By: Adrienne Osborn

I didn’t plan to start a business.  

In 2009, I started teaching voice lessons as a side hustle while I tried to figure out my next career after software development. After three years of trying to figure out what I was going to do next, I had a commercial space and a second teacher. I realized I had started a business and I was already in my next career!

I’m now eleven years in, and I have a dream business that works for me.  I’m lucky.  I could have done a lot of things better, but a lot went right! If you’re thinking about starting a business, here are some tips. Some come from mistakes I made along the way, some are things I did right - whether by intention or by chance

1) Get a mentor or coach.

This could be another small business owner you respect, a SCORE mentor through the SBA, a coach offering paid mentorship in your industry or a family member with entrepreneurial experience.  There’s nothing like getting one-on-one advice from someone with experience.  A good mentor can give you a single piece of advice that changes the course of your business entirely or prevents you from making one catastrophic mistake. 

It should go without saying that you should be humble, open, and ready to take advice… most of the time.  But don’t take advice blindly.  You’re the one who has to deal with consequences.  Results vary depending on the economy, market niche, industry, personality, and a myriad of other factors.  If your mentor gives you advice that you doubt, root out any unfounded resistance on your part, but ultimately, trust yourself. 

For example, I have gotten advice from other music studio owners.  Most of it has been very helpful. Really, none of us are reinventing an industry on the level of Uber or AirBnB, so it makes sense that general good practices apply across the board.  But sometimes I find that my market of teens and adults is materially different from most other music schools’ markets of mostly kids and teens.

2) Know yourself. 

Figure out why you want to start a business.  Sure, everyone wants the flexibility of working for themselves and calling all the shots.  But you might have heard the saying “Being a business owner is great!  You get to choose which 80 hours a week you work.”

Why do you want to work for yourself rather than work for someone else? Can you really hack it long term?  It will probably take longer than you think to reach profitability.  And even when you do, the buck will always stop with you.  Are you ready for that responsibility?  Do you have the work ethic and motivation to push yourself through the difficult startup phase… and then keep it up for several more years?  Do you have the risk tolerance to take little or no salary at the beginning… and maybe later, too, if things take a downturn?  

Are you willing to learn anything and everything you need to learn to make your business run, even if you’re not interested?  Once you’re profitable you might be able to hire out certain jobs, but at first, you’re going to have to do it all yourself.  Over the last decade, I have learned enough about marketing, leadership, hiring, payroll, taxes, SEO, commercial leases, soundproofing, business models, communication, bookkeeping, budgeting, HR and employment rules, contracts, social media, management, administration, systems and automation, client management, content creation, graphic design, and web development to get by.  And that’s all on top of staying current on the core service my business is based on.

I’m lucky that many factors of my personality point toward being a business owner:  I have a strong work ethic, I strongly prefer to make my own schedule, I have a pretty high risk tolerance, I’m pretty good at learning new things, I love variety, I much prefer being self-directed, and I have a lot of motivation.  So, being a small-business entrepreneur fits me really well.  

Before you get so far you can’t turn back, dig in and decide if you’re up for being a business owner.  It can be very rewarding in the long term for the right personality, but it can take a long time to get there.  Besides thinking and journaling, I recommend doing some sort of vocation-related personality assessment such as StrengthsFinder or the Sparketype test, or even working through the classic What Color Is Your Parachute. 

(Although I didn’t consciously decide to start a business, I have a life-long habit of journaling, self-analysis and self-reflection, so I already knew myself well when I found myself in business.)

3) Don’t partner.  

This is my opinion, and others may disagree.  But having been involved in a couple of band partnerships, and considered partnering in my business, I very strongly feel that if you can run your business without partnering, you shouldn’t.

You may be tempted to partner with someone because they bring a particular area of expertise you don’t have, or because they can share the immense workload of starting up.  That may be the case, but can you learn enough about that area of expertise to at least get started?  Can you hire that person, even with a loan or delayed terms, rather than partnering with them?  Can you simply leave that part of the work until later?

