Entrepreneurship is the greatest personal development journey you’ll ever embark on.

The personal and professional growth is like no other experience you’ll have in life.

Every day you’re wearing many hats, especially when marketing your business is involved!

You have to pivot. Daily. Sometimes more.

The buck stops with you…

This is also exciting and why you’re likely following this pathway.

It makes you feel alive, valued and passion-led.

You’re not living someone else’s dreams…you’re living your own.

But, with that comes a steep learning curve and so many challenges to work your way around and through.

My personal journey began as a side hustle as I wanted more from life and to be living a life of purpose.

And I struggled in my corporate job as it was suffocating and made me feel unwell.

So, I took the plunge and escaped.

I didn’t know what I was doing except I knew there had to be a different way to spend my life and to live a life of purpose.

Some valued advice I was given early on, was to say yes to every opportunity and work out what I most loved and was good at. And I did that…but I eventually became burnt out, exhausted and wondering if it was easier to return to work in corporate.

The thought of that made me sick to my core.

I couldn’t see myself spending another day working without purpose.

And even worse, never fulfilling my potential or dreams.

And that was the day I stopped.

And I looked at my skills and what I loved about my business…and what I loved about my time in corporate.

Then, I hired a Coach.

And that’s when everything changed. And led me on the path to the successful and passion-led business Entrepreneur I am today.

I’m sharing my top 10 key learnings with you so you can avoid my mistakes and reach your destination faster

1. Define Your Vision

2. Get clear on the problem you’re solving

3. Identify and get to know your target audience

4. Be consistent and swim in your lane

5. Trust your gut and intuition

6. Reduce overwhelm through systematising your marketing

7. Time block your key projects and work

8. Charge what you’re worth

9. Done is better than perfect

10. Invest in a coach

1. Define Your Vision for your business and marketing

Vision work works. Bottom line.

If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to get there?

And how is your audience going to go on the journey with you?

The simple answer is, they won’t.

So take the time to map out your vision.

For your life.

For your business.

Map it out from the high level.

And then get into the nitty gritty! Get detailed.

Create a vision board. And look at it often.

I review my vision on an annual basis and every single month I create a vision board for the month ahead.

This is serious stuff and when you get into the rhythm of making it a habit, you’ll feel and see the shift. In yourself, your productivity and your bottom line.

2. Get clear on the problem you’re solving in your marketing

A big mistake many entrepreneurs make is not understanding the problem they solve. Or, the transformation they make possible for their clients.

They are running blind and spraying and praying.

Hoping to do anything to meet their bottom line.

And I get this. I’ve been there.

As I said above, I said yes to everything in my early stages to learn and explore.

When you get serious about your business, you need to get focused.

And this centres around the problem you solve or transformation you make possible.

Get clear on this and everything else will fall into place.

3. Identify and get to know your target audience

To market your business , you need to know who your client is.

What makes them tick.

What they do.

Their likes. Their dislikes.

Their buying habits.

Which social channels they hang out on.

Their needs, wants and preferences.

Or how else can you find them, talk to them and serve them?

Bottom line, you can’t.

Take the time to do this…but do this work with a trusted coach or expert. There are many ways to approach defining your target audience.

And the way you do it can impact on how you define your target audience.

Done right, you will successfully market your business and offerings to the right clients.

Done wrong, and your marketing will be off on the wrong tangent.

It’s the difference between being successful and financially viable, and not.

Take your time with this and get it right.

4. Be consistent and swim in your lane

When you’re running your own business and you have bills to pay, it can be tempting to follow the latest trend.

In both your offerings and marketing, you need to be consistent.

You want to be known for your key offerings, not jumping at the latest trend or fad.

Marketing is about repetition and consistency.

Have you ever noticed how you may have seen an ad 10 times before you actually take notice of what the brand is or product being marketed is?

It’s because we need to see the same message many times before it registers.

And perhaps in different forms.

This is why big brands feature their marketing on TV, radio, outdoor billboards, online advertising, emails and social media.

And you see or hear it time and time again.

When you’re consistently talking about the same offerings, you’ll become known for them.

