10 Learnings from 5 years running a Business

A couple of months ago my business, which I’ve grown from nothing, passed it’s 5 year birthday. A significant milestone, how did this happen and whoosh where did the time go! I’m not going to say it’s been easy, it hasn’t and it still isn’t. But I’m still here and I’m amazed at how far I have come!
When I worked in the corporate world we used to do an exercise called a ‘Learning Review’. What is a ‘Learning Review’, you might ask? It’s all about:

• Recording what worked, learning from it and repeating it in the future
• Recording what didn’t work so well, learning from it and NOT repeating it in the future

Learning Reviews are a great exercise to do for any changes you have made in your business. Stop, take a look at what happened, write down the good things, write down the bad things. What have you learned? Repeat what works, learn from what didn’t go so well and move on. 

​Here are my 10 learnings…

From my five years running my own business and I’m sharing them with you. Hope you find them useful…

1. Your business will evolve and so it should. Don’t expect to be doing the same things in year 5 that you was doing in year 1. I’m not.
2. It all takes time and a lot longer than you think. If anybody says establishing and growing a business is quick, then they are lying!
3. Having ups and downs and feeling like you are on a rollercoaster is normal. I wrote a whole blog on this topic: https://bit.ly/2NWyAur
4. As you get more established and busy you realise that your time is best spent doing the thing you love (your business) and outsourcing the things you don’t love.
5. Getting recommendations and reviews makes your day and you’ll do a happy dance!
6. Finding your Super Customers and working with the right people who ‘get it’, is the best feeling in the world.
7. Look after your existing customers/clients treat them special and go the extra mile because they are worth it.
8. I’m not saying this because I am one but get yourself a business coach/mentor. Or somebody you can talk to who knows about business. The return on investment and the time it will save you, will be well worth it.
9. The more you work for yourself, the more you don’t want to work for anybody else!
10. Being your own boss, its still the best thing ever.

What did you think of my learnings? I hope you take them and use them in your own business. If you have any comments or anything to add, get in touch.
Here’s to the next 5 years, onwards and upwards!

I’m always looking for female business owners who have a ‘good’ business but want to turn it into a ‘great’ business. If this is you, get in touch. I can definitely get you there!