Do you know the saying: “A donkey doesn’t bump his head against the same rock twice”?

Well, I don’t think that saying is particularly true for humans, because since I’ve started my business, I’ve probably made every mistake in the book – and many of them twice.  Although some of these mistakes were often very costly, I can now say I learned valuable lessons from each – especially when I made the same mistake more than once 🙂

So, as I reflected on my business of the past year, I thought of sharing some of those lessons with you. Perhaps these valuable business lessons learned can help you smooth out your own business journey and help you reach the endpoint faster.

 Lesson 1: When the going gets tough, the tough must pick up her pace

Having a solo business is never smooth sailing and there are many times when you wonder: “Why on earth am I doing this to myself? Wouldn’t it be easier to go back to corporate or to just throw in the towel?”

These types of thoughts usually surface at times when for example you have only a few or even no clients and have an uphill struggle to get more clients and earn a decent income or at times when you start getting too many clients to handle comfortably and it feels you work yourself to death.

The truth is, no matter where you are in business, there will always be rough patches that you just have to go through. That’s business.

In those times, think of yourself as gold going through fire. Gold must be put through the fire to burn off all the impurities. Only after this “brutal” process it is pure enough to be used for the best jewelry.

So, when things get tough, don’t throw in the towel. Rather pick up the pace and start doing things better and differently to pull through. When you do not have enough clients, look for better ways to do marketing; when you work way to hard, get some help into your business. Truth is, when you persevere and pick up your pace during the difficult times, an amazing thing happens…. You get through it!

Best of all, many positive things always follow the difficult times – especially when you pick up the pace and play your part.

Lesson 2: Procrastination is your worst enemy

In business, the worst thing you can do is to procrastinate, and sadly we all do it.

Napoleon Hill said in his book Think and Grow Rich: “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

When I look at procrastination, it’s not even the things that you’re putting off until the day after tomorrow; it’s the things that you’ve got on your list for weeks and weeks and months and even years. The things you never get to; the things that you keep saying, “One of these days…” and “one of these days…” never happens.

Some reasons why people procrastinate is often because of  fear – fear of what other people will say or a fear of not being good enough or a fear of failure, and it’s hard to motivate yourself to do something if you’re not sure you’ll succeed. For example you might not pick up the phone and call that potential client because you fear they won’t like you or what you offer and say no.

So, being a solo-preneur can be quite scary, because you are often taken out of your comfort zone. You frequently have to do things that you’ve never done before. It all makes it easy to procrastinate and thus preventing you to take action.

What I however found is that every time you take action in spite of the fear or in spite of the difficulties standing in my way, it becomes easier to do it the next time. You also progress and move forward.

Ultimately, the success or the failure of your business is up to you. You have to take personal responsibility to defeat the enemy of procrastination and to start doing things in spite of fear and in spite of the obstacles in your way.

 Lesson 3: The “Why” is more Powerful Than the “How”

I can still remember the time when my daughter was about 3 or 4 and constantly asked me “why” on every single conversation (or sentence) I said. It drove me nuts.  But, I recently realized there’s a lot of wisdom in her curiosity.

In business, you need to ask yourself “why” regularly to really understanding the things that drive you and the reasons behind why you do what you do.  E.g.  Ask yourself: Why am I doing this? Why does it matter? Why do I care? Why does my heart tell me this is right for me?

Asking these questions help you to clarify if you make the right decision. It also gives you a strong sense of purpose as it often highlights the reasons why you should do something.

The mistake many of us make however, is to get stuck at the “How”: How on earth will I be able to afford this; How can I make this happen; How should I do it? How will I reach that goal? The problem with focusing on the how is that you might never get started.

In reality, once you focus and get clear on the “why” of doing things, the “how” to do it often falls into place. Because when your why is a strong enough reason, you are motivated to take the action to do it. Only when you start to take action, you attract the right opportunities, people and resources!

Here are 3 more lessons I’ve learned about Business and Marketing

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If you can relate to any of these lessons, share your thoughts with us. How do feel about lesson 3 specifically? Do you agree with it?

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Love and Success

Francis