30 Truths I Learned From Running My Own Business
I turned 30 last weekend. As I look forward into a new decade, my overwhelming feeling is that of having an enormous amount to learn, but in a really hopeful, first-day-of-school kind of way. That said, my twenties taught me a lot, and running my own cake business was a big part of that. So in honor of my 30th birthday, I decided to write a list of 30 things that I’ve learned while starting and running a creative small business this last decade - a combination pep-talk & love note to my 20-year-old self.
Photo: Chris Isham. Florals: Katelyn Pinner Studio
Don’t be afraid of talking on the phone. This might seem to be a silly way to start out, but it’s one of the biggest differences I see between 30-year-old me and 20-year-old me. I used to hate talking on the phone, and I still don’t love it. But it’s instant, and things that might take 7 emails to iron out can often be sorted with one strategic phone call.
Get everything in writing. This doesn’t cancel out #1; they work in tandem. If something has been decided on a phone call, it’s imperative to follow that up with a written summary or confirmation: “here’s what we decided.” So many miscommunications and dropped balls can be avoided if details are written down and able to be referenced by all parties. In the best of times, this provides security and clear channels for a smooth working relationship. In the worst of times, you’ve covered your bases and protected yourself.
Have a contract and/or written description of your scope of services. For any kind of service business, it’s so essential to set expectations of what will be provided, and how, and when, from the get-go. A business relationship is a two-way street where both parties operate in specific parameters. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go above and beyond if the situations calls for it, but a general contract keeps everyone honest.
Do not promise something that you cannot deliver. This is a hard one, because starting out in any new business, you’re often promising things at the edge of where you are comfortable operating. You’re stretching your wings to take longer and longer flights. That’s a good thing - it’s the only way to grow. Occasionally you might overstretch slightly, and that’s also part of growing. But it has to be a calculated risk. If you promise to do something you don’t know how to do yet, then you better have learned how by the time you’ll be asked to deliver that service. If you aren’t prepared or don’t have time for that behind-the-scenes prep work, don’t commit.
Hire an accountant. Small business owners wear a lot of hats. But unless you are a money person or you’re married to a money person, accounting should be the first thing to outsource. I did this day one for the major tax stuff and still had nightmares about the IRS coming after me for things that I may have done incorrectly or in ignorance in my novice bookkeeping. If I had wanted to continue and grow the cake business, regular bookkeeping would have been at the top of my list to outsource permanently.
Take beautiful pictures, or hire someone to do it for you. Unlike taxes, there are no legal liabilities for taking poor photos. But it is step one in presenting yourself and your work to the best potential.
There’s The Work you do, and then there’s the work around the work. Here’s what I mean: take #6, and let’s say you design fabrics (something I thought I wanted to do once). The Work - capital W - is actually designing the fabrics. The work around the work is taking beautiful photos of the fabrics, promoting them on social media, getting them picked up by designers who will implement them, etc. All of those things are tangential to the Work of designing the fabrics, but without which you will not have a business. I have a theory that a lot of the most talented creative people are totally unknown because they are amazing at the Work and terrible at the work around the work. And then there are people who don’t actually make very interesting or original Work, but who are master craftsmen at the work around the work. I’ve thought about this a lot. A lot, a lot. And here’s what I’m left with: one, acknowledging and understanding that there are these two sides to succeeding in creative work is hugely important to figuring out how to navigate and juggle them. And two, at the end of the day, only you can do the Work. Other people can help do the work around the work. So focus first on getting really good at what you want to do, while realizing that it won’t be enough. (Fun, right?)
No one starts out at the finish line. It can be equal parts inspiring and depressing to scrutinize the work of people who are really, really good at what they do. Just remember that whatever it is that you admire so much is not the first thing they ever made.
[Therefore], stay in your own lane. There’s only one you. You can’t squeeze yourself into the likeness of even the person whose work you think is perfection itself. If you try to copy someone, you will only make what they made first, but worse.
Judge your current self only by your former self, not by anyone else. Maybe this sounds like a third way to say the exact same thing… but all my creative people know that self-doubt can be crushing. Look at who and where you used to be, and look how far you’ve come from there. That is truly all that you have control over.
Collect people that you trust, and treat them well. This is especially true for vendor relationships. It’s such a joy to have cultivated relationships over time with people whose work I admire and respect.
Be easy and enjoyable to work with. This goes for both professional relationships and for client relationships. It’s a no-brainer for client relationships, but might be even more important for the lateral professional relationships. I’ve known my share of people whose clients liked them, but who were so difficult to work with professionally that they had terrible in-industry reputations. Happy clients can send new business. But you know who else can also send new business? Happy industry friends.
Be willing to receive constructive criticism. No one is perfect; we all have room to do better. The more you can separate the work you do from your personal worth, the better. Sometimes the work will fall short; it’s inevitable. Your worth as a person is not on the line and never will be. That mindset will allow you to hear criticism on how to do better for what it is - either valuable constructive feedback, or peanuts from the peanut gallery.
