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5 Lessons I Learned From Building My Business

| Mary Shores

 

For those of you who know my story,

you know it’s been an absolute rollercoaster. I’ve had some absolutely crushing lows and some truly inspiring highs. One of those highs was breaking records to become the youngest person at the time to create my business. I’ve overcome financial hardships and judgment from people who thought I couldn’t do it, but I’ve beaten the odds and built my business to eight figures. Through it all, I’ve learned a lot, and I’m ready to share that knowledge with you. Here are the 5 most important lessons I’ve learned from creating my business.

I’m proud that I built from the ground up. I’ve never had investors and, in the beginning, I didn’t even have a loan. I worked 2 jobs to supply the money I needed to achieve my success. In fact, when my kids were young, I took them to work. I’m sure you can imagine the kind of looks I got, walking into a meeting with two toddlers in tow. When it got to the point where I had to have daycare, I honestly made less money in my business than my monthly expenses. That’s right. I was in a deficit for some time. Which leads me to the first 2 lessons I learned:

  1. Live Within Your Means
    Keep Your Eye on the Long Term ROI

Businesses cost a lot of money. BUT I knew how to live within my means and I kept my eye on the long-term ROI. I did a couple of risky financial maneuvers like putting my entire car balance on a 3-year, interest-free, no payment deal from a credit card company. It cost me 3%, but it got rid of the payment temporarily. By the way, I was able to pay it off. Here’s the number 3 lesson:

  1. Invest in your Business

Whenever I got a big financial win, I immediately reinvested it in my business instead of myself. This fits in with remembering the ROI. You have to remember that what you put in today, you’ll get back in spades tomorrow. IF you invest wisely and keep your goals in mind.

  1. Always Be Learning

 I learned to always learn new things. Here’s the truth: You can’t dig yourself out of a financial hole or build your business if you don’t know how. The most successful (and smartest) people in the world know that their knowledge is limited and that they can always learn something new. Don’t get ahead of yourself and be willing to be a student. Even when you’re the boss.

  1. Content Is Currency

Content isn’t king, it’s your currency. If you want to be a big player, you have to get the content in alignment with your goals and wield it as the powerful tool it is. Most important of all, you can’t let your balance reach 0 – you have to keep creating fresh and impactful content. Here’s a trick: repurpose content. Stretch it like a good budgeter stretches a paycheck. You’ll get your return.

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