Partnering with someone in business chains you to their work ethic, their personality, and even their life trajectory for the life of the business or until one of you buys the other out.  Buyouts are usually prohibitively expensive at best, and fraught with tension and fighting at worst, so you should plan to be with this partner for as long as the business runs.

Having a partner means you can’t make decisions without consulting them.  It means you may not be able to take particular actions because they don’t agree with you.  And what if your partner doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain - will you do their work for them?  What if their life changes and they don’t have time for the business any more, but they still want their salary?  What if you and your partner value each other’s contributions differently?  What if you and your partner have a falling out?

If you still think you want to partner in business, take it as seriously as marriage.

4) Decide to bootstrap or borrow. 

I’m in favor of bootstrapping, because I hate debt.  I even tried to pay an entire year of my first apartment rent upfront, because I didn’t want to owe the rest of my lease.

I haven’t used a single penny of debt to build my company.  That means every dollar that comes in can go toward salaries, overhead, or reinvestment - never to paying off interest or investors.  And there’s a sense of freedom from being debt-free that I would recommend to anyone.

That said, if you know what you’re doing, you could grow your business faster by borrowing, because you can hire outside your core competencies.  You could have a bigger launch and advertising budget.  You could have team members right away, rather than a few years down the road.  You might get to profitability faster, perhaps beating a competitor into a new market.

However… you’re going to spend more money this way.  And you’re almost guaranteed to waste at least some of it.  When you have no money, it’s pretty amazing how resourceful you can be.  And when you have money, it’s amazing how quickly it can flow through your fingers.  

If you start up big and quickly using borrowed money, you’ll probably find yourself committed to long-term overhead you didn’t really need - and fixed overhead kills profitability.  If you borrow, you’ll also need to service your debt or your investors, detracting from profitability and/or time.

Also, remember, most small businesses don’t make it past the first few years.  What are you going to do if your business fails before you’ve paid back your debts?  You’ll be in a situation where you don’t have income or a job, but you do have debt.

Personally, I’d rather grow slowly and organically with zero debt.

5) Do the groundwork of mission, vision, and branding. 

Even though they may evolve a bit over time, it’s better to have a starting identity and audience.  Otherwise, you run the risk of trying to cater to any market segment you think you might bring in money.  This fragments your messaging, making it more expensive to achieve any goal. 

I recommend building your business as a reflection of you.  It’s much easier to represent and market your business when it reflects your personal values and priorities.   You’ll come across as more authentic and trustworthy.

Having a mission and vision will also help keep you motivated as you do the hard work of building a business.

6) Measure your personal currency in energy, not time.  

Starting a business can be exhausting.  It’s no use setting aside a whole day to get something done if you don’t have the energy to actually work!  Guard your energy expenditures as if energy were as finite as money, and spend it only on the right priorities.

I used to be a near-perfectionist, and extremely disciplined.  Then I realized the wisdom of taking a lazy approach.  I don’t mean not getting stuff done.  I mean doing only the important things, and doing them only when inspired - if possible - because then I get them done faster.

Timing is important, too.  I can rock through something intellectually difficult in the morning, but can barely think clearly at night.  In fact, if I try to push through working at night, I burn myself out before my next naturally productive morning session.  

Know how your energy ebbs and flows, and ride it like a surfer.

CONCLUSION

This article has focused a lot on the challenges of starting a business.  And yes, it has been a hard road in some ways.  It is for most people.  But even if I knew all the challenges I was going to face, I wouldn’t change my path.

Small business ownership is the right path for me.  It has allowed me to grow in many ways, at my own pace and under my own direction, and it has allowed me the flexibility to enjoy other things such as travel, camping, waterskiing, and being an active musician.

Go in with your eyes open - but if you are up for it, go for it!  You’ll grow in ways you never anticipated.  I wish you luck and fulfillment.