Key Lessons from my first year as a business owner

On 1st August 2021, I celebrated a significant milestone, one year in business.

365 days ago, I set-up Add Salt, my business as a freelance marketing consultant. Fast forward to today and I have the pleasure of working with wonderful clients, each and every one of them. My clients operate in wildly different sectors, providing me with huge variety in my work, which I really enjoy.

As I reflect on the last 365 days, as well as setting up Add Salt, I’ve also home-schooled my children during school closures and project managed a house move, 2020 has certainly been a memorable year, in many ways. I realise now that I had a lot to learn in my first year of trading. These are the stand-out lessons, which I hope will provide help for anyone contemplating a similar journey.

#1 Your network is still your biggest asset, keep expanding it

Almost 70% of my clients are through my network, the remainder came from contacts I made through new networks. Needless to say, networking is critical to business growth, and your network is your biggest asset, so maintain it, and keep expanding it! As a small business, you’re unlikely to have a huge budget to spend on marketing, so you need to leverage those referrals.

#2 Make every piece of work count

When you work for yourself, it’s your reputation on the line. Every piece of work I send out has got to keep my clients happy, otherwise they won’t return. Get it right, first time. As well as fulfilling client briefs and delivering projects on time, I believe that keeping commitments is important in building trust. Say what you’ll do, and make sure you do it. Even small commitments such as turning up to meetings on time (online and face-to-face).

#3 Tesco is spot-on, every penny counts

As a digital marketer, it’s really tempting to buy software. When it comes to managing your own money, you have an entirely different attitude and approach. As they say, unless you’ve been in the trenches, you’ll never understand what it was like. When it’s your own money, every expenditure eats into your profit. Instead of purchasing software, I’d find myself seeking out alternative free versions or signing-up to free trials, questioning the need to ‘upgrade’ my free version? Every expenditure becomes a high-involvement decision.

#4 Don’t be afraid to say ‘No’

I’ll admit that it’s difficult to turn work down, after all, it’s revenue. I’ve had to turn down projects when I deemed them commercially unviable. I guess that’s also an advantage of being your own boss, you can pick and choose the work. If your gut tells you that something’s not right and you can’t make it work, instead of finding other solutions, don’t be afraid to say, 'No'.

#5 Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Nobody knows everything. We continue to learn every day. Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know something and ask for help. For me, doing my first self-assessment tax return was a struggle. I asked for help. When I first started, I had no idea what to write my terms of business, I asked for help. Again, this is another example of where having a great network can help you.

#6 When one door closes, another one opens

The reality is that you’re not going to win every project or client you quote for. When you don’t win, don’t take it personally, or dwell on it too much, because there’s always another opportunity out there. Perhaps something even better aligned with your skillset.

#7 Behind closed doors, it’s lonely

As a one-woman band, except for my husband, no-one else sees the effort and work that goes in. There’s no-one to share your workload with, no-one to bounce ideas off, no-one to share your wins with. It can get lonely.

Overall, it’s been an absolute blast, I wished I had done it sooner. I’m not saying everything has been perfect, so here are the things I’d like to improve in year two. Thou shall spend more time on marketing Add Salt! The vast majority of my time is devoted to client work, so my own website gets neglected. Anyone fancy guest-posting on my site? Finally, once a month, I will block some time out for personal development and learn a new skill, even if it’s only for an hour.