- You’re going to suck at whatever it is your doing in the beginning. That’s ok. I knew I wasn’t going to be great right out of the gate but I can’t tell you how many tears were shed over the slightest imperfections in the beginning. Looking back, they were such big learning lessons! If I had just slowed down, been ok with “sucking” and learned what I could from my mistakes rather than getting hung up on them, I would have moved on so much faster. I still struggle with not taking myself too seriously but I have learned the faster I get over myself and my mistakes the faster I move on. Failure is part of the process and my end goal should be to fail as much, as hard and as often as I can on my way to achieving my goals because that’s when the real lessons are learned and where the majority of my growth has come from.
- Not everyone is going to support you. Do it anyway and celebrate with the ones that do. I have one of the absolute MOST supportive groups of friends and family surrounding me. My supportive circle has somewhat been a point of pride for me and I’m naturally someone who is used to cheering others on. So when certain people in my life didn’t pick up their pom poms about my business, it came as a bit of a shock. For whatever reason, I got stuck on the one or two people who just seemed not to care or if they did care, it was only long enough to be critical of what I was trying to do. I actually had a “friend” straight up pretend like my business didn’t even exist and to be honest, it ate away at me for a while. I feel so guilty looking back at how much I focused on a handful of those negative people instead of looking around and seeing all of the amazing love and support I really did have. In the end, regardless of who cheered me on or not, I was determined to win anyway and I reminded myself of that every day. If you’re truly trying to do something for yourself, it doesn’t matter what others think anyway.
- It’s going to take a lot more than you think it will. Do you think it will take a lot of time, money and activity to start your business? It’s probably safe to double if not triple whatever expectations you have. Sure, you can start a little side hustle with a few “extra hours” in your week. But pretty much anyone who succeeds at the highest level in what they do will tell you it will take a lot more than you ever imagined. With all of the “hustle” culture that seen on social media, I think it’s easy to get a false idea of the reality it takes to actually make things happen. Businesses, specifically successful ones, don’t happen casually. Give yourself permission to get fanatical and be ok with being unbalanced for a little while.
- Staying consistent with your business is HARD. Forming new habits HARD. Doing the unknown and figuring out all on your own is HARD. That’s ok. Get “ok” with things being a little rocky. Just because you missed a day doesn’t mean it’s ok to miss a week. Get a schedule and stick to it. When you fall off dust yourself off and start again – just don’t stop starting!
- The biggest (and most important) thing I’ve learned from starting a business is that I am capable of much more than I give myself credit for. My business looks completely different from the idea I had in my head when I first started. I also feel like I’m not the same person I was at the beginning of my small business journey. When you venture out on your own to start a business, you build an endurance that you only grow into after you fail, fail big and fail big a LOT. This whole entrepreneur thing requires a lot of grit. You either have grit going it to it, grow it through the process or quit. It’s been an amazing growing experience so far (and I’ve by no means “made it”) but I’m so excited to see what all this journey has in store for me and most importantly, I’m excited to see how I’ve grown as a person on the other side of it all.
Feel free to check out my business at theluckylemonco.com or find me on instagram at @theluckylemonco.
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