The 5 Huge Business Lessons I Learned Last Year
Today, I want to talk to you about five business lessons that I learned in 2021.
As many of you know, I’ve been running my own freelance business and in 2021, kind of took it to the next level. I became an LLC. I took on some new clients, started offering some new services, and it has been a wild, wild ride. I don’t know that I ever really expected myself to start my own business, but I’ve always kind of had an entrepreneurial spirit about me, I guess you would say.
This blog post is taken from the final episode of The Joy Rally Podcast Season One. Prefer to listen? Hear the full episode right here!
When I was in high school, I used to pretend that I could read palms and sell palm readings for a dollar. The problem with that is I went to a Christian school, and I got detention when my teacher found out.
But I’ve kind of always just had an entrepreneurial spirit about me like – can I charge people for this? And so, I think that kind of parlayed me into this sector that I’ve been in so far.
So I’ve been doing copywriting, content writing, some social media stuff for people. And it’s been amazing. But I definitely have made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons, too. So today, I wanted to share those with you guys.
Whether or not you work for yourself, maybe you own a business or are kicking off a brand of some sort. Maybe you’ve got ambitions and goals to do your own thing. Or maybe you’re hoping to level up at work, or you lead a team or you’re trying to build your career. Even if you’re a student who has big goals – all of these lessons, I think, are applicable. OK. So let’s get started with number one.
5 Business Lessons I Learned in 2021
1. Community changes everything.
The first business lesson that I learned in 2021 is that community genuinely changes everything. it’s not just about what you know. Success is also about who you know. And I don’t mean that in a way like yucky networking or being slimy on Instagram. But when you genuinely seek to serve, when you genuinely seek to do things for other people that help them, that put them in a better position, when you are doing things with the goal of building community and helping other people – that will come back to you in more ways than you might ever expect.
Community is everything. So if you’re always only thinking about yourself, how you can expand opportunities for yourself, how you can make your name bigger, make yourself more famous, or whatever but never thinking about the people around you and how you can serve them, you’re not gonna go far. And you’re certainly not gonna go far fast. That’s the first lesson I learned in 2021, and I could stop right that because that one has honestly been so important. But I’ll keep going.
2. It’s not hard. It’s new.
So number two, one of my favorite people online is named Ashli Pollard. I took a business course from her last year, and I’m in a business group right now that she leads, and she’s AMAZING. But the big thing that she always says is ‘It’s not hard, it’s new.’ That really hit me when I first heard her say it because it’s so true. Sometimes we’re hesitant to try something new because of that scary feeling like, I’m about to jump off this cliff and I don’t know if I’m gonna make it. Or we’re just getting started on something and feeling so overwhelmed by the process. Or we have an opportunity and don’t take it or fully live in it because of our fear of messing up.
What we need to remember is that it’s not hard, it’s new. The first time we do something is always going to feel difficult, it’s always gonna feel hard. It will feel a little uncomfortable. But guess what, after you’ve done something once, when you do it again, it’s gonna feel a little better. The first time I recorded a podcast episode I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I’m shakin’ in my boots, and my hands are sweating as I upload it.” Now I’m how many episodes in? I don’t know, 16, and I’m just rambling dude, and it’s fine. It’s not hard, it’s new.
Don’t be afraid to try new things just because of the discomfort. You need to embrace the discomfort, and, eventually, it won’t feel hard anymore. Eventually, it’ll feel natural if it’s something that you actually are meant to do.
“The first time we do something is always going to feel difficult. It’s going to feel hard or a little uncomfortable. But after you’ve done something once, when you do it again, it’s gonna feel a little bit better.”
3. You are your biggest critic.
The third lesson I learned: You are your greatest critic.
I promise you right now, no matter what you have coming up, no matter what you’re working on, what you’ve got going on, or what you posted on your Instagram feed, no one is gonna criticize you more than you do yourself. The reality is most people spend most of their time thinking about and worrying about themselves and what other people think about them. I promise you unless you’re Kanye West, people are absolutely not focused on every move you make and everything you say or do. People are worried about themselves.
You should worry a lot less about what other people think about what you’re doing and just move. Just do something. Don’t worry all the time about your critics or about what people will think about what you’re doing. If you’re walking in your calling or something that you feel passionate about, that’s what counts. It doesn’t matter what other people think about what you’re doing; what matters is that you’re walking in your purpose and what you’ve been called to do.
“No one is gonna criticize you more than you do yourself.”
4. Not everyone needs to understand.
This is a lesson I’m still learning, and it kind of relates to the last one. But especially when you’re starting a business, when you are kicking off a service that no one else you know offers, when you’re working with clients you’ve never worked with before, not everyone needs to understand what you do.
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to explain to your parents what your job is, but I find that it’s difficult. It’s hard to explain how my work relates with like, email marketing and social media and how all those things connect together because they’re just from a different generation. But that’s okay. Just because the other people in your life don’t understand what you do does not mean that what you do isn’t important or that it doesn’t matter. Not everyone needs to understand. Same as what I said on point number three. If you’re walking in your giftings, your calling, your purpose, not everyone needs to understand what your calling or purpose is.
YOU just need to understand it, believe in it, have a direction, and go after it.
“Just because the other people in your life don’t understand what you do does not mean that what you do isn’t important or that it doesn’t matter. Not everyone needs to understand.”
5. Know your “why.”
If you are going to build anything – whether you’re gonna try to grow a brand, kick off a music career or launch a clothing company, you have to know WHY you’re doing it. And I’ll give you a big hint: Make sure your reason is bigger than money. Money is not a big enough reason to do something because it’s not gonna keep you going when times get tough. So know your “why” for why you’re doing what you’re doing.
I started a business because I want to help contribute financially to our family. I want to establish a baseline as we planned financially for our family. I wanted to be able to contribute so that we can be comfortable when we’re older, and so that our kids have something to inherit and walk into. That’s why I launched my business and why I spend so much time working on it. Because I want to prepare my family and set us up for the future, right? So know your “why.”
Know why you’re doing what you’re doing, and make sure it’s something that’s bigger than just yourself, or else you’re not gonna keep going when it’s hard.
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So! Those are the five big business lessons that I learned in 2021. Honestly, they’re not just business lessons, they’re also life lessons.
NOW, I’d love to know what are some lessons you’ve learned in the last few months or years? And how are you taking those lessons that you learned and moving into 2022 with what you know now? Whether it’s lessons you learned in work, relationships, life, money, whatever, I’d love to hear it.
Drop a comment below or shoot me a message on my Instagram. I’d love to hear from you!