5 Biggest Lessons from 5 Years in Business

Forever Friday Co turns 5!! Seriously you guys, I want to thank each of you so much for your support and the honor of working with you! I’m sincerely so grateful and hope you know that you are the best clients in the world! Watching your businesses scale and hit goals is the best part of my job! Being a business owner hasn’t always been a walk in the part so I want to share the 5 biggest lessons from 5 years in business.

Getting here hasn’t been easy and a lot of lessons we must learn ourselves, but on the podcast, I shared the 5 biggest lessons I have learned over the past 5 years. Before I get into those, I want to share something amazing that happened this week.

What is a Happy Folder?

I like to keep a ‘happy folder’ on my phone (check my IG highlights if you want to learn more) where I keep testimonials, positive client feedback, or wins. For me, this is almost therapeutic because as small business owners we don’t have someone checking in or giving us a pat on the back. We can get into our heads especially if we’ve had a tough day or week so having easy access to positive material is so helpful for these kinds of days. 

I have been intentionally adding lower ticket, non-committal options for my community members that may not be ready to join the monthly membership. I was really excited to offer a 16 page Revenue Stream Workbook, that I use personally, to my community. As I was writing thank you cards to the clients who purchased it, I couldn’t believe it when I was addressing envelopes to Switzerland and Australia! It’s so fascinating when people from other countries are purchasing my products because it’s a testament to how important marketing is and how far your content can reach! Stay in your work and I promise you will connect with so many people!

5 Biggest Lessons from 5 Years in Business

Lesson 1, The better you get at looking at your ‘spend’ as your investments, the faster your business will grow!

This is truly one of the biggest lessons for me. I was trying to do everything by myself but if I would have upgraded some of my tools earlier then I would have felt more freedom and flow sooner. I had to learn the hard way because our finances are important to us and we are here to make money. We can get tunnel vision of classifying a product or business coach as ‘spending’ rather than ‘investing.’ 

When I was working for Lululemon, I had a mentor who pulled me to the side and told me how it took her 3 years to feel confident to speak on calls. 3 years! I was really surprised but I remember this because it took me a while to get confident in parts of my business, like messaging. Getting super clear on messaging and what I was trying to convey across social, my website, newsletters, etc. took me time. As small business owners we want things to happen fast.

I’ve also started to look at the technology I use as investments. When I started to use software tools to upgrade efficiency I was literally taking hours off my plate to focus in other areas of my business. I’ve invested in my course platform, legal, and software tools this year which has literally leveled up my business (and skyrocketed efficiency). Read my blog on tools I use everyday!

On the podcast, I go into my client appreciation mindset and why I don’t believe having a scarcity mindset will help scale our business. I talk about how investing in my client appreciation strategy has helped my churn level stay super low and how I’ve been growing each year by 95%-105%. The better you get at looking at your spending as investments the faster your business will grow!

Lesson 2, market how you consume. Pay attention to what drove you to purchase, and conversely, unsubscribe.

So what do I mean by that? When a brand does something that I love, I really study it whether it be an email, a nurture sequence, appreciation, etc. When I consume something it’s an opportunity to really figure out what I loved about the course, product, etc. Conversely, I also think about why I unsubscribe or decide that a brand no longer resonates with me. Challenge yourself over the next week to think about why you purchase or why you no longer follow a brand. Go with your flow, not force.

Lesson 3, know who is speaking to you from a limited belief mindset.

You need to know who to turn off. With social media being a primary source of marketing and building a community it’s easy for those who have limited mindsets to come at your business strategy. Over time, you begin to differentiate who is speaking to you from a scarcity mindset or an abundance mindset. Some people will cheer you on and some just can’t see the same possibility as you can. For me, this took time but knowing whose opinion matters is really important because what those people say is not a reflection of you. Anything is possible for you, and your business, so really practice discernment with any nay-sayers who cross your path!

Lesson 4, don’t waste time dwelling. Know what is holding you down and find a way to offload, quick!

In Jen Sincero’s book You are a Badass (I highly recommend) she writes ‘notice where you stop.’ I love this so much because it’s been so impactful for me. For example, let’s say you are writing an email but the technology is so frustrating and then, as the meme goes, you ‘slam laptop shut.’ Slowly, but surely, it starts to chip away at how much you enjoy writing emails to your clients and community members. Once we dread a part of our business this is where we can invest in offloading this to someone else by hiring an assistant or someone just to do that task. Rip the bandaid off and confront it!

Lesson 5, software isn’t perfect. Find a way to work around the roadblock instead of trying to scale a wet wall!

Trust me, this one is really hard for me too, especially when it comes to software. Technology is literally allowing us to connect with people all over the world but it doesn’t mean that it’s without hiccups or headaches (cough, cough to my Teachable example). Software is nowhere near perfect but dont let this wear you down. Figure out another way by working with customer service or switch to a better technology but don’t let this stop you! Efficiency, scale, and freedom are ultimate goals! 

Listen all the way to the end for my last piece of advice on explaining your business over social media! 

I hope you enjoyed this episode. What lessons have you learned? 

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