9 things that helped me in the first years of my business
Posted on September 22, 2023 by Janet (Zsanett) Czifrus, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
Getting started with your own business and becoming an entrepreneur can be a rollercoaster. Here are nine things that may make it easier for you.
1. Choose wisely who you work with
Respect yourself and others too to that extent that you don’t work with people who are not a good fit. On the long run it won’t help your business’ growth. If you work with people whom you or your services are not a great fit, they won’t be satisfied with what they get. Also – from my own experience – it’ll be draining to go through the process if you’re not enjoying working with the person or are not excited about the project. It might be good on the short term, but the overall balance will be most likely negative. If you can’t decide about a potential opportunity, listen to your gut: what does it say? How do you feel yourself when thinking about saying yes to it? Do you want that person’s photo be among your testimonials? Would you be proud of sharing about this project later?
*Same questions apply when choosing a coach or mentor!
2. Create peace of mind for your business
Stop being needy. Being needy means that you are desperate to have clients – basically anyone. You just want to get paid. Unfortunately it’s counterproductive, the other side can sense it quickly and they rather escape than decide to work with you.
It’s OK to have alternative income sources and give yourself peace of mind while you build up a consistent income. If you’re a coach, working for coaching platforms, taking on company assignments or freelance projects can be a source of alternative income. They can support your vision, and you can practice your chosen profession that actually feels energizing. Energy is really needed when you’re an entrepreneur.
3. Raise your energy
Let’s talk about energy while we’re here. People buy from people and people buy from people whose energy is matching with theirs. We want to feel better, be more successful, become richer and so on. We buy services that will give us these things and fulfil these needs. More importantly we buy these promises from people who radiate that they have these and can also give us more of these! Once I went into a bag shop in Berlin where the owner produced hand-made Italian bags. The bags were beautiful but he was miserable. I only spent about ten minutes there and he was complaining about his ex-wife, about the weather and about his customers (!) while I was looking around. Nonetheless to say, I left without buying anything even though I loved the bags! On the contrary, there is a coach whose energy is so energizing that I am almost willing to buy any of his new courses regardless of the topics – simply because I know that after each session I’ll leave with a full tank and a ton of inspiration!
Money is also energy and it always follows good feelings. When you do something that you enjoy and work people who you like working with, the chance that money will follow is also a lot higher!
If your business needs a boost, raise your own energy first! You can also think about what raises your business’ energy?
4. It’s a journey
When getting started with my first business initiative, I had a full time job and I negotiated a 3-weeks off-work period to organize my first retreat. I also had fixed days when I left earlier to do my mindfulness workshops and yoga classes.
When I started to build up my coaching practice and parallel I did my studies and a certification process, I worked 80% (that was more like 120%, as being a Head of a company is quite a challenging role done in part-time, but that’s another story and I learned a lot about setting boundaries!). I experimented with different setups like working 4 full days, working 5 shorter days and having my afternoons and evenings for coaching or starting my days with coaching, get things done for my business first and then join the hustle.
It’s a journey and taking your transition gradually is absolutely OK. It can be a great first step to reduce your hours or initiate a different schedule that supports better your business’ current state.
5. Respect the current state of your business
It takes time to build up a business. This is also the natural course: it’s like you’re having a baby and you want it to walk, speak and get a high-paying job when they’re still two years old. Respect and enjoy the current state and adjust your expectations accordingly.
What is natural in that state of the business where you are? Is your business a baby, a toddler, a teenager or an adult?
6. Reframe failing
There were periods when I neither had alternative income sources, nor I had a consistent income from my business yet – that was stressful and created anxiety for me that negatively affected my business’ growth. I resisted doing anything else because I thought I’d be a ‘failed’ entrepreneur.
I needed to reframe what failing means. Taking care of your wellbeing, your own and your family’s needs are not failure, they are responsible acts. When I posted openly about looking for project works, I got comments asking ‘Oh, I see coaching isn’t really working for you?’. There will always be people who will think that not having a linear path, asking for help or making adjustments mean that you fail. They are also the people who will never be an entrepreneur or if they try, they’d quit at the first hardship. Don’t be one of them. Reframe what failing means and keep on going.
8. Keep on going
Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean that you’re not making detours or don’t face challenges. The questions is how you interpret them: as a sign of failure and time to quit or an invitation to review what needs to be changed and get creative? You may ask, but how long can I last or how long should I go on when I see that it’s not working (as I thought it will)? Ask instead: What works and what doesn’t work? What do I need to do more of and what less of? How can I pivot? What do I need to do to be able to continue?
You might not see direct results in the first couple of months. Then it will change and you’ll start feeling it more rewarding. There will be harder months when you question yourself. Pivot and choose another target audience, make adjustments in how you work, sign up for a co-working membership instead of wfh, ask for help, join a community, create a mastermind, go on a vacation and get some new perspectives, take on a contract assignment to get more financial security, volunteer and feel good about it, mentor those who’re earlier on your journey, do more sports or set smaller goals that you can reach easily and keep on going!
9. Cultivate faith
Do your best and let God do the rest! (or a higher power, depending on what you believe in.) Faith is something that is of great help here. Faith in your vision that might not be tangible or visible yet, but if you work towards it consistently, it will become true. In other words: it is already true, and act in a way if it was already the reality, create certainty in yourself that it is. How will your actions be different if your vision is already true?
