Ignorance is bliss

I quit my corporate career 1.5 years ago to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams. I wanted to set up a business where I help people develop psychological, emotional and spiritual well being and empowerment. I had ambitions of being on a stage delivering speeches, writing books and living a lifestyle of freedom and fulfilment. I was soooo excited and honestly, I thought it was going to be a relatively swift and painless process. With my head in the clouds... off I went.

Then reality hit

The reality is that being an entrepreneur is hard

An entrepreneur has a specific set of skills, a way of thinking and an array of behaviours that make them what they are.

In that respect, it's no different to most other jobs. A project manager, a surgeon, a fashion designer, a truck driver... to be successful in any of these, you also need to be a certain type of person with particular skills. And in pretty much every case - your own learning and development is essential if you want to do a good job.

The same goes for entrepreneurship. For some, being an entrepreneur comes more easily (lucky buggers!), in the same way that some people are naturally good at singing or public speaking. For me, entrepreneurship doesn't come naturally. Whilst I had 7 valuable years of corporate experience, when it came to being an entrepreneur, I was like a baby learning to walk and talk. This meant I had to go through a very steep learning curve.

I think this is something that many new entrepreneurs go through but not all of them are aware of the amount of personal transformation that is required on this journey.

Like most lessons in life, I learned these the hard way - through painful mistakes, really low moments, being scared shitless and suffering periods of deep insecurity and confusion. I'm still learning to 'walk and talk'. In fact, I'm still working on many of the items in this list and I expect the list to continue growing.

If you're just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey I hope that this post will help prepare you.

If you are already on the path to entrepreneurship, I'd love to hear your lessons. Do share in the comments. :)

13 Lessons for new entrepreneurs

1. You need a product or service

Well, duh?! Ha. Yeah, believe it or not, I missed this part.

I was working on a building a personal brand, I was getting my name out there with free content on Facebook and other platforms. My plan was to 'build an online following and make it big'.

That's not really a plan.

I did not have even the slightest makings of a business.

If you're trying to build a business (which is what entrepreneurs do), the first step must be to scope out a defined, clear product/ service and a granular idea of who you're going to sell it to. And then make sure that they actually want it.

2. Find one thing and STICK to it

I've lost track of the number of different things I've tried to create/ sell. Merchandise, books, coaching, workshops. It's cool to try new things - in fact it's imperative. Otherwise you will not know what does/ doesn't work or what you do/ don't enjoy.

But, what I did is I tried all of them in a very mediocre way. I didn't put enough time into any of them and quickly flitted to the next idea. I didn't give any of them the focused effort that is required to make them a success or, to give me enough evidence to show that they wouldn't work.

So, whilst trying different things is good, if it's not done in a measured and controlled manner, it can be a huge waste of time, money and effort.

Pick one thing and make a really, really good go of it until you decide to move on to something else.

3. You need a strategy and a plan

Strategy and planning was my top game in the corporate world. But, for some reason I found it hard to implement in my own business. I think that's partly because - linking back to numbers 1 and 2 - I didn't have a product or service to build a strategy and plan around.

The fact is, you cannot build a business without a well thought out strategy and plan. You'd simply be shooting in the dark and like me, you'll spend a lot of time doing 'stuff' that adds no value. Everything you do should be driving towards a cohesive objective.

3. You will feel lost - and that's OK

Throughout my life, I was always sure and certain of what I wanted and I did it. But, since leaving the corporate world and embarking on this journey, I experienced a lot of confusion and months on end of feeling totally lost. Lost about what exactly my products and services were, my branding, my market, my route to market, which social media I should use, which types of content I should create, pricing and so on.

Rest assured, a lot of entrepreneurs go through this. It's part of the process.

A baby learning to walk and talk doesn't always know where and how to steer itself. Sometimes it doesn't know which word to use. But it keeps going - and so must you.

