3 Strategies From My First Year as a Business Owner

My journey to becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t a straight line. To be honest, if you’d told me five years ago that I’d be working for myself, I would have called you crazy. I wasn’t one of the college students who dreamed of creating a new product or app that would change the world. And yet, in October of 2016, I founded Logan Strategy Group (LSG), a one-woman company dedicated providing event and tour services for university teams and companies looking to travel to China.

I knew that I could provide a valuable service to schools and teams who travel to China for games or training trips. I was passionate about showing people China, especially its culture and history. I also wanted to control the number of hours I worked and find a better balance than I’d had before. With all the advantages to starting my own company, I also knew that it would present a whole set of challenges.

Over the past year, I’ve jotted down a few lessons I’ve learned from starting a business of one.

You are on a rollercoaster with your business.

I couldn’t think of a better analogy to explain how I felt on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even hourly basis as I worked to build my company. One day, I’d feel like I was a rockstar, ready to conquer the world, surrounded by clients who completely understood my mission. The next day, I’d feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life, feeling like other professionals were laughing at me because they had never heard of LSG, or getting overwhelmed as I tried to understand corporate taxes.

On a particularly bad day, I called my dad to talk through a few problems I’d been having. I listed a number of reasons why my business would fail and how I was making a huge mistake. After my rant, my dad asked me who had said all those negative things. I told him it was me. It was my spiraling internal dialogue: why would you think that you could run your own company? Why should big clients work with someone they’ve never heard of? His question made me realize half the battle of running my company is with myself and my own insecurities.

I still feel those highs and lows after a year running LSG but the difference is that I’ve learned to enjoy the ride. Instead of fighting my fears and worries, I try to face them, usually with the help of a friend, mentor, or my family. This has helped the down days feel less down and last for a shorter period of time. I’ve also been working on celebrating the good times, like treating myself to a mini-vacation or a new book. Giving my brain time to recharge and refresh has helped me stay motivated in the long run which leads me to my next lesson learned:

Only you can manage your energy.

Without coworkers to hold you accountable, you’re the only person who can make yourself work and also the only person who can give yourself a break. To avoid burnout, make sure to schedule in time to turn off work and explore your hobbies.

In my first six months of working for myself, I was feeling like I constantly needed to be working since time was money and I needed money to fuel my business. I was working until 11 pm and treating Sundays like another workday. I was feeling like I couldn’t take a break since there wasn’t anyone else to pick up the slack. I finally got out of my rut in June 2017 when I decided to change two habits: 1) I was going to start regularly going to CrossFit and 2) I was going to remove a messenger app from my computer.

I’ve always loved working out because it makes me feel healthier and happier. But when I got busy, the first thing to fall out of my schedule was my workouts. By prioritizing them like a client meeting, I started to hold myself accountable. The more I went, the more my coach and fellow athletes helped hold me accountable and I found that I was more energized heading back to work after my workouts.

I also removed WeChat from my computer, a messaging app used in China to communicate with friends, colleagues, and clients. It’s amazing to be that connected but can also be time-consuming. I had to decide that not every message I received from friends or clients HAD to be answered right when I saw it. I still have WeChat on my phone but I have to intentionally open it to check my messages, which has helped me stay focused on my daily tasks.

Your sales matter.

Before LSG, I worked in digital marketing and strategy. I knew how to promote my business on social media and build a company website and blog. I also was very comfortable executing client work from on-boarding to project completion.

As I set everything up with my company, I realized that I was going to need to work on my sales skills. Unlike launching a company around a physical product, my sales targets were low but required more time to sign them on as a client. I quickly realized that sales and business development would be two of the largest factors in whether my business would succeed or fail.

I relied heavily on referrals from clients I’d worked with at my previous jobs and reaching out to my university’s alumni database in the beginning. I had to learn what CRM stood for and why it was important to carry business cards with me at all times. Through trial and error, I got better at my cold emails and how I would talk to new contacts about what I did.

Now, my sales drive everything I do. It sounds pretty straightforward but having been on the account execution side in previous jobs, I hadn’t really seen the power of a strong sales pipeline. Today, sales are one of my biggest priorities and lead generation has become almost a daily task on my to-do list.

I still can’t believe it’s been over a year since I started Logan Strategy Group. We’re on track to continue growing in 2018, bringing more university sports teams to China and planning events for other clients. But my favorite thing about the future of LSG is what I will continue to learn. I’ve never learned so much about myself, both professionally and personally, from having to face my insecurities to pushing myself to be more comfortable approaching strangers at networking events.

Entrepreneurship might not be for everyone but don’t discount it. From one non-believer to another, if you like a challenge, or surprises or enjoy fighting for something you’re passionate about, you might just like running your own business. If you don’t, try applying a few of the lessons to your full-time job and you might just be surprised by the results.

If you’ve started your own company or are thinking about it, I want to hear from you. Comment below or tweet at me @loganmclements with the challenges you’ve faced and what strategies you used to overcome them.