When I first started my business I had no idea what I was doing. I hadn’t taken any courses on starting a business although I had the qualifications for what I want to do with my clients at that time.
I thought that was enough. How wrong I was. I was still working in a job so I didn’t put a lot of effort into my business. I cruised along and the slowly started realising that I didn’t know how to run a business. I lacked the confidence and so signed up to every freebie I could think of and then started working with coaches. It helped in some way as I did learn a lot about business. However because I lacked the confidence, trust and belief in myself I put them onto pedestals and thought they knew everything.
This took my off my path so many times until I decided enough was enough. I knew enough about running a business, and doing it my way that I could it by myself for a while. This is when I really came into my own as a businessperson and came back to my path. My Aligned Path. Then came my rebranding into “The Aligned Path with Darleen.” It felt so much better and I have grown personally and as a businesswomen.
In this blog I have written what I would love to have known that may have helped me when I started. It may help you with your journey and I hope that it does.
Do I need to do a business course?
This is an interesting question and the answer depends on what you are wanting out of a course as there are so many out there. If you know nothing at all about business then this may be the best way for you. Remember to research as there are “many courses” out there and many are very basic and don’t have up to date information. Business is changing all the time so find a course that gives you the bare minimum and then you can move on from there.
Ensure that the course is current for your country because there different laws in different countries. For example what is law in Australia only relates to Australia so don’t do a business course if it talks about laws. Also do research on the person, company running it. Do they have the qualifications, skills and experience in running in a business to teach you? For me is someone is going to teach me something I want them to have teaching skills. This comes because I have (at the time of writing this blog) taught formally and informally for well over 30 years and have the qualifications to teach adults.
Different Skills Needed
Running a business requires a completely different set of skills that need to be learnt. These skills can be learnt but may need almost as much hours/cost as learning healing techniques or whatever it is that you do in your business. Niching and packaging, sales copywriting, sales conversations, enrolling clients, etc are some of the skills needed.
Do I need a coach?
The right coach yes, most certainly. There are so many coaches out there now that it can be hard to find a coach that is right for you. Like I mentioned above the coach needs the skills, knowledge and tools to support you. Qualifications maybe. This depends on what skills, knowledge and tools that the coach has. If little then maybe qualifications can be something you want the coach to have.
Have a list of questions that you want to ask the potential coach to help you stay on track. Be aware that there are many coaches who have been taught to manipulate you into believing that they are the only person that can help you. I am a Master NLP Practitioner and know how words can be used to manipulate. This is something I never do because I dislike it so much. Trusting in yourself before you jump on a call and having the confidence will also help to ensure that you sign up to the right coach. I signed up to many wrong coaches which was a lot of learning for me and I am grateful for that.
Another thing is to not stay with the same coach for years. Having many different coaches at different times is so helpful in your growth.
Do I need to Niche?
Yes. This one is no negotiable. I fought for so long against niching that I prevent my business from growing. I thought I could heal everyone. I was wrong. There are many ways to niche and finding the one that is right for you will be a decision that you need to make. I like to relate niching to the medical field as that is what I knew for so long. If I broke my arm and needed surgery who would I want to go to? A general surgeon or a surgeon that specialises in bones (Orthopaedic Surgeon)? I would want the specialist.
With niching I don’t think where they live, how old they are, or how much money they make is important unless that is part of your niche. Let me give you an example. If you are a Doula then you will be looking after women that are in the years of the child birthing age. If you are a coach for corporate leaders then their salary may come into it especially if they are going for a higher paying position. If you have an in person business then location is important. You can see how niching is so important so that you can speak to them and use their language.
Do I need a website?
When you first start out you are learning about business, what you want to do and who you want to serve, spending a load of money on getting a website created isn’t a good idea as it will keep changing based on your growth. You can have a one page website (called a placeholder) so people can contact you (contact form), and links to your social media to start with. Once you start discovering what you do and who you serve then you can start doing more to your business.
What is Social Media and why should I have it?
Social Media (SM) is any site on the internet that allows you to create and share content such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, TikTok etc. They can be so great to help you with your business and at the same time be aware that you don’t own the content and can be shut down at anytime for any reason. I have seen this happen time and time again. Ensure that you are doing other things to grow your business such as having an email list that you email on a regular basis. See below as I talk about this more.
With SM don’t get taken in by “expert” who talk about how the amount of followers, reactions, comments etc is so important. I know personally and others have said the same thing that people can follow you and not interact in any way for years and then buy a service or product. Stay in your own lane and keep creating that amazing content. It is important to have as people get to know you, your business, what you do, and your sense of humour.
How Important Is An Email List?
My belief is that this is one of the most important part of running a business because you own it. Startthe list and then keep growing it through asking people to sign up, through opt ins, webinars, challenges, workshops etc. These people said yes in one way or another to be on your list so say hello to them on a regular basis. You can start out emailing once a month and then work up to the regular amount that works for you.
Be aware that if you email too frequently you may lose subscribers. I know that when I get too many emails I unsubscribe. When it comes to challenges, webinars etc then there are more emails. Think about how many is too many for you and this will help you decide the amount of emails you want.
