March 22, 2020 marked the 1 year anniversary since I left corporate America. It sounds cliche but it is hard to believe a whole year has gone by. But, I think anniversaries are an important time to reflect and re-evaluate. Looking back to a year ago, I really had no idea what I was in for as I joined my husband’s business to become an entrepreneur for the first time. In celebrating my entrepreneur anniversary, I thought I would share the lessons learned in my first year of entrepreneur life. And….some things I am still learning.

Some skills & topics I have learned about in the past year

I certainly haven’t mastered all of the items above and I could write a list of about 100 things I still would like to learn. But, that’s the kind of fun thing with entrepreneurship….I have to constantly be learning things. And the things you need to learn aren’t always fun. For example, recently I had to try and learn how to create a 30 day free trial offer in our funnel software. It took me a couple of days. Because, let’s face it, none of us are at our most productive when having to also homeschool our kids. This is the thing with running your own business that can be frustrating and exciting at the same time. If you need something, you have to go figure out how to do it. There is no one else to turn to. In my old role, I had a whole team and countless other departments to help implement the work that needed to be done. Now, it’s just me and my husband, with a little help from contractors and employees. 

Lessons Learned in My First Year of Entrepreneur Life

Know where you add value

And where you don’t. (More on this below.)  For example, when my husband wrote a book last year and we chose to self-publish, there were certain tasks we needed to be completed after the writing part was over. Editing, formatting, cover design, etc.  I chose to format my husband’s book. Even though that was not super exciting, it was fairly easy for me to do and saved us thousands of dollars. If you do outsource certain tasks, it will allow you to spend more time on the parts of the business that do light your heart on fire and where you feel like you can truly make a positive difference. 

Time really is money

Another important task that needed to happen was rebuilding Tim’s speaker website. I was willing to take this on but it was a steeper learning curve than I expected. if we waited until I could master web design, rather than bringing on a professional, that would have cost us future higher paying gigs. Having that new site gave Tim the clout to charge twice as much. That meant that we could start making thousands of dollars more each month. If we’d waited another 6 months, how many tens of thousands of dollars would that be?  So, if the investment won’t break the bank, get help when you need it. Just do some back of the napkin math and you’ll quickly figure out the ROI of hiring vs. DIY. 

Try, but know your limit

Don’t be too proud to outsource something if that is what is needed. I firmly believe that as a baby entrepreneur you should start by trying to do as much DIY as possible. This is how you’ll learn what goes into the various aspects of your business. Brendan Burchard is a big advocate of this. The reason for this is that when and if you do outsource something, you know precisely what you are outsourcing. For example, I once heard of an online entrepreneur who hired a virtual assistant to help her manage her email list. Every time she needed to add someone or move them to a different list, that VA was charging her something like $30 each time!  She didn’t realize that was an exorbitant amount to charge because she had no idea of the the tech behind what she was trying to do. But, if you do try and realize it is beyond your skill or something that you absolutely loathe so much you’d gladly pay someone else, then by all means, go ahead and hire someone else to do this.

Don’t hire out of ignorance or fear. How long should you try before you decide to outsource? That’s up to you. I used to have an employee that had a “5 minute rule’ when it came to any tech challenges related to her job. If she was trying to figure something out and found herself toiling away and not making progress, she would tell herself, “I am going to spend 5 more minutes on this and if I can’t figure it out by then, I am going to call and ask for help.”  Decide what your “5 minute rule” is and stick to it. 

So, those are just some of the lessons learned in my first year of entrepreneur life. Sometimes I feel like corporate life didn’t really prepare me very well for my current role, other than teaching me mad organization skills. Luckily I have been able to call on some of my corporate knowledge to help those who are getting used to working from home for the firs time. Check out my blog post on this topic. 

Essential Tools

Here are some of the tools that I found essential in my first year.