13th of July marks one year since I started Follow Me Media.
This is my first business. I’ve always known I’d do my own thing, and for years I really didn’t know what business venture I would pursue. I had so many ideas and a few I attempted, but nothing got me motivated and completing tasks easily and quickly like this business idea. Admittedly this idea came to me years ago but I think if I had forced it back then, the motives were from a different place and the heart of Follow Me Media wouldn’t have been right.
Twelve months on and I’m still really into what I do. It’s definitely not easy and despite the long hours, the juggling of many hats, and the moments of self-doubts, I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else right now.
So what lessons have I learnt twelve months on? A lot. Being a new and inexperienced “Entrepreneur” I was bound to be schooled many times over. But to keep this post short, I want to share the top 5 things I’ve learnt during my first year of business.
1. Don’t Over Think It
Your ideas, words or actions of others, your failures – don’t over think it. That over analysing we do in our heads can be so debilitating to our success and growth. I’ve learnt ideas may have gaps, comparisons can make you question your success, results can fall short and clients do leave you. Don’t let it simmer in your mind for too long. Which leads me to my next point.
2. Make Mistakes
The only way you’ll learn is to try. Try the ideas suggested to you, ideas your competitors are doing, ideas that others have tried, and ideas you’ve come up with. I’ve learnt not all ideas will work or continue to work all the time. Those lessons have helped me become a better informed and experienced business owner, and allowed me to be confident in how I deal with clients and the decisions I make.
3. It’s About Them
I’ve learnt helping businesses with their online presence is actually less about social media platforms and more about stakeholder management. Regardless of how big or small the client is, they’re like me, they view their business as their precious baby. Like caring for a child, you are given a whole lot of trust and responsibilities. These expectations are similar when managing a business’ online presence. I’ve learnt to do what I do well, I need to treat their businesses as if it were my own.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
Running a business is a lot of hard work. And although my controlling personality thinks I can do it all, I’ve soon realised I can’t. My pitch to potential clients is to outsource parts of your business that play to your weaknesses, such as their business’ social media. I’ve realised and slowly accepted I needed to outsource more of the things that play to my business’ weakness. I’ve been telling the universe I need help! I think they’re slowly listening and I’m looking forward to some exciting collaborations.
5. Stay True to Yourself
Although I’ve never written them down anywhere I have a few principles about how I run and conduct my business. With competitors popping up daily, and the desire to win more business, it’s so tempting to break away from my values or just do things cause everyone else is doing it. When I think back on my life I realised I’ve always just done me, stayed true to myself and the outcomes have always gone beyond my expectations. This realisation serves as an encouragement and reminder for me to continue to stay firm in my standards.
I definitely don’t claim to know everything there is about running a business, I’m still learning, and I’ll always keep learning. To me I’m already successful because I actually went for it. I’m grateful for the success I’ve had so far and open to what the next twelve months and beyond has in store for Follow Me Media.
If your business is in the food and beverage, sports or retail industry and you’re looking to outsource your online presence to someone who loves their business the way you love yours, email me at hello@followmemedia.com.au
All great points especially the first two which are big hurdles for me. Congrats on your first year
Thank you Deb and encouraging you to try more of 1 and 2 😉
Congrats on your first year in business. I think you have highlighted some of the more important lessons any business owner can learn. I’ll be celebrating 2 years of business later this year (business writing consultancy) and while I’ve had a few obstacles thrown in my way, I’m finally making progress. I think the most important thing is to love what you do – that’s what keeps you going through the really tough times!
Well done to you too Kirsty! Great point, I agree you got to love what you do or else the motivation will slowly dwindle and you’ll end up with ill feelings towards what you do.
Congrats on the first year!!! That is really well done. I love your list. They are very valuable learnings. Here’s to many more great years in business for you! #teamIBOT
Thank you Renee. This first year flew. Ofcourse I wish I achieved more but we all wish that of ourselves. Thank you #teamIBOT!!
Well done. I thought I’d like to work for myself and do some copywriting and online writing after I took a redundancy from government and sent out a heap of stuff to local businesses (I’d made a seachange as well and I knew there were no local writers or bloggers so decided to focus on the local market). I went to some business events and everyone was really interested in what I did but nothing came of it and sadly I had to pay the bills so decided I wasn’t set up for entrepreneurship!
So well done – a great achievement and wonderful lessons to share!
Oh Deb, I think your calling or purpose is still yet to reveal itself. Loved that you gave it a shot though, going for it is an accomplishment I think. I’m sure you learnt a lot of lessons from that experience if something similar ever sparks your heart again. Thank you for the encouragement
Yes Janet!!! Similar story. I knew I didn’t want to go back to my previous career after my role was made redundant too. Also now that I too have adjusted I love it and couldn’t go back. I don’t know about you but I have such a different view of the world right now. Thanks to the advancement of technology and how easily we are connected to each other, there’s so many business opportunities and ideas that are waiting to happen. You just got to get over the fear and go for it!