The truth about my first 90 days as a new business owner

I thought it would be a good moment to share my honest feelings on:

What I’ve learned so far
What has been challenging
What has been surprising

So, here goes nothing…

My mad organisation skills are paying off

I’m painfully organised.

In the past this has meant that I’m the person doing all the ‘extra-curricular’ work. I’d get lumbered with building project plans, organising staff parties, preparing meeting agendas and keeping the team on track.

‘But you’re just so good at it, Lisa.’

You know what? I am. But finally I’m seeing that reflected in my own bank balance, rather than somebody else’s.

My tax admin is always bang up to date
I meet my (usually self-imposed) deadlines
I get back to my clients and prospects in a flash
I know exactly what needs to be done and when
I rarely feel stressed

Mental tennis is a way of life

Almost every day, I have these thoughts:

‘Oh sh*t, I have so many clients, I’m feeling really overwhelmed’.
‘Oh sh*t, I don’t think I have enough clients. How am I going to pay my mortgage?’
‘Wow, this is bloody amazing, I have the perfect amount of clients and I know I’m going to be able to pay my mortgage. Go me.’

It’s SUPER fun (she says, through gritted teeth).

The harder I work, the more I get paid

In employment, I feel like many of us are promised wealth that never materialises. A juicy golden carrot is dangled in front of us and it sounds incredible:

‘Play your cards right and in five years, you’ll have three houses like me’
‘We’ll start you on a salary that’s way below what you deserve, but if you do well, we’ll give you LOADS OF MONEY. Promise.’
‘There’s no limit to what you can earn in this business – you just wait.’

But as we get closer to it, we realise that juicy carrot is actually a mouldy, unidentifiable, shrivelled thing in the back of your vegetable drawer that you only find when you do your big fridge clean (which is every 6 months if we’re being honest).

So, now that I’m in a situation where I can directly impact my bank balance by working harder, smarter, faster, better – it’s really empowering.

I don’t have to work with arseholes

This is a tricky one because so much of this is about trusting your gut.

And there’s that sneaky part of you that fears that if you say no to a client, you won’t get another opportunity.

But if in the initial stages of talking to someone I realise that they are:

• Unkind or bolshy in their approach
• Unwilling to let go of their ego in order to improve their business
• Disrespectful about what I do
• Simply not going to gel with me

Then it has to be a no.

No amount of money is worth it. The good news is that when I have said no, that opportunity has always been replaced by something that’s a better fit. Phew!

My network = my net worth

I actually learned this phrase on a webinar this week and I’m really feeling it right now.

If you are reading this, you are part of my network. If you have liked, shared, commented on or supported what I’m doing in any way, I want to say a huge thank you.

Because of you, things are ticking over nicely and I can afford to eat.

Every opportunity that’s come my way has come to me via LinkedIn. I haven’t been without work since starting and I have work booked until mid-August.

I am extremely grateful for this.

I need to stop overdelivering

I think there’s an eagerness that comes from being a new business owner that means you go above and beyond for every client.

This is definitely an area where I’m going to have to have stronger boundaries in the future.

Either that, or I’ll have to raise my pricing. Perhaps both?

Done is better than perfect when it comes to self-promotion

I launched my business without a website. Shock, horror, gasp, etc.

What I had was a strong reputation, a brilliant network and a knack for positioning my offering. This was enough to get the ball rolling.

Booking 16 meetings from my first LinkedIn post gave me a huge confidence boost and assurance that I was doing the right thing.

So launching something that is only 75% done is how I’m going to operate when it comes to promoting my own business.

I’m doing this exact thing with my new course, The No More Jargon Method.

I’m asking my first cohort to help me refine that final 25% in exchange for a big discount. It really feels like the right thing to do to build a brilliant product.

I don’t have to scale

When we start a business, there’s this egotistical part of us that thinks about the possibility of global domination, hanging out with Steven Bartlett and eventually selling your business for £6 billion and being the next Dragon.

But scaling a business involves chasing investment, hiring a team, delegating and managing people (among many other things, of course).

I have so much admiration for the people that do this well, but I don’t think that’s going to be my story.
I love doing the work and being hands on.
I love only having to think about myself (and maybe a few supporting freelancers).
I love that marketing agencies want to make me an extension of their team. It’s fun.
I love being an expert (and continuously learning to be better every day).

I’m useless in the afternoons

I’m quite an extreme morning person. My brain is at its sharpest between 6am-9am (before the rest of the world is awake and distracting me).

This is when I do my best writing, thinking and deadline meeting. I call it Tiger Time (a phrase stolen from the brilliant Amy Porterfield many years ago).

Now I reserve my afternoons for admin, chatty meetings and telling my dog how gorgeous she is.

I’m really bloody good at this

There, I said it. I’m just so damn proud of myself.

I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m battling all the demons, sceptics and imposter syndrome. I’m working my socks off every damn day. I’m getting brilliant feedback from my clients. It’s great.

I’m not naive to the challenges that I’ll inevitably face. But for now, I’m having a blast.