It Is Okay Not To Be Perfect
When you start a business you may think that everything needs to be perfect such as a post you want to put on SM. Nothing will ever be “perfect” because there is no such thing. Just start putting out content, send the newsletter, tell people about your services. Everything is a practice and yes after lots of practice you will start to really get it and then you will take off
Outsourcing decisions that you should make
What do I mean by outsourcing decisions? I have seen it so often where someone goes into a group and and asks which logo they like. It is even worse when it is actually a designer asking before they tell their client. This is outsourcing decisions. You need to stand tall and make these decisions yourself. If you don’t know how to make these decisions without going into FB Groups and asking others then it may be the time to do a course, workshop, hire a coach to help you learn how to make decisions. I have not needed to outsource these decisions because I trusted myself and my intuition. I learnt this before I started business. I have trusted myself all the times in business which is why I put people on pedestals.
Onboarding and Offboarding
When we are blessed to have clients having and onboarding and offboarding procedure can really help you to ensure the client has a wonderful experience with you. Onboarding starts before they actually pay you. It starts with your content. Learning sales conversations will take time and you will get better with each call. Having some form of structure helps with sales conversations.
Offboarding a client is just as important as onboarding. Once a client has finished a program/package how do you help them feel special and that you are grateful that they worked with you. Every business will be different and you want to do something that helps you stand out.
Copywriting
Copywriting is the process of writing content to help the individual to want to take a specific action such as buying a service. There are many people that tell you that you must have a copywriter especially for things such as a landing page. Maybe that is true. I do the writing myself as I have a certain way of wording things. I have the experience now and enjoy writing content as you can see by the blogs I have written.
Just start writing and see what happens. You never know. You might surprise yourself.
Connections
Connections include the connection that we have to ourselves, the energy of our business, and the connections that we make in person and online. These connections are so important because working in business by yourself can be lonely. These connections can also help us within our business through becoming clients, sharing our SM, telling others about us, or even become business besties.
I didn’t realise how important these connections were until I started go to in-person and online meetups. I am an ambivert and so I can be extrovert and then I become an introvert. This helps me to balance and care for myself and my business.
Boundaries
Boundaries will cover every aspect of your business including when you will get back to clients and how, when you work with clients etc. Without boundaries you can end up burning out. You will work with anyone and anytime. You will contact them at all hours. I know from experience how important boundaries are because I was such a people pleaser and I did burnout. My boundaries are firm and yet flexible, because life. I have many videos on my YouTube Channel about boundaries which you can find here
Mindset
I feel this is one of the biggest areas that many business people don’t put as much effort into as I feel they should. I learnt this the hard way. Your mindset is what can make business easier and more enjoyable, including self belief. I now have a growth mindset whereas in the past it was fixed. Your mindset is also how you feel about your business and what you do. Think about your mindset in your life. What kind of mindset is it? When you have a mindset that is helpful you have more confidence, courage, and boundaries. I feel that working on your mindset needs to take up about 70% of what you do.
Emotions
We all have emotions and they can affect how we run our business, All emotions are normal until they go to the extreme and affect you and your business. Having practices to help you with your emotions including being aware is important. I love my emotions now that I have learnt what they mean for me and my business. In the past I let me emotions get the better of me which meant that my business was affected and I didn’t do what I wanted or what I said I would do. Have self compassion for yourself as it will take time and there may be times that the emotions affect you in an extreme way again. It is all a learning.
Self Care
Having a business can be one of the most powerful self development that you will ever do. For this reason I am going to talk about self care. Self care is whatever you want it to be and I really believe it needs to include downtime so you can recharge. Your can’t operate 27/7 and neither should your business. Your business has its own energy and this energy needs to recharge. Think of your phone. It runs out of recharge. So does your business and I feel this is why it is important to schedule SM posts for the hours you work on your business. If you get sucked into what the SM software tells you about when your followers are online then most likely your business won’t get a rest. This affects the energetics.
I would love for your to write down everything that you feel is self care, prioritise it so that you have your always go to at the top. Then place this near you when you work so that you can do self care during your business hours as well. Your business will thank you for it.
Stay in your own lane
The last thing I want to talk about is staying in your own lane. You are going to have the mindset wobbles, the emotions, people giving you unsolicited advice (check out the episode I did on this on my YouTube Channel here) that can take you away from your path. You may even have thoughts of unworthiness, I am not enough etc. My advice is to ignore what other people are doing and just run your business. Stay In Your Own Lane.
Conclusion
I asked on Social Media of my friends or followers what they wish they knew and one friend said “There’s lots but actually I’ll just say nothing whatsoever. I don’t think “knowing more” back then would have been very helpful at all actually.” I love that they said this because even after reading this will it help or not? It depends where you are in your journey of being an entrepreneur.
I don’t know if I would have taken notice of a blog like this when I was starting out. I knew I needed to write it though because you never know how your words can help someone.
I hope that this blog helps you in someway.
Wishing you all the best on your journey.
Thank you to those that asked questions on this in FB Groups or on my page to make this blog even better
Leah Raposa Foley: Find Leah here
Mary Rose Dias: Find Mary here
Chantal Vanderhaeghen: Find Chantal here
Claire Kerslake: Find Claire here