4. The numbers game is quite a red-herring

Social media makes us drive for more followers, more likes, more shares. And we can spend a lot of time and energy trying to achieve this. Whilst these numbers are somewhat important, remember two things:

• 'Popular doesn't mean best, it just means popular' (Seth Godin). Strive to be the best not the most popular.
• One deeply engaged follower is more valuable than five-hundred half interested ones. The one who buys from you is the one who is engaged, not the one who clicks 'like' every once in a while.

5. Learn to handle rejection

This was a tough one for me. My corporate life was largely a comfortable bubble. Of course I got knocked back here and there but I was always somewhat protected, by my employer, by my team. I was rarely on the front line getting rejected.

As an entrepreneur, your're always on the front line getting rejected. You put your work out there and people don't like it. You spend hours on a great blog and no on reads it. You try to make new contacts and people are not interested. You try to sell, and no one buys.

You have to learn to handle this. It's not personal. You cannot let it ruffle your feathers or put out your fire. Keep going.

6. You simply cannot be 'shy' or 'scared'.

Or at least, you cannot let those feelings dictate your behaviour. You must be fearless, at times maybe even a little shameless. You have to self promote. Hiding behind the scenes is unlikely to get you anywhere.

People need to find out about you and what you do. Otherwise, how are you going to get customers/ partners/ advocates?

7. You must be able to sell

Honestly, I hate selling. Mainly because I have a lot of negative conditioning around asking for money (I don't feel worthy of it) and I fear rejection (because it makes me feel not good enough). This is a recipe for disaster!

Now, when I talk of sales I don't mean the sleazy sales-man image that we're all familiar with. I mean genuine, authentic selling. You might be able to hire or partner up with a good sales person but, in the early days, we don't all have the luxury of doing this.

Ultimately, every successful entrepreneur I know of is able to sell and is not afraid of doing it.

8. It's going to take time

There's a lot of crap on the internet at the moment where people sell pipe dreams of the overnight success. It's BS. Look at all successful people who created a long term establishment - they worked long and hard for it.

Keep your eye on the bigger picture. Plant seeds every day as you never know which ones will sprout down the line. This is the nature of the game. No one is saying you can't make a quick buck - I'm sure it's possible. But if you want to build a real, long term business - you must be in for the long journey.

9. Trust yourself

Everyone and their dog has advice for you. Whilst many are well meaning and sometimes right, the fact is that even the experts don't always know what's right for you. And, many nay sayers will come and put you off.

But somewhere in our heart and soul we know that there's something we want to do, or a way in which we want to do it. If your deepest guidance is telling you something, listen to it.

10. Don't compare yourself to anyone

Here's a trap I fall into often - seeing what my peers are doing. I can't help it as their ads keep showing up on my Facebook news feed. Often what I see and hear is the glossy pictures and stories of how great they are doing. This often makes me feel insecure and is a huge sap on my energy.

If you find yourself experiencing this too, forget them. Focus on you. Turn off Facebook and get on with your work. Train yourself to stop looking at what others are doing - unless you are learning from them.

11. Be around supportive people

If you're doing this alone, believe me when I say it's going to get tough. You need people to help you keep going.

Surround yourself (in person and online) with like minded, ambitious and supportive people. Find a coach, a mentor, an accountability buddy. Have someone to lean on. It's OK to ask for help. Chances are, you will need it.

12. Build relationships

Slightly different to the point about building relationships with your fans or being around supportive people - this is about building relationships with people in the industry. As the saying goes 'it's not what you know, it's who you know'.

Go meet people. Reach out. Offer to help. When people start to know who you are, if you're good, they will call on you, they will promote you, they will buy from you.

13. Celebrate every little win

Honestly, the number of things that don't work out can be fairly large. Often, more things don't work than do work. Again, we have to remember that we are like a baby learning to walk and talk - they fall a lot and they mess up their words.

But when they get it right - we celebrate! Do the same for yourself.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it

It's hard, but you can do it! Don't be afraid to fail and be persistent and consistent. And remember this: