What Owning a Small Business Has Taught Me

Nobody tells you how much of owning a small business is staring at a screen wondering if you're doing this right.

You can have a plan. You can have experience. You can know what you're doing for everyone else.

And then you look at your own business and think, Okay...but what exactly am I supposed to do now?

That's probably one of the biggest things I've learned since starting The Write Touch Studio.

Here are some other things I’ve learned along the way:

Your business is personal.

When you're the one whose name is attached to the business, a “no” can feel a lot more personal than it probably should.

A declined proposal isn't necessarily a rejection of you. A quiet social media post isn't a referendum on your business. And one slow month doesn't mean you've failed.

Sometimes, it's just business being business.

The people pleaser in me has a REAL hard time with that one.

Everyone starts somewhere.

It's easy to look at an established business and think they have it all figured out.

They probably don't.

Every business you admire once had its first client, first invoice, first awkward sales conversation and first month wondering whether anyone was actually going to buy what they were selling. There's a lot of value in remembering that when you're building something new.

Relationships matter more than reach.

As someone who works in public relations, I already knew relationships were important. Running my own business has made me understand it on an entirely different level.

The person who recommends you to a friend. The client who comes back. The fellow business owner who sends an opportunity your way. The person who shares your post even though they don't need your services.

Those relationships may not show up neatly on a spreadsheet, but they are incredibly valuable.

Small business is built on people.

You can't do everything.

When you're starting out, it's tempting to think you need to do all the things. You need to be on every social platform. You need a perfect website. You need a newsletter. You need to post every day. You need to learn SEO. You need to understand accounting. You need to somehow become a graphic designer, salesperson, marketer, CEO and IT department overnight.

You don't.

You need to figure out what actually moves your business forward—and do that well.

(Yet another thing I am also working on myself)

The small wins count.

Your first client counts.

Your first five-star review counts.

The person who tells you, “I saw your post and thought of you,” counts.

The fellow business owner who recommends you counts.

The first time you realize, “Wait...people are actually paying me to do this thing I love,” definitely counts.

Not every milestone has to be huge to matter.

Sometimes building a business is just a collection of tiny moments where you realize you're a little further along than you were yesterday.

And finally: Don't be afraid to tell people what you do.

This one seems obvious for someone who works in PR. But it's surprisingly easy to hide behind the work.

You can spend so much time doing the thing that you forget to tell people you're doing it.

Your customers can't hire you if they don't know you exist. Your community can't support a business they don't know about. And your next opportunity may be sitting with someone who has no idea what you can do for them.

You don't have to constantly sell. But you do have to show up.

Tell people what you do. Tell them why you do it. Tell them when you've got something new. Tell them about the work you're proud of.

Tell them your story.