The 5 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started My Own Business
By: Rachel Nixon
Tags: Startup Lessons, Startup, Business, Business Strategy, Freelancing

In February 2020, I celebrated 8 years’ running my business — working for myself, being my own boss, le grand fromage, living the dream. (See also: responsible for everything, has to sort out tax returns, hiring and firing, and dealing with the bad months as well as the good.)

In short, it’s not all plain sailing. But it’s also really fun, and it’s 100% the best career decision I’ve ever made. It helps to remember that you will make loads of mistakes — which you’ll learn something from every time.

Here are the 5 things I wish I’d known before I started.

1. It pays to choose the right business structure

I almost cried when I read Bonnie Renard’s article I Hate My Online Business. The part that resonated was when she spoke to an accountant way down the line of her business journey and found that she owed a quarter of her profits in taxes.

Find someone to advise you on the most appropriate business structure based on your business plan and financial goals as early as possible. It will pay to get this right early on in the process. You may have to pay for this advice — and it makes sense to budget for that in your start-up costs.

Of course, you can change structure down the line as plans and goals change. My company changed from a partnership to a private limited company two years in. It was a pain but ultimately it was the right decision. We ought to have started out as a limited company but we didn’t get the right advice.

2. A business partnership is basically a marriage

I started my business with a good friend from work. We got on really well and supported each other. And it was great — for a time.

Unfortunately, we didn’t realize or articulate that we wanted different things. What we both wanted to be changed and developed as the business grew. And I don’t think we were very good at understanding or communicating how we were feeling at different stages.

So, essentially, like a marriage. A business partnership has the potential to be mutually supportive and fruitful, but if you’re not clear with each other about what you want then it’s hard to make it work.

It’s great to have someone else to share the journey with — it’s lovely to share your wins and reassuring to share your mistakes and problems — but make sure that you think very carefully about what you want from the business and the partner relationship as soon as you can. If what you want changes, raise that as soon as you can.

Although these may be difficult conversations, it will be better for you — and better for your business — in the long run.

3. It’s OK to admit you’re not good at something and pay someone else to do it

This took me ages to learn. I thought I had to know everything; I thought I had to be able to turn my hand at anything to do with the business. Not so — and getting trapped in that mindset can be really damaging.

Trying to work everything out for yourself can be exhausting and lead to burnout. If you start small and delegate one thing once you have the resources to do that, you will find that getting just that one thing off your plate and having it completed to your satisfaction by someone else can be immensely liberating.

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” — Jessica Jackley

I get it — I’m a control freak and I love to know what’s going on with every aspect of my business. However, I can’t do everything; in fact, I’m simply not good at everything and it makes a lot more sense for my health, sanity, and the health of the business to delegate and outsource where possible.

4. When you don’t know something, it helps if you’re able to find someone who does (and fast)

This is allied to the point above. First, you have to admit that you don’t know anything. Next up: you need to get really skilled at finding the right person to help with or do that thing for you.

I’m increasingly convinced that the most successful business people are those who can do this superlatively well — and quickly. They get laser-focused on what the business needs to thrive and then they are able to very rapidly identify the best person to get it done.

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling while they do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt

5. Putting in 50, 60 or 70 hours a week does not equate to business success

When we started our company in February 2012, I went all in. I’d been made redundant from the UK Civil Service and the previous year and a half had been exceptionally strange. I would often find myself in the pub at lunchtime and would float through the afternoon in a two-pints-of-lager haze until leaving at 5 pm ON THE DOT.

So I was champing at the bit to work hard, but I overdid it. I tried to do everything all at once. I worked in the business and on the business. I worked evenings and weekends. Some friends had recently bought a fixer-upper in northern Italy and invited me to stay in late spring: I arrived and went straight to bed and slept for almost 24 hours.

Starting your own business is not an easy option. You will have to work hard. You will have to make sacrifices. You will need to prioritize.

But you — and your business — will be much better off if you schedule a time for relaxation away from work, and prioritize sleep and physical exercise.

Your superpower is being alert, present, and engaged for the whole time you are working on your business. That can be 10 hours a week for a side hustle, or it can be 40 hours a week for your main focus.