A few weeks ago, as Sweet Comms celebrated its 10th birthday, I promised to share some suggestions for anyone else thinking about starting their own business.
Some are more serious than others!
1. Start
before you start – LinkedIn gives you the chance to find and re-connect
with people who might otherwise be long lost to you. Time spent building your
network will never be wasted.
2. Decide
on your ideal day – I’ve blogged
on this before, but when I was thinking of starting Sweet Comms, someone
asked me a deceptively powerful question: “What is your ideal day?”. This really
helped me articulate what I wanted us to focus on.
3. Love
coffee – or tea, or whatever your poison may be. I have been a significant
contributor to the coffee industry since I started this business, meeting a
wide range of people in-person or virtually, always with coffee cup in hand. I
have loved those interactions and they have been really important to the
business.
4. Be yourself – LinkedIn is full of
people crowing about drinking power shakes at 2 a.m. or the workouts they completed
while I was still snoring. Running a business is intense and exhilarating, but
you don’t need to be something you’re not. Ignore the noise.
5. Focus
on what matters – I’m not an entrepreneur and never will be. My colleagues
and I stick to what we are good at through the support we give our treasured
clients. Don’t spread
yourself too thinly or in too many directions, you could lose clarity and
focus.
6. Involve
others – I’m grateful for a lot of support, not only from clients and
colleagues but also from partners and people from my network who have popped up
with words of advice or encouragement. Don’t be afraid to ask, if only for a
second opinion.
7. Get
the right tech – you can waste a LOT of time and money on technology. And
unless you’re clear on what you need, potential suppliers of new tools or platforms
may never leave you alone. Explore and obtain the right things for you, not the
latest shiny new toy.
8. Carve time for learning – clients are
of course your main focus, but don’t neglect yourself. Early on, I realised
that being ’head down’ on work all the time meant I missed opportunities to
learn new things and connect with peers.
9. Spend
money on a decent shredder – anything else is a false economy!
10. Learn
to count – something I failed to do for this post.
There is loads more
I could say, but I’ll stop at 10 (ok, nine). If you’re considering taking a
similar path, I hope at least some of this is helpful.