Everything is a learning experience. If it goes well, it’s a learning experience. If it doesn’t go well, it’s a learning experience.
You’ll get more of the kinds of work that you say yes to. Work begets work. If you can secure just one client, just one job of the kind of work you hope to move into, you’ve cracked the door. Depending on the industry, you can fudge it - hello styled shoots in the wedding industry. It’s a whole practice based on the premise of creating an imaginary dream scenario for the type of client you want to hire you in the future.
[Therefore], it’s ok to say no sometimes to work that isn’t right for you. Again, work begets work. If you don’t want to be known for a kind of work, or you would be unhappy to sign your name to something, turn that opportunity down gracefully. Unless it’s very lucrative or otherwise very strategic. I definitely took work that I never showed publicly at the beginning, just to get started. Running a business made me less of an idealist. It is possible to work toward the general trajectory of work you want to do even while having to wade through some work that you aren’t jazzed about. Just don’t lose your way and forget where you’re ultimately going. Again, not all work will serve you. Some things are just a distraction. Sometimes the right answer is no thanks.
You don’t have to do the same kind of creative work forever. It’s ok to change directions or even start over with something new. You are not trapped. There’s so much more I could say about this one that I’ll leave it at at that, and link to this post I wrote about my current career switch from cake into garden design.
You are both the boss and the employee. The eponymous book The E-Myth explains this idea in depth. Basically, most of us tend to gravitate toward either being big picture, vision people - or nose to the ground just-let-me-work people. If you work for yourself, you have to be both of these people. You are the person who creates and gives the orders. You are also the person who follows the orders and sees the work through to the end.
Share the process. “Behind the scenes” can be more than a catch phrase; it can also be a powerful force for good. We all love the quick hit of a dramatic before and after, but strategically pulling other people into the weeds of how a thing was created can be both an application for story-telling and a tool for creating understanding of the intrinsic value of the work. We aren’t wizards and this isn’t Oz. Transparency builds rapport.
Urgent and important are not the same. It takes a lot of discipline to choose the important thing rather than the urgent one. But also, know when your mental health needs to check off the urgent thing in order to even be able to tackle the important one. It’s a constant evaluation.
Fancy equipment doesn’t necessarily good work make. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you can’t make good work unless you have one more piece of special equipment. A new camera lens, a special oven, the very latest software etc, etc. Those things can help you attain excellence, but the essence of the work is you.
Pull inspiration from outside your own field. My best ideas are almost always from other artists working in very different media than my own or from the natural world. If you only look at other artists/designers in your own field, you will have a harder time coming up with ideas that feel like yours, rather than rehashed versions of theirs.
You have to put yourself out there; you won’t be just handed something that you never asked for. And if you’re brave enough to ask for it, then you need to be determined enough to work for it. It’s easy to feel like other people have been given more opportunities than you or for some reason have advantages that you don’t. All that may be true. But if it is, all the more reason to get off the couch and chase after what you want rather than waiting for someone to serve it to you on a silver platter.
If you don’t get paid enough, it will harm your morale and undermine your work longterm. Being the cheapest is not sustainable. If you don’t feel monetarily valued, it will eventually poison your feeling toward both the work and the people you’re doing it for.
It’s better to do something for free than to do it for a discount. Like all of these, this is just my opinion. Early on making cake, I realized pretty quickly that either I could tire myself out doing all the discounted work for friends and relations (and they would inevitably think they were doing me a favor by “giving me business”) OR I could decide not to take on discounted work, end of discussion. Do I love someone enough to work for free? That is my litmus test. That says, “I’m worth more than I want to charge you, so I will charge you nothing. This is a gift.”
Allow more time to get something done than you think it will take. I am chronically optimistic when it comes to time. I’ve learned that I have to take that optimistic first guess and then add another 50%, and generally that gets close. It always feels absolutely outrageous at the time, but I’m always glad when I estimate high, because in the end, it usually isn’t.
You should be uncomfortable. Periodic discomfort due to challenging yourself is a good thing; it means you’re growing. But here’s a caveat: if you are chronically, permanently uncomfortable, then you need to make changes or reevaluate your boundaries.
Read books to expand your mind, and pursue other interests to expand your heart. The more faceted you are as a person, the deeper the well that you’ll be able to draw from for your creative work. I’ll never forget being berated by a college professor for “not focusing exclusively on my artwork.” Terrible, terrible advice, and to this day I still wish I could go back and shake him for the imaginary, unnecessary guilt it placed on a younger me. He was upset that I “wasted” time singing in a chamber choir and playing in the orchestra - both activities that fueled my creativity and were anything but a waste of time.
Creative work is still work. It is often fun, and it is often rewarding, but it isn’t always either one. Sometimes it is like stirring concrete. Keep showing up.
You’ll never “arrive.” Remember when you were ten and thought that 20 would be some magical “made it” touchstone, and then when you got to 20, the goal post moved to 30? Well, it just moved again, because I’m already imagining a list of things that I’ll definitely have figured out by 40. I have a sneaking suspicion that it never ends. You and I, we’ll be becoming, forever.