BUSINESS LESSONS: ENTREPRENEUR DIARIES 01
My journey to entrepreneurship has been a wave of many things. Amidst all the monumental wins, there have also been setbacks and countless challenges to overcome. In this post I’ll be sharing some of the lessons learned and welcome your thoughts, so please sound off in the comments below.
No ones journey is the same.
If you’re anything like me, you spend a considerable amount of time researching, learning from others’ mistakes and successes, and are constantly strategizing on how best to execute everything. While two things can be true; being highly analytical is a valuable skill, it’s also crucial to recognize that everyones journey is unique. Embrace the fact that your path to success will not mirror someone else’s, and therein lies your superpower.
When deciding to invest in building my personal brand alongside starting a fashion business, I spent loads of time studying others in my space and not enough hours devoted to figuring out what truly resonated with me and how I wanted to show up. Time is your most valuable currency, so this is your que to put on the blinders and focus on you!
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
One of the best bosses I ever had told me this while working in tech sales. I would often spend decades perfecting cold outreach emails to prospective clients to the point it started negatively impacting my metrics. The reality was, if people never got the email, it didn’t matter how perfect it read - it was still a missed opportunity. I’ve found that this same philosophy applies to other areas of life including business.
Learning to take imperfect action no matter how uncomfortable it feels in the moment, is single handedly the fastest way to see success with anything. And while having standards around your work matters, there comes the moment when you have to release it and commit to perfecting your craft overtime.
It takes a village.
We’ve all heard the saying “No Man is an Island,” and in my experience this rings true, especially when building a brand. Even with a background in fashion and business, and years working retail - absolutely no class at Parsons or telltale from my industry experience thoroughly prepared me for starting a fashion line. I’ve had to learn my strengths and hone them, while being equally good at identifying where I need help and being relentless to get it - and only then did things start to move.
While I’m still working towards the launch of my line, I can say with confidence the progress I’ve seen thus far, has been a direct result of collaborating with others who are highly skilled and knowledgeable in areas I’m not.
Faith and resilience is all.
Yes, this is inspired by The Last Kingdom series (Netflix) and my love for the main character Utred aka Alexander Dreymon, but I digress. if I had to sum up my lessons today into one key takeaway for those considering the path less traveled, it would be to seek God’s guidance in both small and big decisions and try as much as possible to be committed to the process as you are to the endgame (Bebbanburg). Good things take time. And there’s a great deal of patience required to see any goal through, so be gracious to yourself.
This is the very first of a new series I’m starting called Entrepreneur Diaries. I think the real value in the challenges we experience as creatives, are not only the lessons learned but being able to share our stories for the benefit of others. So more to come here, but in the meantime, I’m curious to know what lesson resonates with you the most - chime in below.