your name out.  The 3rd and 4th year are a lot harder to continue and maintain the growth of the business and is something that we rarely hear about.  For us, our growth was so rapid and in our 2nd year of business, we hit a million dollars in sales.  I never thought that we’d be able to do that so fast and it was so exciting but to tell you the truth, it hit us hard our next year knowing that we had to try to maintain that level of growth.  I don’t think my sister and I, and our team, worked harder than that 3rd year of our business.  It was incredibly difficult and stressful trying to keep up with that kind of growth.  Obviously, we managed to get through it as here we are in our 5th year of business but the 3rd and 4th year is pretty common to hear of when business owners really start to struggle to keep up with growing their business.

TIP FOR SUCCESS: Always be learning.  Especially in this online world that we live in where things change seemingly on a weekly basis.  It’s been quite some time since Instagram changed their algorithm from chronological yet I can’t escape the amount of people that continually complain about it.  I’ve never been one to complain about something that I can’t control.  Instead take all that energy into learning just how to make that change work for me.  I have immersed myself in reading blogs, ebooks and taking courses from experts in small businesses, social media, facebook ads, etc.. and every bit of that goes into how I run my business and the changes that we make to adapt to the environment.

Hiring team members:

When it comes to growing your business, hiring a team should be on the top of your list.  It is essential because you alone, can not do everything. The more you grow, the more work there is so you’ll want to start putting together a team of people that can help you do the things that you don’t necessarily have to take care of.  My sister and I always knew that there are certain things that only she and I can do and that we needed to use our time to grow our business and things like packing orders and customer service were best delegated to team members that could manage it.  We still oversee everything but the we’re not actually working on those things until an issue is brought up that needs one of us to manage it.  Hiring a team sounds great but in reality finding the perfect team members is much harder than you would think.

TIP FOR SUCCESS: Be clear with yourself the kind of person that you are looking for in your business and the position you are hiring for.  Once you start to interview you will find yourself thinking that each candidate seems great and that they will do a great job.  I can say that I’ve hired quite a few stellar people for our team and a few that have ended up being the worst match for our business.  Interviews don’t really give you the whole picture as some people are just really good at selling themselves but when it comes to actually working, well the effort isn’t exactly there.  Make a checklist of who your ideal employee would be for that employee and try to ask questions to gauge that they will fit those characteristics. Of course not many will fit every single thing you are looking for but as long as you have a general idea, that is what will help you narrow it down.

If you don’t have the need for a full time employee or looking for a virtual assistant, upwork and fiverr is a great place to find people that are experts in things like social media, SEO, facebook ads and a ton more!  It’s great for those things that you have no idea where to even start but also don’t have the time to learn it all.

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I hope some of my experience being a small business owner can help those of you who are just starting out or those of you who are looking to grow your business.  It’s not easy being an entrepreneur and I believe in community and always helping out others who are in the same boat.  I’m always happy to answer any questions you may have about running or growing your business.

Learn more on my tips on being an entrepreneur and making money online.

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  • Lisa
    September 21, 2017 at 12:45 am

    This was such a detailed and helpful post! It makes me want to support small business owners even more! Amazing job on your growth in the second year! Here’s to many more 🙂

    Lisa
    http://www.theeverydayelevated.com