I always knew I wanted my own business. In fact, in one of my first jobs after graduating, the team I worked with bought me Richard Branson’s autobiography as a parting gift. I still have it, and I’m reading it again at the moment (to see if it gives me a different perspective now I have my own business). But the first time I read it I remember being really disappointed! See, whilst I’d always wanted to run my own business, I just didn’t recognise myself in any part of the story. Savvy businessman he might be, but reading his story I was struck by how ruthless he seemed, how single minded. How he seemed to put business before relationships, friends, before everything.
I was reminded of this recently when I was listening to a podcast that talked about the difference between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Essentially, it was suggested that Jobs had used Wozniak repeatedly to rise to the top, lying to his friend in the process. When Jobs refused to give workers in the company stock options, Wozniak decided to give these early employees $10m from his own payout. I know which Steve arguably had the most impact, but I also know which I'd prefer to be.
I decided early on that what I didn’t want was a ruthless business. Yes I wanted a successful one, but to me that doesn’t look like hanging your friends (or anyone else) out to dry in the process. It had to be about building people up, doing good for those around me. When I found coaching, helping people to achieve their dreams and live their best lives was a perfect fit. The purpose that I have in helping women do things they thought they couldn't is what gets me out of bed on a morning, and what pushes me forward when the going gets tough. Championing women who are extremely capable but full of self doubt and seeing them push out of their comfort zones and change their life is very rewarding.
I don’t want to do you a disservice and tell you all coaches are like that, because I’ve come across those who aren’t, who have the more ruthless streak! I’ve listened to coaches try to break the people they are coaching and even admit as much (and that is definitely not what coaching is about). But, we all have different values underpinning what we do (and why we do what we do) and when we better understand these and know what makes us tick, we make choices that are in alignment with our very core. So one of the things I start with when I’m coaching clients is to understand their values. It’s also a great place to start when thinking about what sort of business you want. The question you need to answer is “what’s most important to you".
If you’ve been looking at business in the online space for any length of time I’m pretty sure you’ll have come across the 6&7 figure entrepreneurs, apparent overnight successes with six figure months immediately after starting their businesses. I hate to break it to you, because the easy way is what we’re all looking for, but it doesn’t exist. Usually these overnight success stories have several years of business behind them, and the 6 figures are turnover rather than profit. Buyer beware! I can hand-on-heart say that I’ve never met a business owner who honestly said it was all easy and just landed on their lap without them breaking a sweat.
Actually, it’s hard. Rewarding, but bloody tough at times. There’s a reason that so many businesses fail. Going into it with your eyes open and with realistic expectations makes you more likely to succeed. Don’t listen to what you want to hear, because there will be people telling you that, every step you take. When you look behind the glamorous photo shoots in front of the Eiffel Tower, the bit that you don’t see is the same person working from dawn til dusk without taking a break, missing out on day after day of glorious summer weather, because business is top priority, priority over having a life. Obviously that’s not what is shared on social media, because it’s not what people want to see.
When I started my business I expected to work hard. I expected to make some sacrifices. But there are some things that I won’t compromise on. I want to be there watching my kids play football on a weekend, cheering them on, celebrating the wins, and commiserating when it doesn’t go so well. I want to be able to go for a walk in the park on a sunny day. I want my business to feel good, not just to look good.
So how do you start a business that feels good? And how do you know it’s right for you? These are good questions, and ones that only you can answer. Firstly, you need to enjoy whatever it is you do. Never, I repeat never, start a business because you think / hope it will make you money. I’m not saying making money isn’t one of the goals of a business but it’s really not motivation enough to carry you through the hard times.
I think I’ve mentioned this, but I love coaching. But when you run a business you don’t get to do the thing that you love all of the time. There’s marketing and admin and copywriting and social media...amongst many other things. If, like me, you don’t love all of these things, making sure the service you offer at the centre of your business is something you love helps to balance it all out. As you grow your business you can outsource the things you don’t love to do, but it’s harder to outsource your core service, so doing something you love means you grow a business that you want to be in. When you’re thinking about the sort of business you want, think carefully. Choose something that you know will sustain you for the longer term, and think long and hard about how you’ll be spending your days and whether you can see yourself doing it in years to come.
When I look around at the women who run successful businesses, they are passionate about what they do, and they have usually had a passion for that subject for a lot of years, whether it’s art or fitness or business or social media. Think about whether this is something you’d do whether you were paid for it or not, I think that’s a great benchmark, and it’s how I feel about coaching. I just love to do it. Yes I need to earn a living, but if I wasn’t paid for it I’d find a way to do it anyway, because I’m really passionate about it.
Another sign to look out for is the thing that really absorbs you. What is it you’re doing when time flies by and you forget to eat lunch? When we’re in that state of flow, lost in what we’re doing, it tends to be something that challenges us in the right way. This also tends to be when we’re doing something that uses our strengths. It's so much easier to maximise the strengths we have rather than trying to correct areas of weakness. Knowing your strengths and using them makes you more likely to succeed so take some time to do a strengths finder exercise (I get my clients to do Gallup Strengths Finder) or ask a few trusted friends to share what they think your strengths are. You might be surprised by what they tell you, but let them explain why they think what they do, so they can share the evidence with you and help you to see from their perspective.
Strengths aside, another thing to think about when you’re trying to work out the sort of business you should start, is your “Big Dream”. Your big dream is the thing that you’d really love to do, if only….you had enough money / time / guts (delete as appropriate). Maybe you’ve seen someone do something and thought you’d love to do that but you dismissed the idea outright because you couldn’t, too big, too scary. But you don’t need to go for that big dream at the outset necessarily. Often there is a smaller step you can take in the right direction. It’s about knowing that’s where you want to go, so it influences your choices and you move in the right direction. When you know what it is you want, opportunities start to present themselves. Whether you take them is your call.
Anyway, back to money. Whilst I don’t advocate starting a business solely to make money, it is important that you can earn a living from your business. Otherwise it’s really just a hobby. Take some time to work out your business model, so that you understand how you’re going to make money, how many of each item you need to sell, what your costs are, and all that other good stuff. Do this at the outset so that your sums are done and you’re not guessing what you need, and you’re more likely to be successful just by virtue of knowing your numbers. Your business will evolve and you might find a sweet spot along the way that you didn’t identify before you started so be prepared to be flexible and open to opportunities. Lots of businesses develop into something quite different from when they’d started!
The final, and probably most important question you need to answer is what problem are you solving for your customer. The thing is, people buy things to solve problems that they have, pain points in their lives that are nagging loudly and repeatedly to get attention. If what you’re selling doesn’t solve a problem, if it’s just a nice to have, then why would someone buy it from you? They wouldn’t, that’s the short answer. So get really specific about who your customer is and what their pain point is. If you speak to everybody then you speak to nobody, as they say. Narrow down your audience until it’s smaller than you ever thought would work, and talk to them specifically with the words you use. It makes a world of difference.
I’d like to leave you with one final parting thought and it’s this; whatever your business, pick the hard path every day. What I mean by that is don’t get bogged down being busy doing all the things that won’t get you anywhere. Hiding away behind a desk and a laptop won’t get you customers. People buy from people, so put yourself out there, be yourself, use video, engage with people online and in person when you can.
Just don't do it in front of the Eiffel Tower!
Me. Not in front of the Eiffel Tower!!