My First 100 day’s – What have I learnt as an entrepreneur?

It was a warm summer’s evening when I finally made the choice to take the leap of faith and set up my own business. One week later, I handed my notice in and two months after that, I had left full time employment to begin my journey as an entrepreneur.

What have I learnt?

It’s sometimes better who you know rather than what you know! I say that because all my clients so far have been family friends or friends of friends. Especially in my profession, it is a very trust-based service that I offer. Individuals or businesses want an accountant they can rely on to focus on their finances as well as having a trusted business advisor. Word of mouth is really key.

I have made and will continue to make mistakes in terms of running a business. However, the key thing I’ve learnt is to move on quickly. I’ve done this so far by asking myself: why did I make that mistake? How can I prevent this in the future?

Following that, making sure that I don’t make those same mistakes again. Also, understanding that I will make mistakes as there is a lot of new concepts that I am learning for the first time like sales, marketing etc.

What could I do better?

The one area of my business where I have struggled so far and made a lot of mistakes is in Sales & Marketing. For me, this is a totally new subject and something that I have never learnt or been taught. I’m learning in real time and I’ve made many mistakes. For example, investing in marketing on certain platforms/forums where my target audience is very general instead of specific to small and medium sized businesses.

Another thing I want to improve on is if you don’t have a certain skill - ask for help! This hasn’t always been possible because I am a new business, so startup funds are lower than a business that has been running for a few years. However, it can prevent a lot of time wasted and it allows me to focus more on my strengths. One example of this is, I tried running google ads on my own; problems kept arising that I didn’t understand. I didn’t have the skill set to fix them myself, so I asked someone else for help. This has taken a burden off my shoulders.

What will I do going forward?

Firstly, I will continue to build relationships with fellow entrepreneurs in the local business community by continuing to network. This is an activity I have recently signed up to and will continue to do. I have already made some connections and feel like this is a long-term investment in building up credibility and trust of LedgerFix in the local area, which could directly/indirectly lead to future clients.

Finally, I want to continue working on my own development as a business owner as this is an experience I have truly enjoyed and would love to continue for as long as possible.

However, also being aware as I touched on above knowing when I am outside of my area of expertise to ask for help from others.

I hope you enjoyed this read, or if you are a fellow entrepreneur, that this has resonated with you!