5 Things I’ve learnt after 2 years in business…
That I wish I’d known as a leader in corporate too
It feels strange to say I’ve been in business for two years, it often feels longer but on the other hand it feels like I was in the corporate world yesterday. I learnt a lot about myself before I set up my own business but this is nothing compared to what I have learnt in these last two years.
I wish I had realised these earlier, I also wish I had known these when I was a leader in the corporate world. If you’re a new or aspiring business owner or leader take a read of the below. The last one is super important.
Let me know if you think I’ve missed anything important, it goes without saying that I’m a work in progress and I may even update the list!
Build a network
I was always known for being fiercely independent and strong. I would never ask for help. I didn’t need any more friends. I didn’t need to build a network. This was certainly not true.
While I had a network within my previous role as a leader, I was the go to person. After struggling for years (only on the inside of course) I finally realised how important it is to have people around you. This has 100% been the case in my new business and networking is part of my everyday. I am fortunate that I have known most of my friends since school, the flip side to this is that they didn’t understand the nuances of being a female leader in a Rotherham engineering company, and they don’t understand the challenges and joys of running your own company. My network now includes peers, but also people who I can learn from, people who are different to me, and people who will challenge me too.
It’s OK to say no, and it’s also OK to say yes
As an ever recovering people pleaser I found it difficult to say no. I also really wanted to please ( a lot of my worth was tied into my productivity and the validation of others), so I would actively seek out extra work for myself, often work that had nothing to do with my role or development. I’m sure you can guess that this just led to absolute exhaustion and resentment. The response was to say no to pretty much everything. No is a full sentence, right? But that doesn’t work either. The reality is that it’s important to feel comfortable saying yes to the opportunities that make sense for us (our values, our development) and to say no to those that don’t.
Feedback is incredibly important
I used to shy away from feedback, both negative and positive. Negative would make me overthink and catastrophise. Compliments would make me defensive and I’d throw it back in their faces. As a leader I wasn’t great at giving feedback for a long time either. Retrospectively I was placing myself in the center of the feedback, projecting how it would make me feel as the recipient. A colleague helped to change my opinion on feedback to see it as it truly is; data to learn from. So I started asking for feedback, and I started giving it too (always with positive intention and a means to grow). The difference it made was huge. I could pivot easily, my team could be more creative, and I’m even Ok with compliments now too. I proactively request feedback now and I suggest you do too.
Believe in yourself
The number of people I speak to who have just been promoted and do not believe themselves good enough for the role. With the promotion they have been given a list of positives about themselves, their hard work and talent has been recognised, and yet the imposter is creeping in. I can understand, this used to be me. I had low self esteem for a long time. This is difficult in itself causing self consciousness and anxiety in my everyday life, but as a leader and now business owner there is a need to believe in yourself. The life of leaders and business owners is up and down, almost every day; one good result is swiftly followed by something negative; there are decisions to make all the time (without asking everyone else’s opinion); not everything will go your way. If you can build self belief and optimism you can ride the waves and feel more joy in the process.
Learn to rest, or you will be forced to
I’ve suffered with burnout at least twice. I caught COVID which turned into long Covid that pretty much wiped me out late last year. We cannot consistently push ourselves. We cannot consistently burn the candle at both ends. Unless we learn to rest our bodies will force us to do so. I am increasingly aware of this as I will soon be hitting 40 and peri-menopause (not scary, just realistic). I would love for us all to really understand that rest is an absolute pillar of productivity but even more important health and happiness. Getting good sleep and eating the rainbow have huge benefits, and where possible I listen to what I need for me. While my cup of Yorkshire tea brews in the morning I ask myself “What is the most important thing to do for my business today?” and “What is the most important thing to do for me today?”. Why not give it a try?