5 things I wish I knew before I got into business. | Day 27 of HiveBloPoMo

I've been a solopreneur ("solo entrepreneur") for more than a decade. Technically I went into business 15 years ago when I got an Australian Business Number to do some tutoring of school children as a contractor, but I didn't really think of myself as a business owner until I joined a Network Marketing Company in 2010.

Now before you go running and screaming (if you hate MLM's that is!), I am no longer with that company (or the 3 others I worked with in the years that followed). But I did learn a lot from those early days with the biggest wins being the personal development aspects of this work (more so than the possible money that was always talked raved about).

I've had many different phases of my work as a soloentrepreneur. My "business" (a glorified job where I "work for myself") has changed shape many, many times over those 15 years. One thing is for sure, I'm much, much better at being in business than I was when I started!

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Looking back now here are the things I would tell myself at the start of this business journey that I simply did not know then:

1. It's going to be way harder than any job that you enjoy.

I added the last bit about "enjoying" the job, because I have had jobs I didn't like that were harder than my business has been. At least with my business I have always had some degree of control; if I don't like something I change it.

But back to the first part of this particular point: it's way harder than having a job. Why? Well, so many reasons but these three are probably the biggest.

1.a. The buck stops with me, so if something isn't working it's my fault. There's no one to blame, I'm the problem, so I have to fix it. (And be brave enough to admit that to myself).

1.b. I'm my own boss. That sounds great to anyone in a job they hate but most people suck at being the boss. They overwork (or underwork). They don't take holidays (or take too much time off). They can't reflect on what they're doing well without some kind of external reflection.

1.c. I've had to learn so many new skills (including things I don't have any interest in knowing how to do) because the business needs it done and there's no one else to do it.

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2. Being in business is a personal leadership course in disguise.

This might seem like a perk, and in some ways it is, but if you enter a business not realising that it's going to force you to grow as a human being and you haven't had any real experience of being forced to grow, it can be a rather large shock. All growth is change and all change is uncomfortable to some degree. You can't stay in your comfort zone and grow a business, the two ideas are mutually exclusive.

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3. No one is really going to be able to tell you how to do it.

People will try. In fact, there are billions of dollars spent on business coaching and consulting and courses and the like each year. Some of it is useful, but so much of it is, "Here's what I did. Do as I say and it will work for you," which, to be honest, is not great advice most of the time. Why? Because I am different to the next 100 business coaches that come along. I am not designed to just copy the 7 neat and tidy steps that coach turned into a high-end coaching program.

They're them and I'm me. And our businesses are a creative expression of who we are, therefore an authentic, sustainable business is going to be different from anything that has ever come before because you are different from anyone who has come before.

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4. There are new skills you are going to have to learn.

Now, I might seem to be contradicting myself here, but stay with me. Being your own boss and running any kind of business demands skills that you may never ever need to know in an entire lifetime as an employee. So once you've got your head around the idea that no one is quite like you and you shouldn't just be following the (overpaid) advice of other business coaches, you will need to pick up some new skills.

You'll have to acquire, somehow, some skills in these key areas:

• Marketing & sales
• Operations/organisation
• Customer service
• Finances
• Visioning and strategy direction, &
• Problem-solving

And if you're ever going to grow beyond a one-man band then you're going to need to learn about:

• Recruiting
• Managing, &
• Delegating

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5. For your business to be sustainable and enjoyable you need to create something you truly love doing.

So much of what I've seen talked about in business spaces over the years has shown me that there are two main groups of people. There are those who think business should just be about getting paid to do something you're good at. Others believe that if you do what you love the money will come.

If we want an enjoyable and sustainable business we probably need to find the middle ground. The best businesses I've seen in all my observations over time are run by people who know their strengths (i.e. What they're good at), they value themselves enough to get paid well and create a profitable business and they make sure that the business is focused on something they truly enjoy/matters to them.

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If you're new to the world of business or you're thinking about creating a product or service (not just accumulating cash on Hive, which is also awesome, but possibly different than what I'm talking about here) then here's how I want to wrap up the advice I've just given over the last 1,000 words:

Find a problem that you're inspired to solve.

Start learning the skills of being a business owner as soon as possible.

Play to your strengths & as soon as you can afford to, delegate your weaknesses.

Learn how to listen to your own innate wisdom.

And

Get really good at honest self-reflection.

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If you've been in business for any real length of time what do you think you would want to teach your past self about the journey ahead?