Starting a Small Business: 3 Hard-Earned Lessons on Simplicity, Advice, and Delegation

Starting a small business is more overwhelming than I imagined. While my journey is still in its infancy, I’ve already learned some lessons the hard way—and I want to share them so others can benefit (or at least commiserate).

LESSON 1: Keep it simple.

I have to admit, this is a philosophy that I have been trying to master my entire career. I

t was not until I left my full time position and started my entrepreneurial venture that simplicity became imperative in running my business efficiently.

For example, when deciding what solutions to leverage for running my business I took into consideration where I am now and where I want to be in the next few years. Since I am just getting started, I want to be smart with the funds I am investing before any revenue starts coming in. I don’t need expensive, best-in-class software right now. Excel and Word, with a little branding, work just fine for tracking prospects, creating estimates, and sending proposals.

This same thought process can enable you to be more agile. When designing my website, I could have spent months planning and designing the perfect site that checks every box. Or, I could create a simple, clean website and launch it so I get my brand out there. I doubt that anyone will be offended if I make minor tweaks to the site over time as my business evolves--organic and subtle changes are expected.

I can thank my amazing executive coach for the advice regarding my website, which brings me to the next lesson.

LESSON 2: When someone gives you advice, listen.

This is not like when you have a child for the first time and EVERYONE is giving you advice--I don't recommend listening to all that noise. I am talking about the sage advice from your trusted partners, the ones who genuinely care about your success, want to see you do well, and have been through it themselves. They are the ones you listen to.

If you are like me though, you still feel a bit guilty asking them to take time from running their business to answer your questions. Apparently you should ask, before you buy an annual subscription of something that sounds useful but may not be as necessary as you think. Hey, no one is perfect!

LESSON 3: Don't try to do it all yourself.

My third and final lesson learned draws down from the first two. When you first start out, you are likely the only employee and succumb to the belief that you need to fulfill every role in your business. The truth is, you don't.

Those who know me, know that I thrive when I am juggling multiple roles at once and maximizing my productivity. When I worked for someone else I could do that without fear of losing traction on my primary goals. Now that I have my own business, I need to focus on the activities that will grow my business. That might mean letting go of some tasks that I enjoy, that are realistically more of a distraction than something I need to manage myself. We are fortunate enough in these modern times to have access to AI and a plethora of freelance, virtual resources we can leverage to take some of the lower value add tasks off our plates.

So if you find yourself overcomplicating everything, ignoring good advice, and trying to “do it all,” take a pause. Are you spending your time on the work that truly drives your business forward—or just keeping busy?