10 of the Best Lessons I've Learned as an Entrepreneur

In 2013, I started my own company to take advantage of the extra flexibility made possible by a freelance lifestyle. My projects began to multiply. Before long, I built a small team of fellow freelancers to manage the increased workload. Ten years later, Leverage has grown into a full team of professionals, each with their own unique skills and expertise. My focus on building talent and teamwork has helped us enjoy great success. Here are the Top 10 lessons I have learned in the past decade.

1. A CEO Wears a Lot of Hats. Growing a business is a long process requiring patience. Not only am I the visionary and leader of the company, but I am also:?

• The Head of Human Resources
• The CFO?
• The CMO?
• The Chief Consultant for my customers
• The Chief Problem Solver at the business?

At home, I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, an aunt, a cousin, a soccer mom, a piano mom, a drums mom, a Scouts mom, and a swim mom. It is a massive responsibility to balance these roles. Over time, you can build your team and assign responsibilities, but at first you will likely feel you are doing it all.?

2. Expect to be HIGHLY Consumed with Your New Venture

Work never fully goes away. There is no such thing as a true vacation. You can take time off, you can go away, but when you’re the CEO, there is no “turning it off.” For many years, I worked frequent nights, weekends, and vacations. I was committed to my customers and promised them high-quality results. I remember being at the Phoenix Zoo on Spring Break and taking customer calls from the park. Later, we pulled the family car over so I could lead another call. Clearly, that was not the ideal environment for a quiet and focused meeting, but I was committed. My family can recount other stories about similar disruptions. Sometimes I cringe thinking about it, but that is the genuine struggle as an entrepreneur.?

Just when you think you have everything humming, something will pop up and surprise you. You’ll have to manage it. There is no such thing as auto-pilot. Setting up a sound structure to handle disruptions is key.

3. Take the Time to Establish Rock-Solid Processes. You’ll Thank Yourself Later.

When I first started hiring people, I thought they would do exactly as I did. Yet when they began working on their projects and completed their tasks, I realized each person operated very differently. It was not quite fair of me to make assumptions. I documented my key processes, contracts, systems, and policies. After every project, after every lesson, I work with my team leaders to continue to tighten up our company’s processes and policies. We take pride in carefully documented processes that allow our team to perform at a consistent level.?

It is well worth the time to document processes. Train people extensively and then delegate absolutely every task that someone else can do for you. As a CEO, there is always going to be something to do, and you need to have margin for challenges that will certainly arise.

4. Build Your Team Carefully and Intentionally.

Hiring the right people for the right position is crucial. We have some great talent development practices in place - thanks to Paramount Consulting - that have helped us build a powerful team. In the past, my key requirement was that each team member had edtech industry experience. Soon it became clear that some of my hires understood the industry but were unfortunately not the best fit for Leverage. Individuals are shaped by their culture, skills, motivators, and behaviors. These variables are inherent in a person and cannot be changed. Industry knowledge, on the other hand, can be taught. When you find a person who has the preferred skills AND industry experience, that is as good as gold!

5. Foster the Right Customer Relationships.

Having great customers is just as important as having great hires. Our customers choose us. We also have the privilege of choosing them and gently declining if it is not the right fit! Working with customers who respect and understand our basic requirements will set them up for success – leading to ideal outcomes. Consulting is always a two-way street, and we are intent on finding the right customers to form solid partnerships.

6. Have the Courage to Say “No.”

I have had clients call me for help, and I have very much wanted to work with them.? But sometimes no matter how badly I want to take on a project, I have to have the courage to say “No.”? To evaluate whether or not a project is a fit, I go back to our company mission statement: “Quality of life for our team, and quality, on-time results for our customers.” If the project does not align with our mission - if I cannot guarantee the Leverage quality standard, if I cannot guarantee delivering results, meeting a client deadline,? or that myself or the other Leverage team members will have quality of life while working on the project, then I have to politely decline.? After 10 years in business, I have leaned into my company’s true expertise – the types of projects where we are continually successful. The upside of saying “No,” is that it is so rewarding to confidently guide a client through the process to help them reach their goal and see a return on their investment.? And by doing this, my customers know they can expect consistent results and quality when they work with Leverage.?

7. Change is Constant, So Buckle Up.?

There will always be new and unforeseen challenges. Accept the seasons of business as they come. Don’t fight against them. Instead, embrace and lean into the changes because they will certainly change again. The pandemic is a recent example of this. My freelance staff was already working remotely in Spring of 2020, but my key clients were adjusting to a new way of life. Schools were shuttered, and instructors were forced to abruptly teach online. What could have spelled disaster for many small businesses led to many new opportunities for Leverage. We were uniquely positioned – with an already established remote workforce - to help our clients meet their market development goals. We leaned into our proficiency and grew the business and team, despite very trying circumstances.

8. Trust is Critical. (See my prior article on this topic!)

As a manager, after making a sound hire, I’ve learned to trust people to do their work. You cannot grow a business doing everything yourself. You must believe in the people who surround you. I used to join every client meeting and asked to be copied on each client email. It greatly increased my workload to have this type of oversight, but I persisted becauseI assumed my customers wanted me to be involved in everything, and I didn’t want any of them to feel slighted by me. Over time, one of my customers privately shared that when I insisted on being included in every engagement, it created the perception that I did not trust my team. Since then, I have allowed my employees to fully own their projects. I wholeheartedly trust my team.?

9. Be Prepared to Support People.??

As the CEO of the company, you absorb everyone else’s problems. Life is always happening. When someone on the team has a sick parent, a health crisis, a child in the hospital, or a loved one suffering from a terminal illness, you must let them work through those things. They need the time and space to handle it, and it's important to give them that support. It is also natural to care about them and want to be there for them. It can be a challenge to balance what is happening in the lives of your team members with what is happening in our own personal life and, at the same time, still meet deliverables and operate a business - and especially when operating without your full team in place. You must build cushion into your systems and processes and always have back-up solutions and plans in place to consistently deliver. This is the benefit of building a broad team, tried and true processes, and a supportive culture, which will make these crises more manageable.?

10. Support Yourself, too. Nobody Likes a Burned-Out Boss.

When I first started the business, I was working crazy hours and had few boundaries. My focus was always on helping my customers. It was an exhausting, high-burnout way to work that was not sustainable. Over the past 10 years, I have learned to prioritize my sleep. I very rarely get on my computer late at night, because the blue light keeps me awake. I know I need to be rested the next day. I’ve learned to prioritize my diet and prioritize exercise.?

As an entrepreneur, there is always more you can do. It is challenging to build breaks into your day, especially if a new customer wants to meet outside of working hours and another customer requires a custom proposal with a tight deadline. I work hard to meet their expectations, while also caring for myself. Sometimes I still slip into old patterns and ignore my own well-being. This will always be a balancing act for me, but I have learned that nobody benefits from a burned-out boss.?

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I’m grateful for the past decade and all these lessons. After ten years, I have built a revenue-generating company with a firm foundation, rock-solid processes, and an incredible team. I look forward to the next decade where I will work to further develop my staff, expand our client roster, and generate new experiences to make a mark on our industry.?

At the end of every project, our team at Leverage analyzes the outcome. We always ask, "If the client calls us tomorrow and asks us to do the same project again, how can we do it better?" This is how we develop a culture of innovation -- always improving, always doing better, and never settling.?