10 Things You Should Know Before You Start Your Business
Kate Herford 
It's the simple things......
Hindsight is a wonderful thing after you've started a business and you're in the thick of the steepest learning curve of your life. You remember how you thought school or university was hard - at the time.
Getting started in business is shrouded with the 'I wish I had known ......'
So here are my 10 top things I wish I'd known before I got started in business, and in all reality, even if I can draw your attention to them, you'll probably think the same AFTER you've started yours.
1. You Don’t Have To Be Perfect
Waiting for everything to be perfect is a waste of time and energy.
Remember “You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great”. This is a quote from Les Brown, he’s a wise man, get to know him!
The thing is, while you're doing things to make it perfect you don't realise that you might need to adjust where you're heading anyway. Where you start and the path to your goal is never a straight line. Get started and realign as you go.
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2. Business Cards, Blogs, Facebook Ads Should Not Be Your Priority
So many people think they need to have the business card, blog, do the Facebook ads, be on every social media platform in order to get started. This is advanced marketing and you are better spending your finances on growing you first.
These are all things that will come over time, and if it’s anything like my experience, they will be out of date within a month because the direction of your business can change.
Show up on one social media platform and master that before moving to the next.
The most important thing is to build the audience you plan to talk to, get them to know you, engage with them……. then take the next step.
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3. Your Family and Friends May Not Understand
The journey to achieving your goals, in any facet in life, is often something we do alone, it’s personal to you. Your family and friends will be looking out for you, to keep you safe, save you from failure.
If they haven’t achieved what you have set out to do, they will probably not understand what drives you and why you’re prepared to earn very little at the start and keep persisting when things might look dire.
Stay focused on your journey, because it’s not one they will understand.
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4. Surround Yourself With People On The Entrepreneurial Journey
Friend up and connect with those who may be one or more steps ahead of you so that you can learn from, and with them.
Sharing your journey with someone who understands the path you are on makes it more meaningful and means you have someone in your corner, cheering you on, celebrating your achievements, no matter how big or small.
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5. Knowledge is power
Know the differences between busy and productive, reach and engagement, and connection and conversion.
When you can understand that productive, engagement and conversion is what you need to bring in sales and grow your business, that’s when your business will grow.
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6. Have A Personal Development Plan In Place
You cannot achieve your desired goal without becoming the person who can achieve it.
A Personal Development Plan requires you to set aside funds to learn and grow into the successful person you need to become.
Do many people put this in place? No!
Why? Because it costs money and you don’t know what you don’t know. Work with your coach to put this in place, allocate the funds and work through your plan to ensure you have the right learning and development you need, when you need it.
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7. Know Your Strengths So You Can Understand What To Outsource
Yes, at the start you think it’s best to do everything yourself – because you think you can – and you can’t afford for someone else to.
The thing is, you have a dream of having a business but there are many aspects to that which you can learn how to do it, but is that the most efficient use of your time?
When planning, look at what your strengths are, what you love to do and then work towards outsourcing the things that you won’t want to do because you don’t know how or don’t like doing them. There’s always someone out there who’s passion is to do what you don’t like to.
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8. Price Your Services Based Value and Your Worth
When starting out you often fall into the trap of pricing your services based on what you think people will pay and what others are charging.
When you know your ‘Why’, you know your ideal client and have your business plan in place, price your services not on an hourly rate but on the value you bring to the market place.
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9. Know Your Numbers
Related to the pricing of your services, the goals for your business; the hours you wish to work, your income target and the number of clients/ business partners customers/sales you need to meet your goals, your numbers matter!
Ask yourself, is it better to have one client paying $1,000 or 10 paying $100?
The effort involved to gain the clients will be similar, so as per No. 9, base your numbers on value rather than hours.
Afterall, most of us are in business for time freedom, so utilize your time by knowing your worth and numbers to achieve your business goals.
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10. Hire A Coach
Yes, seriously Hire the Damn Coach!
You see successful teams and athletes have a coach who is there to help them achieve the end goal, the premiership, gold medal, and so you should too.
All successful people have a coach who is there to challenge, guide, teach, provide knowledge, question and grow them. During different phases of your life and entrepreneurial journey, there is benefit in having coaches specifically to help you in certain aspects of your business.
What are these areas? Start up, growth, personal development, social media, mindset …… the list will go on.
Understand that you can do everything yourself, get stuck in frustration and slow progress, or you can hire a coach through various aspects of your business to help you move forward, grow and become the successful business owner you know you were meant to be.
This journey is achieved quicker and more efficiently with people who are experienced to help you along the way.
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BONUS!!! I came up with too many things…..
Honest feedback
Sometimes it’s the tough love and honest feedback you need to help us stay on track.
You are often so close to what you are doing that you lose sight of and get frustrated with a lack of progress or the direction you are taking.
Seek feedback from your coach and mentors and understand that you will be offended and affronted by any suggestions they may give you. This is your ego and fear talking.
Seek feedback with an open mind, take time to assess it and evaluate it without prejudice. You’ve heard the saying that ‘you can’t see the forest for the trees’, well, an outside perspective may just give you the clarity you need to move forward.
Now if you need help navigating the start up process or you're just stuck in your current business and are not sure what to do next then let's chat!
Click Here to Book in Your Call. Just answer a few simple questions that will allow me to prepare for your call and then book in a time in my calendar.