Secrets for Young Entrepreneurs
5 Tips I Wish I Would’ve Known Earlier When I Was Starting a Business
Do you want to start your own business and don’t know where to begin? Do you know how to prepare for the pitfalls before they happen?
I’m going to tell you five secrets and tips I wish I would’ve known when I started my very first business.
Practice self-care
The first tip I wish I would’ve known earlier when I was starting a business is to practice self-care.
Every business I’ve started until now, I’ve done while working a full-time job. When you have an entrepreneurial mindset, and you’re in an entrepreneurial grind, you have a ‘go go go go’ mentality, especially when you have a great idea.
When you have a great idea and your juices are flowing, you want to get it out, you want to get it going, get it on paper, get it producing, and be productive. You want to make money from it. These actions sometimes take away from your self-care.
For example, last week I was so busy trying to get some products done and get things started and get my website going. Even though I have much help, I have a team, I’m still doing a lot of it by myself.
My husband has been going to the gym consistently, and normally I’m an avid person about making changes, especially working out. But there were a few days last week when I didn’t make it a priority and my husband called me out on it and noticed I had missed a second day in the gym.
Sometimes you have to remind yourself daily that you need to take care of yourself and take care of your health.
Health is wealth.
You have to take care of yourself. You have to take your mental breaks. You have to go and do things with your kids. You have to go places with your friends and be social.
I live in a great city, in Cairo, Egypt, and there are just thousands of things to see. I need to make sure that I’m getting out and living my best life. You need to make sure you’re doing the same as well.
Do what you know and understand
The second tip I wish I’ve known earlier when I was starting a business was to do what you know and understand.
It does not have to be what you love, I think I’ve known that from the very beginning.
Most people will say to do what you love. You do what you love, and while you’re doing what you love, you can make money doing it.
Sometimes we’ve gone down the road where we need to do what we know. Many of us have degrees or spent time in an industry that we know very well, and it may not be what we love. It’s just something we know well, and that’s okay. You can do that thing and make money from it.
You can find aspects of it that you enjoy and avoid the elements that you don’t enjoy. Still, you will make the most benefit from the thing that you know well and find a way to enjoy doing it.
People want to hear what experts have to say. They don’t want to listen to what the hobbyists and novices have to say about something. So unless you can spin it to where it sounds like you know a lot about it, you need to do what you know, and then find a way to love aspects of that.
Once you’ve made it doing the things you know, then you can start doing what you love and hope that brings in the same income.
Learn to say no
The third tip I wish I would’ve known earlier when I was starting a business was to learn to say no.
Every opportunity is not a good opportunity. Every opportunity is not suitable for you.
You don’t have to stretch yourself. You don’t have to turn and look at every shiny thing that passes. That’s why it’s essential to set that plan that I have talked about, your business plan, your business strategy, so that you’ll know not to detract from that.
People will ask of you while you’re grinding it out. It may seem like a good idea to go after it, but it may not be. Learn to say no.
No is a complete sentence. You don’t have to explain it. You don’t have to clarify it. Just say no, and keep it moving, and when you are ready, do that thing in no time.
Believe your own hype
The fourth tip I wish I would’ve known earlier when I was starting a business was to believe your own hype.
It would be best if you hyped yourself up for people to believe you know what you’re talking about. You can talk about it all day long, you can let go by doing it, you can say it, but you also have to believe it.
If you don’t believe in yourself, believe in what you’re selling. Believe in your strategies that you’ve given. How the heck is somebody else going to believe in it if you don’t?
You know that impostor syndrome is real. It’s something that we talk a lot about. We talk about it in our circles, in our entrepreneurial circles, and wonder why someone would buy from me? Why would they buy my thing? Why would they listen to me?
The answer is, you probably know more about it than they do, and that’s the main qualifier. Do you know more about something than someone else does? Do you believe in yourself enough to sell that? If those two things are true, believe in your own hype.
You don’t need to lie. You are pretty freaking amazing already. You are fabulous. You are fantastic. You can reach exponential greatness if you just believe in yourself.
Believe in yourself, and others will believe in you.
Know when to get out
The fifth and final tip that I will give you that I wish I’ve known earlier when I was starting a business was to know when to get out.
Nothing good lasts forever. Nothing bad lasts forever. Nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant.
When the business venture, the business partnership, the business idea, the business avenue, is ready to be finished, let it go.
Businesses ebb and flow. They fluctuate. They open, they close. They innovate. They go all online. They move out of the country, then we never see it again. It’s okay.
It would be best if you had an exit strategy for your business so you can have an exit strategy to get out of the traditional 9 to 5.
When it’s time to end it, end it and move on to something else.
When it’s not working, cut the fat, change it up, do something else. It’s okay. Don’t get stuck thinking that this one thing has to last forever because it doesn’t.
I’ve given you the secrets I have for young entrepreneurs. These five tips that I wish I knew when I started my first business. I wanted to share this with you so you can prepare for the pitfalls and not make the same mistakes I did. I too often look back on this list to make sure that I’m not making the same mistakes I made early on, and to make room for the new mistakes.
Invest in yourself just 1% a day, reach your exponential greatness, and have phenomenal results at the end of the year.