Although there's a long list of things to know about running a business, some lessons are more important than others, and the sooner you learn them, the better you can plan and run your own business.
Alex Lysak is the CEO of Scanteam. He’s a marketing expert who focuses on marketing research and social media marketing. In the following article, Alex will discuss three important lessons he learned as a business owner.
Making Money Is Easy, Staying Motivated Is Harder
When I decided to start my first business, I was worried that I wouldn't make enough money. However, once I understood the benefits of marketing my services online, work kept coming my way, and soon I had enough work to keep me occupied for eight hours a day. At first, this was great, but after a few weeks of working hard, I realized that I was losing motivation.
Some days were easier than others as I would work for 12 hours continuously, while other days, I felt I couldn't get into a rhythm and didn't work as effectively. Because I was working for myself, it became harder to keep to the deadlines.
I found a way to overcome those days where I felt less motivated by choosing only one or two tasks to focus on. I've learned to accept that I'm not 100% motivated every day, and instead of feeling guilty, I acknowledged it and gave myself less work on those days.
Trust and Respect Your Business
At the start of running my own business, I wasn't 100% confident. I felt scared to increase my prices, and I never held my customers accountable if they violated a contract. It was also hard for me to discuss money with clients, and often I did small jobs for free because I felt terrible for charging extra fees.
At some point, I had to face the music. I had to admit that I wasn't taking my business seriously enough. I had to find a way to make myself and my clients understand that my time is valuable. So, I decided to set clear business policies, and even though it was hard at first, I learned to stick to my guns and communicate this to new clients.
You'll Never Be 100% Ready to Start Your Business
When looking to start a business, you may feel like you need more capital or that your business plan needs a bit more work. However, if you keep waiting for the perfect moment, you might never open your business at all.
While getting things in place, I quickly realized that there's always something unaccounted for once I think I have everything. So, I held my breath and promoted my services on social media, and got clients sooner than I thought.
Conclusion
No one tells you what to do first when starting a business, but luckily you get to figure it out as you go. I hope that you can use my lessons when pursuing your business success.
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Alex Lysak is the CEO of ScanTeam. I have been working in online marketing since 2011, my main areas of expertise are marketing research, social media marketing, and SEO. During 9 years of experience, I have helped many products and startups develop marketing strategies and to implement them further.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lysak_aleksandr