When you use consistent messaging in your marketing, your audience will relate and understand you and your offerings.

If you talk about one thing this week, another the next week and another the next week, they get confused.

Swim in your lane. Be consistent.

You’ll get the results you seek.

5. Trust your gut and intuition, especially when it comes to marketing!

This might seem a little woo woo but there’s a lot of merit in trusting your good ol’ gut.

If something feels right, it usually is.

If something feels wrong, it usually is.

It’s often said that your gut is your second brain.

So listen to it and your intuition.

If something feels right, run with it. If it doesn’t don’t.

This one can see a little hard to grasp if you’re more accustomed to facts. To help with this, I’d also suggest coming up with criteria you can use to assess decisions you need to make.

6. Reduce overwhelm through systematising your marketing

When clients first start working with me, a regular theme is overwhelm with marketing. The amount, the type, the frequency.

They wonder what to write, when to post, which social channels, how often to post.

The overwhelm is real. And I get it.

But, it doesn’t have to feel this way.

I teach my clients that systematising your marketing simplifies it.

And my approach is centred around consistency and repetition.

Use the same marketing messaging and artwork across social channels, in your emails and blogs.

Repurpose! Repurpose! Repurpose.

There are many ways to systematise and one includes creating a folder for artwork and messaging. You can then draw upon when it comes to creating social posts or writing emails and blogs.

7. Time block your key projects and marketing

Your time is your most valuable asset. Manage it wisely.

And the way to do this is through time blocking.

It means you’re more likely to get things done without overlooking key priorities.

You’ll be more productive with your time.

And you’ll find ways to work smarter, not harder.

Effective time blocking starts with having a clear vision and goals.

You then carve out time in your calendar for time blocking your key weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual projects, reviews and reflections.

These can include writing social posts, blogs, emails, goal reviews, financial reviews, creating your vision board and doing client outreach and lead nurturing.

8. Charge what you’re worth and stand by it

The right clients will recognise your value and pay you so you don’t have to compromise your worth.

I learnt the hard way that if you charge less, you can become resentful. And you and your client don’t get the best out of you.

Who wants that?!

You want to feel valued for your worth and recognised for your years of study, learning and expertise.

This is a massive topic I delve into with my clients, but my top tips are:

• Calculate how much you need and want to earn each year, after expenses and taxes
• Research market rates and what your competitors are charging
• Sense check your prices with past and existing clients

My final tip though is, it’s always better to increase prices than start too high and have to decrease. It can cause some distrust with clients who may have paid the higher price, before you lowered them.

9. Done is better than perfect

This is a hard one for many, myself included.

I remember one of my last corporate bosses saying to me one day “Emily, you need to care less”. I was gobsmacked. What?!??

He was right though….

Whilst I take tremendous pride in my work (especially now I’m running my own business!), I no longer stress myself out over things out of my control.

I’d rather get something out there and test it and see if resonates. And perhaps fix it later, than to not get it out there or send myself into a stress fest over something I really don’t need to.

And most of the time, you’re the only one to know something may not be 100% perfect.

So take the approach that done is better than perfect.

10. Invest in a marketing or business coach

Hands down, the best decision I made was hiring a business coach.

I’ve had a few different ones and each has helped me grow and so much faster than I could have by myself.

They’ve spotted my blind spots.

They’ve walked the path before me. And they’ve saved me hours of time and oodles of money in the mistakes they’ve made and lessons they’ve learned.

This is a whole topic in itself, but here’s some top tips for what to look out for in choosing a coach:

• Make sure they follow a curriculum or have a process you can follow so there’s structure
• Seek out support between coaching calls, like voicemail access on Voxer or What’s App
• Get to know your coach. Follow them on social media. Sign up to their email list and if they have a Facebook Group, join that too!

So there you have it, my top 10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business. I hope my learnings, experiences and tips can save you time, money and a bucket load of frustration!

I’d love to hear what resonated most with you, so please comment below or reach out via Instagram!

Want to hire me as your Marketing Coach or Business Coach? Set up a discovery call with me today!