I’m going to (probably) keep this one quite brief – I’m writing it on my Birthday 🎂 (10th October, the day before this is due to go out) and everyone has already told me off for doing work on a day I’ve actually booked out. 🙈
However, this newsletter is a bit of therapy for me and I didn’t want to let you down. Plus, today marks a bit of a milestone, in a way, so it felt right to mark the occasion.
It’s now 10 years (by age) since I dropped out of university to start my first business. So I wanted to share some of my key, cornerstone learnings from ten years in business, that can hopefully help you get to where you want to be much, much faster. 📈
Deliver on your promises.
To others and to yourself. Tell others to give yourself accountability and don’t let them down. As a natural procrastinator, this is how I get stuff done. The newsletter is a great example. 😉
Be good. Do good.
If you can deliver positive impact, inspire others, create change and make the world a better place by doing the work you do, you’ll not only be happier but it will come back to you in the form of opportunities and gratitude too.
Yes, learning how to say no is important – I’m not saying say yes to everyone with their hands out. But do what you can, when you can, where you can and let’s try to prove those who think you need to be hard-nosed to get by, wrong, shall we? 😏
Perception is (almost) everything.
People buy stuff, keep stuff and talk about stuff because of what they believe. Often that is a reflection of the reality but if you can understand the psychology of perception then you will already have a solid grounding in understanding how to market yourself, your brand, your product, your experience and much more.
The rest is sales.
Of course there’s a lot more to business to frankly, if you can make people believe it’s great, then all you have to do is sell stuff. Then you’ve got a business. 💸
Of course, the kicker is your product should be brilliant too. Or at least good. I would never advocate you selling something not fit for purpose but all have to start somewhere. Most of you already know that v.01 of the Yena membership wasn’t great but you perceived it to be great and I was good at selling it. From there I just had to make sure we made it actually great as fast as possible. Now, it’s awesome, it’s much easier than it ever was! 🙌
Don’t wait.
Don’t be a ‘wantrepreneur’ be an ‘entrepreneur’. Go do that thing you’ve been thinking of. Any delay is just you filling up your ‘regret meter’ with time it doesn’t need. Regardless of when you start, you’ll only ever wish you started sooner. 🔜
True success takes years.
Overnight successes are very, very, very [insert a few more ‘very’s here] rare. The reality is that most of the most successful and relatively stable & profitable businesses you can think of right now took years to start and grow. 🌱
Being ambitious is a blessing & a curse.
(honestly the most real gif I think I’ve ever used)
Wanting to do more is often misconstrued as a want for material gain. It’s not. It’s a want for progress. That’s why many business owners who retire, end up coming out of retirement and starting something new. It’s not about needing to buy a bigger house; bigger houses are the spoils of the curse that is always wanting progress.
But why is it a curse? Well, never feeling you’re done often makes you feel like you’re not good enough. It fuels imposter syndrome and can really damage your mental health if you’re not aware that it’s a personality trait, rather than a problem. So be self aware and harness that unending ambition to do good & see how far you can grow!
These are the cornerstone lessons I’ve learned over the past years that I wish I had known right at the start. Implement these now.
Hopefully they’ll help you on your journey to whatever success looks like for you! 🚀
