4 Things I’ve Learned as a Small Business Owner

1. Be Consistent, and You Will See Progress

We all have moments of feeling unmotivated and sluggish. However, continuing to show up for yourself and remaining consistent and persistent in your work will eventually lead to positive results. Worrying about and comparing yourself to others and their progress is the thief of joy, and will only hinder your self-esteem. Everyone is in their own timeline. Focusing on yourself, your journey, and how far you’ve come, things will eventually unfold, even if it takes some time.

2. Healthy Competition is Okay

Let’s face it, sometimes we tend to compare ourself to other shops. We wonder: am I doing enough? How are they getting more followers or more sales than me? Is there something wrong that I’m doing? The answer is: it’s complicated, but it’s okay to have these feelings. It’s how you manage them is what matters. Instead of reveling in on what other people are doing, you can use that as fuel to fill in those gaps on what your business is missing and go from there. Do you need better marketing strategies? Are you setting timely goals for yourself? Are you doing necessary skill building to be up-to-date in the market and be competitive?

3. Your Friends and Families are Not Your Customers

I think a lot of us small business owners have this grand expectation that our friends and families are supposed to be our biggest customers. I think it is nice for them to boost us up when first starting up to get the word out, but to have this expectation that they’re supposed to buy EVERYTHING that we put out is a bit unrealistic. Your main goal should be figuring our who is your main audience? How are you tailoring your brand to ensure it reaches the RIGHT audience? Believe it or not, our friends and families are silent supporters and cheer for us even when we’re not looking. This is why it’s a good idea to connect with other artists and small creatives to also talk about things related to small business woes, as they have a better understanding.

4. Hold Yourself Accountable When Necessary

Part of being a good small business owner means holding yourself accountable when needed. That means ensuring you are maintaining top tier customer service, setting and meeting your goals and deliverables, taking feedback about your business (whether good or bad) and apply it to make improvements, etc. Just because you have the privilege of working for yourself, does not mean you are void of accountability. “Being your own boss” also means setting expectations for yourself (as an employee) to ensure your shop is running as smooth and efficient as possible. When you make a mistake (shipping an incorrect order, quality issues in a product, etc), you own up to it and ensure you provide rectification for the mistake.

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