5 Things You Should Know Before Starting Your Own Business

So you're thinking about, or you've already started your own business. Whether you're new to business management or you're a rockstar at it - there's always things you wish you knew before you started. From struggles, to triumphs, there's no feeling quite like being your own boss so here are some of the things I wish I knew before starting my own business.

1. Don't neglect your own marketing

I neglected my own marketing for a whole year, and it set me back by a year. A coincidence? I think not...

Mark out some time in your diary each week to get it done. You'll thank yourself later.

2. You Can't Do Everything

When you start your own business you're you suddenly become an accountant, a marketeer, a manager, a PA (to yourself), a web developer, a designer and many more job roles you hadn't anticipated. Yes, you'll suddenly spend so much time doing other things you'll hardly have time to nurture new business. The trick is to work out what you can do yourself and what to get help with.

I designed my own website and manage my own social media - both things I wouldn't give out to someone (which makes sense because marketing is my trade). Things I gave out were graphic design, book-keeping and I got myself an accountant.

If you can afford to get help, do.

3. You'll still hate numbers

I've never been brilliant at maths, I was always in the bottom set at school because I've always related more to letters than I have numbers...

There's nothing quite like the feeling of panic when you've not done your book keeping in months. Keep on track with an accounting software like Quickbooks. It's only £15 per month which I think is well worth it for the stress you'll save yourself.

4. People will always want to give you their opinion

...and it's your job to learn to deal with it. I've heard it all "You know what you should do..." "Well ,when I ran my own business..." "I wouldn't have done it like that..." The thing to remember is that some of the lessons people try to teach you will be very useful, others will be bad, and others quite simply will piss you off. 

I've started reading The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k which has really helped me think about how I respond to people who try to tell me how to run my business - such as "Well, everyone has an opinion."