I’ve Been Working For Myself For 30 Days. Here Are The Mistakes I’ve Made…So Far.

Avoid these costly mistakes to save money and time.

Mistake #1: I confused motion for action.

Most people who want to start a business spend too much of their time on the treadmill rather than the track.

Meaning they spend time running in place, confusing movement with direction.

How do I know? I fell into this trap myself.

I spent so much time trying to optimize my website, creating business card designs and getting the wording perfect on my LinkedIn.

All these contribute nothing to creating a profitable business.

The only thing you need to focus on is getting money and customers through the door. Plain and simple. Everything else doesn’t matter.

I managed to secure close to $70,000 when I focused on getting money and clients. I also did this without a website or any sort of swanky business card.

If your business is not making money, it’s not a business. It’s a charity.

What I would do differently next time:

• I would leverage my networks earlier to secure more work and spread the word that I was starting my own business.

• I would spend less time worrying about creating a website, business card or business logo. These feel like business activities but they are not.

• I would spend all my time refining my value proposition, finding clients and building the skills I needed.

Mistake #2: I confused talking with doing.

People rather tell you what they are doing, rather than do the thing.

Taking action is scary. Setting clear goals is even scarier.

Why?

When you take action and set clear goals, you reduce the amount of ambiguity and set a clear definition for failure.

I was told by my business mentor for almost a year and a half to start a business before I finally took the plunge.

I kept talking about what I wanted to do, instead of taking real steps to start it up. Fear held me back. Talking about my hypothetical business felt great because it gave me a sense that I was taking action.

But words are cheap, actions are gold.

What I would do differently next time:

• I would start small. I got it in my head that I needed to quit my job and do this business full-time right away. Wrong. Instead, find one client. And another. And then another. Rinse and repeat.

Mistake #3: I listened to everyone and accepted their advice.

Just like an ass crack, everyone will have an opinion about your business.

Even if they have never started one themselves, people will feel like they are experts and give you advice.

The advice comes from a good place, but it can be annoying as hell. Everyone knows of a friend of a friend that tried the same thing and failed.

When I started out, I was sensitive to any information that might help me. I took on board everyone’s advice and felt so overwhelmed with information.

Speak to enough people and you’ll receive enough conflicting advice to cancel each other out.

Now I’ll only take advice from people who have achieved what I want to achieve. I’ve got a group of 4–5 peers and mentors who I’ll ask specifically for their advice.

Peers are great because their advice is still relevant to you. They are probably 3 to 4 steps ahead of your journey and can save you time and money. You can build a sense of community and make your journey less lonely.

Mentors are fantastic because they can give you a bird's eye view of your business. They know the common traps and pitfalls and can help you avoid them. They have been there and done that.

Once you’ve got your tribe, everything else is just noise.

You don’t have to be rude about it. Just hear people out. Thank them for their advice, but don’t take any of it.

What I would do differently next time:

• I would identify a group of 3–4 peers and mentors who I could reliably call upon when I get stuck or lost earlier. I did this a bit too late.

• I would build my business in silence. I felt like I was too excited and told too many people about my business idea. My willingness to share provided the license for others to give advice.

Mistake #4: I feel like I had to be perfect.

With my first few clients, I felt like I had to know everything and be across the entire project.

I would move quickly to action things and be proactive with the pieces of work that needed to be done. These aren’t bad traits to have, but I took it too far to cover up for the insecurities I felt.

I am often the youngest person in the room with the least amount of experience. Imposter syndrome runs through my veins most days as a consultant.

The initial constructive feedback I got was: “you need to share more and slow down. We don’t feel like you’re taking us on the journey.”

What I would do differently next time:

• Talk to my therapist before starting. LOL. I am not joking. Being aware of your insecurities is the first step to making sure they will stop being life traps.

• Acknowledge that this client approached me for a specific reason. I have a skillset, knowledge and networks that they want access to.

• Reframe my ‘clients that I work for’ to ‘project partners that I am learning with.’ This takes all the pressure off.

Mistake #5: I underpriced myself. Significantly.

My first negotiation with a client went terribly for me. But fantastic for the client.

To put a long story short, I managed to negotiate with myself and underpriced my services. Significantly.

It was only when they immediately accepted my offer and sent an email follow-up to confirm the price that I knew I had made a big mistake. They were too keen and didn’t need any time to think about it.

What added salt to the wounds was that I came across the previous work done by other consultants, which was subpar at best, and they charged the same client 3x what I charged them.

I had undercharged myself by thousands of dollars.

Yikes. That hurt.

This was my fault. The client didn’t pressure me to do anything.

What I would do differently next time:

• Understand the dynamic. Did they approach you or did you approach them? If it is the former you have more bargaining power. If it is the latter, you still have power, but you need to use it properly.

• Don’t feel like you have to name a price straight away. ALWAYS give yourself time to think. Even if it is only for 24 hours. I made this mistake and it cost me thousands of dollars.

• If the client pushes, just give the excuse you have other pending proposals before you’re not sure you can take this project on.

Closing thoughts

This won’t be the first or last time I make mistakes like this. It’s all part of the journey.

But if you are thinking about working for yourself, learn from the mistakes I’ve made before you start. It could save you hundreds of hours and make you thousands of dollars.

Good luck!

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