We have decided to put ourselves upfront and centre this week to share with you our own personal experience of running a business and the toughest lessons we have learned so far.

“We find that it’s articles like this that have been the most beneficial to us.”

We hope you find something in here that you can apply to your business and you don’t just feel like you are reading a 13 year old girl’s diary entry!

Here are the 6 mistakes we have made and how every small business should avoid them in 2022 - Enjoy!

1. Not Taking A Break

Not taking a break is the worst thing you can do for your business (and your sanity)

This has probably been our hardest lesson so far; last year we were working unbelievable hours, 7 days a week. We were glued to our laptops and I got into a terrible habit of waking up in the middle of the night to check my emails (not my finest hours!).

I think when you start to see results within your business you can easily run yourself into the ground; after a hard couple of months we were exhausted, unwell, and stressed. We always said that our relationship would come first and our business second, but before we knew it the business was number one and we had lost ourselves along the way. We decided that for the good of our happiness, creativity, and relationship it was time to get our weekends back to reconnect, get inspired, and most importantly, rest.

SOLUTION: We now work 3 days a week from 10am - 3pm, 2 days we start at 6am - 4pm and the other two days we are free to do whatever we feel like, yaaaaay! This means we work 35 hours a week (each) completing marketing strategies, having 1:1 coaching calls, creating free content, and continuing to develop Betsy & Francis, and still have the time we need in order to take a break and relax. For over 2 years now, we take the weekend off Instagram and only share whatever we have been up to on a Monday morning. Having a break from the whirlwind that is social media, has been invaluable to our mental health and we would recommend it to anybody!

2. Days You Want To QUIT!

There will always be days where you want to quit!

This was one we never thought I would feel. After working solidly in the early days to get our small business off the ground, I never thought I would see it as anything other than a dream come true - we were wrong. We had no idea of the amount of sacrifice starting a conscious small business would take. There are times when it pushes you to the limit and all you want to do is throw your hands up into the air, ugly cry and shout “I quit!”.

“Some days really didn’t go our way, especially at first (…and still today), think of it like disappointment confetti haha, no really, it was tough!”

SOLUTION: You will always love your children, but you don’t always have to like them, Betsy & Francis is our child so the same rules apply. Understanding that thinking like this isn’t a negative thing at all - I used to feel so guilty and ungrateful whenever I used to feel like this, but now I try to think of it as just a down to the many ups we have. The thing is, it never lasts long - usually, it only happens when something goes wrong and our fight or flight kicks in. Do we ever see ourselves quitting? Absolutely not, this business and our mission are everything to us.

3. Change Your Mindset

When we first started we thought that we would be able to keep our social life and build the business up in a very cruisy manner... after we floated down from our cloud, we started to realise how impossible that was, it’s all about changing your mindset and knowing that this had to become our everything in order for it to work.

SOLUTION: We soon accepted that we had to sacrifice much of our social life to be able to get up and make the most of the time we had. As we were both still working in full-time jobs for the first year of Betsy & Francis, it was important to make the most of our weekends which meant, 95% of our free time was taken up with working and we had to accept that.

4. Get Comfortable With Failing

AHEM - there are two things that I have always struggled with and that’s criticism and failing. Starting Betsy & Francis has made my two little demons have no choice but to get accustomed to each other, sometimes they even come together as a nice little cocktail party.

Back in 2019, we got dropped by a client, they said they were disappointed with us (criticism) and they told us that they didn’t want to proceed ultimately ending our working relationship (fail)...that was not a good day!

Months past and in all honesty, I still thought about it at least a few times a week, usually when we’re waiting for client feedback. The thought of it happening again filled me with dread, and even though this was the first time it has ever happened I have to get comfortable that it probably won’t be the last. If we are going to be in business for the next 40 years, the chances are pretty high!

SOLUTION: Realising that it’s not our fault. These things are bound to happen and you can’t please everybody. Maybe we could have done a better job, maybe they were being unrealistic with their expectations or maybe they found somebody else and didn’t know how to tell us. Whatever it was, we don’t have any control over it and we need to get used to failing because growth comes from failing, it will help us to improve, get better, and progress. We need to embrace it! 

5. Imposter Syndrome

Yep, this one is a little bugger. I remember talking myself into jobs I was completely under-qualified for. Once I even got a job as a photography practitioner before I even knew what a DSLR was and ended up running the whole workshop calling it a Dixon instead of a Nikon… thankfully it was a group of 13 year olds and nobody corrected me, but the very thought still makes me cringe and my dad cry laughing. God bless 20-year-old Nicole - fake it till you make it.

SOLUTION: Always remember, everybody has this fear and it’s usually because you care so much and you don’t want to let the person/customer down. Embrace it, it’s one of your best assets to keep grounded and ensures you don’t get all “I run a business and I’m amazing!”.

6. You Can’t Do Everything

This has been a very difficult one for us to swallow. In 2021 we were at that point where we were doing everything ourselves and it was just about manageable, but we were aware that we need support in other ways such as business admin; we held back for a while on this because we felt like we could do everything ourselves. But we hit the point where we needed to grow our business and save time on trying to figure it out ourselves, we needed an extra pair of hands to help with the small tasks that consumed most of our time.

let’s round it up

“This is just 6 of the many many lessons we have learned in the past 5 years and I’m sure in the next couple of years we will have many more to add, but we hope by sharing some of these lessons, you can feel assured that often behind the aesthetically pleasing content are two real humans. I hope it helps you where ever you are in your business journey.”

NOTES TO TAKEAWAY

1. Don’t be afraid of failing, it’s the quickest way to learn and grow. 😊

2. Don’t let having a business rule your life. Always make sure once the work is done you have time for yourself. 🥰

3. Don’t let feeling under-qualified stop you, if you work hard and do your best, you’re already halfway there. 🎉

4. Accept that you need help in order to grow your business, and when you have the money to invest… invest! 📈

5. You won’t always like certain aspects of your business and that’s ok, don’t feel guilty, you are still meant to do this. ✨

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Founders of Betsy & Francis, Nicole & James are creating a conscious small business movement by teaching purpose-led small business owners in the conscious, ethical, or sustainable industry how to stand out in a crowded marketplace, increase their sales and grow a profitable small business using Conscious Marketing, Instagram Marketing, Pinterest Marketing, Email Marketing, and Facebook ads.