5 things I no longer believe about running my own business

I’ve been doing “this” for a while now.

The format of whatever “this” is has changed a bit over the years.

Over 10 years ago my (now ex) husband and I started an online store selling war gaming miniatures and running big face to face events.

9 years ago I started training for my Certificate IV in life coaching. I combined this with my day job experience of managing a team and building training, and started my own coaching business.

And over the years, that coaching morphed into support business owners, supporting their business growth, and then showing them how to build training… eventually opening (and then closing) our own Registered Training Organisation.

Needless to say, lots has changed over the years.

And in that time, I’ve learnt a hell of a lot about running a business… so here are 5 things I no longer believe.

1. That I need to have a long term plan

Sure – a short term plan and some sort of direction is a good thing.
But I don’t have a long term plan anymore (no 5 year plan or 10 year plan here) simply because I’ve seen so much change.
Since starting my first business I’ve had kid 2 , been divorced, got married again, …. had another kid 3 8years later, pregnant with kid 4… You get the picture.

And because my life has changed so much, what I want to do in my business and how I want to run it has changed a lot too.
So while I set short term goals, and plans for the next year or 2, I’m flexible beyond that… because I know that everything could (and probably will) change again.

2. That I need to have all the answers

In fact… I never have all the answers.
Every day in business seems to be a learning curve. I come across problems and issues that I’ve never had before and have to find solutions.
Or often, come across a problem that I have had before only to find that the old solution doesn’t work and I need a new plan of attack.

3. That I need to have all my ducks in a row

I never have that feeling of “having it all together” and I always feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants.
I know now, that if I waited until I felt like I was ready (for any of our business models) then I would never have started.

I don’t think there is ever a “ready” honestly. You’ll always be able to convince yourself that you need to learn more, save more, prep more… so start before you feel ready, don’t wait to have all your ducks in a row (however… a rough plan and some savings always helps)

4. That I can just outsource finances

For a long time, I would just let other people handle the business finances. My husband, an accountant… anyone but me. I normally knew roughly what we were invoicing, because I generated all the sales, but I didn’t know the specific ins and outs.

But hiding from the finances doesn’t solve anything.
You might not want to do your own books, and that’s fine… but you need to understand whats going on.
A clear understanding of what is coming in, and what is going out (your expenses) will help you to stay profitable. You might find reviewing your expenses surprising, especially when you realise just how many monthly subscription programs and software packages are you using.

5. That there is a “right” way

In the early years, I spent a lot of time looking for the “right” way to do things. Or thinking that I needed to know more information about things.

I downloaded countless freebies on just about every subject, I signed up for Webinars, I read blogs… and while some of the content was useful, most of it was just overwhelming. Everyone was telling me I had to do “all these things” to have a successful business.

And the list of things to-do seemed to grow all the time. Run webinars, write a book, have a welcome sequence, run ads, run live workshops, build courses, run high end programs, run expensive retreats, up sell from the stage… etc, etc, etc. Phew!

Honestly, now, I just ignore most of those things, and focus on doing just a few things that work for me.

Sure, I could make improvements to my marketing, my systems, my copy… and there are lots of things that I want to do eventually.

But I’ve accepted that I will never be able to do everything that everyone else thinks is the right thing to do to have a successful business, and instead I simply focus on the next things that I WANT to do.

What have you learnt from running your own business?

What lessons have you picked up along the way?

Drop a message in the comments below and let me know 🙂 I’d love to hear from you.