Month 2: Lessons Learned
Hello there!
If you’re here chances are that you’ve been following my little journey! As a new small business owner, I’ve learned so much during the past couple of weeks and I thought it’d be cool to document some of my learnings thus far to encourage others to take the leap in their own ventures. So without further ado, my month 1 & 2 lessons learned…
Be comfortable being the jack of all trades and the master of none: As a perfectionist, these past two months have been super difficult. I’ve learned so much and made many, many mistakes. But everyday gets better and to think a month ago I was hand delivering my products on foot in snow, I’ve realized I’ve come a long way. But, that being said there’s a lot to learning to wear multiple hats - as a one-woman show, I’ve had to operate as creator, accountant, marketer, photographer, operations and delivery, and honestly it’s been the most humbling experience ever.
Surround yourself with an amazing support system: I’ve thought about giving up probably ever single day since day 1 and if it wasn’t for my amazing support system, I would’ve just tossed the towel already tbh. I can’t emphasis this enough but be open about sharing your journey with others, you’ll be amazing at how many people truly believe in you and want you to succeed. And learn to mute out all the negative noise.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help: This goes hand-in-hand with #2 but apart from your support system, reach out to other people you admire who might be able to share and provide advice. I’ve slowly built up a network that includes photographers, creators, chefs, somms, and other charcuterie stylists, and honestly everyone has contributed useful advice and tools that have helped me operationalize my business.
Nobody has the answer to social strategy. The social game is a full time job in itself. It’ll take time. Make sure to put in the effort to build authentic and on brand content, engage with your community and form partnerships with synergistic businesses. It’s very difficult to make it on social overnight. Be patient with yourself.
Enjoy the journey. Before launching, I was confident that I had some general sense of what it took to launch a business, however in practice, it was a lot more than I had originally anticipated. Then, I decided to take a week off and get everything done - which also didn’t work and made me incredibly overwhelmed. Once I realized that I had committed to an ongoing journey and not an end state, it helped me to enjoy the process, and take each day as a stepping stone.
Cheers to month 2! And thank you to our loyal supporters and customers who’ve been with us from Day 1.