The First 5 Things I'd Do If I Were Starting My Business Today
I've been in business for three and a half years now, and there are a lot of things I would do differently if I had to start all over again.
Not because I think I did everything wrong. I actually believe things happen when they're supposed to, and timing in life matters a lot. There are things I couldn't have done sooner, even if I wanted to.
But I can believe that and also look back and think, What if I had figured some of this out sooner?
Looking back, I can see where I spent too much time in my own head instead of paying attention to what was actually working. I could have gotten clearer on my offer sooner, marketed more consistently, sold more, and probably grown faster because of it.
I can't go back and change any of that, and I don't think I would want to. But I can take what I've learned and tell you exactly what I would focus on if I were starting over today.
What I'd Do Differently This Time Around
1. I'd Start With Market Research
If I were starting over today, I would start with data, not feeling.
I think people go off feeling too much in business. We get an idea that sounds good to us, decide our ideal client probably wants it, build the whole thing, and then try to convince people to buy it.
I'd do it the other way around.
Before I decided exactly what I was going to sell, I would spend time figuring out what was actually happening in the market.
What is my ideal client struggling with right now? What are they trying to fix? What are they already spending money on? What aren't they buying? What are they saying they need?
Market research doesn't have to be some huge, complicated process. Talk to the people you want to work with and pay attention to how they describe their problems, what they're already spending money on, and what seems to be changing in your industry.
I think we make business way harder when we build what we think people want and then try to convince them to buy it. I'd rather find out what they want first.
This matters even more right now because AI is changing how people search, find businesses, and make buying decisions. What worked two years ago might not work the same way today, so part of running a successful business is staying close enough to your ideal client to notice when their behavior changes.
Once I understood what people actually wanted, then I'd decide what I was going to sell them.
2. I'd Productize My Offer
Even as a service provider, I would productize my offer as quickly as possible. Basically, I would make it feel like something someone could pull right off the shelf.
People don't want a million decisions just to figure out if working with you is right for them. They want to understand what you offer, who it's for, what they're getting, and whether it's what they need.
I think service providers sometimes assume that giving people more options makes our services more appealing. We can customize this. We can change that. We can create a completely different package based on what you need.
But in my opinion, you're the expert. You should know what your ideal client needs, especially if you've already done the market research to understand what they're struggling with, and you should build your offer around that.
That doesn't mean you can never customize anything. You can add things on the back end or make changes once someone becomes a client when it makes sense.
But the offer you're marketing should be really clear.
A clear signature offer is also so much easier to market. Instead of trying to explain five different ways someone can work with you, you have one thing you can build your messaging around and get really good at selling.
But having a clear offer only helps if you know how to talk about it in a way that makes the right people pay attention.
3. I'd Figure Out the Messaging for My Offer
Once I knew what my ideal client needed and had an offer built around it, I would get really clear on my messaging.
I wouldn't just sit at my desk trying to come up with words that sounded good either.
I'd go back to the market research.
What words did people use when they talked about their problem? What did they say they wanted instead? What were they frustrated by? What had they already tried?
That's the stuff I would use to figure out how to talk about my offer.
Your messaging doesn't need to sound impressive. It needs to make the right person think, Yep, that's exactly what I'm dealing with.
And I would get specific much sooner. Trying to make your messaging broad enough to include everyone usually makes it harder for the right person to realize you're talking to them.
That messaging should carry through your entire online presence too.
Your social media shouldn't say one thing while your business website says something completely different. Someone should be able to find you on Instagram, click over to your website, and immediately feel like they're still talking to the same person about the same problem.
Because once you have a clear offer and know exactly how to talk about it, you have something you can actually market consistently.
4. I’d Market Consistently and Sell Out Loud
And this is the part I wish I had done much more consistently.
I marketed my business when I was first starting, so it's not like I never showed up or talked about what I did. I just wasn't consistent enough with it to really move the needle.
I've been in business for three and a half years, and honestly, my audience is still pretty small for how long I've been doing this.
Part of that was capacity. I was working a nine-to-five while building my business, and there were only so many hours in the day. But if I'm being fair, I also made excuses. I got in my own head and let marketing fall down the list more often than I should have.
If I were starting again, I would make marketing a priority from the beginning, and I wouldn't just focus on creating helpful content.
I would sell in my marketing too.
I think it's really easy for business owners to get comfortable teaching. You give tips. You answer questions. You share something helpful. You tell yourself you're marketing your business.
But if you aren't regularly telling people what you sell and how they can work with you, you're leaving out a pretty important part of marketing.
Selling in your marketing doesn't mean every post has to be a pitch. But people do need to know you have something to sell.
You can give people helpful content all day long, but if you never tell them how they can work with you, you're making it really hard for them to buy from you.
And I would do that consistently, even when the audience was small.
You can't wait until you have the audience you want to start marketing like the business you want to have.
Looking back, being more consistent with both marketing and sales would have likely helped me grow sooner.
Which brings me to probably the biggest thing I would do differently.
5. I'd Go All In Sooner
This is where I have two feelings that seem like they shouldn't go together, but they do.
I really believe everything happens at the right time in life.
I don't think I could have gone all in on my business sooner than I did. There were reasons I stayed in my nine-to-five, and those reasons mattered. Life needed to look the way it looked during that season.
But I also can't help wondering what would have happened if I had made the leap sooner.
Would I be further along now?
Honestly, I probably would be.
Not because quitting my job suddenly made me better at business, but because going all in changed how I treated it. I had to be more consistent with my marketing, I had to sell, and I couldn't keep telling myself I would get around to those things when I had more time.
When I had a nine-to-five, my business sometimes genuinely had to come second. But if I'm being honest, there were also times when I was getting in my own head and making excuses for not doing the things I knew I needed to do.
I'm not saying everyone should quit their job tomorrow. Timing matters, and everyone's situation is different.
But I do think going all in can mean more than quitting your job. Sometimes it's deciding to stop waiting until you have more time, more confidence, or fewer excuses to start treating your business like something you actually want to grow.
Looking back, I needed to get out of my own way sooner.
If I Had to Start Over, I'd Build the Foundation First
When I look back at the last three and a half years, I don't wish I could erase the way I built my business and start again because I've learned too much from doing it the way I did.
I do think I could have saved myself a lot of time by building my business around what people were actually telling me they needed instead of trying to figure everything out on my own.
That's the foundation I wish I had understood sooner.
And knowing what you should be doing is only one part of it. Actually figuring out your offer, getting clear on your messaging, and creating a marketing strategy you can stick with is where a lot of business owners get stuck.
That's a big part of why I'm creating my new marketing group program, Seen and Paid.
It's for business owners who are ready to stop guessing their way through their marketing and build a strategy around what their ideal clients actually need, what they sell, and how they're going to consistently get that offer in front of the right people.
If you're reading this thinking, Okay, I know I need to get serious about this, I'd love to have you on the waitlist.
