As of October 1st, I’ve officially been full-time in my business for 2 years!
That feels pretty crazy to me.
What’s more crazy is that according to the lenders of America, 2 years means you are officially an established business… I know, get me!
If you’re wondering how I found this out, it’s because they told me so.
I’ve been applying for some grants and business loans to start bringing in additional support to make the next 2 years of my business pretty impactful. Now, because I’ve been in business for 2 years and am ‘established’, banks want to give me money (woo!).
But the title of ‘established business’, although a crazy thought, is one I feel is very deserved as it’s been quite the journey over the last 2 years.
Surviving the first 2 years
A lot of people forget that if you have an online business you are technically classed as a start-up.
In the business world, the one thing a start-up has to be is fluid.
It takes a lot to build a business from the ground up and it’s not for everyone.
Did you know that 1 in 5 businesses fail within the first year and 50% fail within 5 years?
Those are daunting odds to face but if I’m being honest, I can see why these are the statistics.
The truth is that building a business isn’t easy, you have to really want it.
At first setting up your business is fun, right? You’ve gone out on your own, you have more control over your time and it feels exciting and freeing.
But then you realize that you have no boss, so no one can tell you what to do and the responsibility of figuring out how to do everything and get paid for it falls solely on you.
That first year is no mean feat either. Let’s take my business for example.
In 2020 (the first year of my business) my income, after expenses, was $1100.
However, this past year, my turnover has been significantly different (and very much for the better!). But in order to get that successful year 2, you have to keep going.
Even if it doesn’t feel like it’s working.
Realistically though, even though you may look at the income of my first year and think ‘well that could’ve gone better’, I wouldn’t say that my first year in business was unsuccessful at all.
The reason that amount was so low was that I spent so much money on my own professional development during the first year. I spent money building out my skillset and investing in coaching and programs. This is what set me up for a much, much more successful second year. But I can see why a lot of people would’ve given up after that first year.
That being said, not all of my first-year investments were smart ones. Truthfully, a lot of what I invested in, I only invested in them because they validated me, or made me feel like I knew what I was doing.
However, I soon learned that this wasn’t what was going to move my business forward, and ever since, when I invest, I make sure I’m expanding the skills that I don’t have.
Not so I can do them myself, but so when I hire out for them, I have reasonable expectations and I understand what it takes to go into it.
This really helps me to more clearly articulate to the people who work with me (like copywriters, brand specialists, and designers) what I want or what I don’t like and why. This makes it easier for my team.
And that my friends, is what you call growth.
But you have to push through those hard times and be very fluid with your thoughts and processes to reach that growth.
Continuous change leads to growth
There is one thing you should know about me as a business owner: I’m always in a season of change.
That’s my business success secret. Owning a business is one constant journey of change.
Being willing and able to adapt, change and improve is how I’ve created a successful business within my first 2 years!
Let’s recap…
When I started two years ago, I was doing everything…all the services for anyone who would hire me (against all advice).
Originally I wanted to work in marketing, so I learned everything I could about it and started out as a social media manager/VA.
I hated it.
I especially hated doing it for other people because as a VA it wasn’t really my job to advise, it was just my job to do what I was told to.
I was always thinking about the best way for people to run, market, and operate their businesses, but that’s not what people wanted me for. They just wanted to send me jobs and for me to do them without asking any questions or adding anything.
Since I’ve come from a background of being the expert who advises, guides, and builds up businesses, I quickly got frustrated when people didn’t want my advice.
That got old realll quick.
So I changed direction. Over time I found my lane (so to speak). I know what I’m good at, and who I can help the most and I’ve refined my services to reflect my and my team’s expertise.
One thing I think will always remain consistent though is that we will always go against the grain. For example, I don’t offer specific packages.
Instead, I share my expertise and if you work with us, we custom make what that looks like for you based on this expertise. So it’s still not the ‘traditional’ structure of an online business where you choose package A. B or C.
If I had to go back and start again, I would still do all of the things (yes, even against all the advice and knowing what I do now) because by doing all the things, I identified what I liked and was good at doing and what I didn’t like and needed to bring in other people for.
This experience has taught me that I am an expert in what I do and if you’re hiring us, you’re coming to us for expert-level advice and so that’s what I provide.
We stay in our lane but I want to be involved. For example, if I work with you and you have a call with your marketing strategist, I want to be on the call and get involved so we can make it work operationally. But I shouldn’t be your marketing strategist!
So this blog is here to firstly remind you to keep changing and keep evolving and secondly to celebrate 2 years of MBS!
I’d love to know many years have you been in business and what’s changed since you first started. Tell me in the comments!