I’m thinking of the type of thing you wished you knew sooner. But if you have other advice, please share!
I’m a couple months (officially) into running a videography business and would love to use this post to share and help each other.
My Advice: I was into videography and doing it as a side hustle for almost a year but kept delaying registering myself as a business. If I could go back, I’d do that sooner.
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Get an accountant.
Keep your business bank account separate from your personal bank account.
80% of small businesses close within a couple of years. If that happens, try not to take it personally, it happens to most.
Sometimes, saying “no” to an opportunity is necessary to give you the chance to say “yes” to a better opportunity that comes later.
That last part is tricky, after all there’s also a saying “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, it’s a balancing act.
For example most of my business comes from repeat business customers and it’s definitely underpaid compared to what I can get in different niches, but on the other hand I get regular jobs from it. My colleagues focusing on the better paying niches are always hunting for the next gig and don’t know where the money will come from next month.
Be fair to your customers AND yourself.
Don’t bend over backwards to satisfy customers who cannot be satisfied. Some people are just miserable human beings, and some will gladly bankrupt you if it saves them a nickel. Is their repeat business the kind of business you want?
Don’t be afraid to say NO or to set firm boundaries. Nobody respects a spineless pushover.
I fired 2 customers last week and my crew would follow me into hell because of it.
Never run a business as a worker making ends meet. You’re one recession away from failure. If you are not putting back a healthy margin to build a business, save for the unknown and opportunities, you’re in a bad place that will likely bite you in the long run.
Do whatever it takes to put off hiring people as long as possible, and then push way way past that. Never hire people unless forced to take loads of money in exchange. Your efficiency will drop drastically and they’ll be worth a tenth of yourself for half of your money.
Register your company and brand in some tax haven. Have a subsidiary “rent” the brand for the amount of income you make, so you have no tax to pay.
Do not do this. It is illegal. But starbucks and other companies do
Donald?
Don’t start a business without a plan to handle all the stuff that is not your product.
If you are good at whatever your product is you are not automatically good at building and leading an enterprise (a company), and that may destroy your ambitions… In other words: Even if you have a very promising product you may fail due to completely unrelated organisational hassles because starting a business will drag you into processes that will drain ressources and your brain for completely different stuff, be it financial, legal, hiring and firing staff, customers (customers…), renting, ordering, offering, paper works, ecology and what not.
This shit can and will hurt, in the core meaning of the word, if you are not prepared.
Yep this is the reality. I was a small business owner before when I was young and I was decent at what I did but I had no idea of the realities of running a business. I did 10 years in corporate before starting another one and it’s night and day because I now have way more business context and can breeze through all the side tasks with an understanding of how successful businesses are actually run.
Not me, but I heard a good line from a sign maker.
They said consult the local sign maker. That person knows a ton about businesses opening and closing, and which locations are cursed.
I have a few things.
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Know when to fire customers
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Know where the money is coming from. Hope can’t pay bills
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Hire only good people for your core staff
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Cover the product in camo, retweet some racists from your official account then just grift your way to retirement.
Don’t get into business with a narcissist. If you don’t figure out they’re a narcissist until after the business has started, bail or kick em out.
Pay your damn employees
Learn the basics of financial accounting, even if you employ an accountant.
Just keep at it. It doesn’t have to be profitable in the beginning but if you enjoy it, you will excel in it.
Have a plan to scale the business larger than you doing everything all the time.
Have an exit strategy.
An exit strategy can be who carries on the business after you retire - if you find a niche where people need you, a business can last and grow.
I don’t run a business but worked at a small company where the owner was the founder. He told me running a business is doing what you’re paid to do about 30% of the time and boring administrative stuff 70% of the time.
Read Kahneman and seriously consider not doing it unless you are a flaming optimist that just can’t be held back.
This. The best business advice I can give as someone who started a business is … don’t.
The odds are terrible, you lose your soul to compromise, and ultimately end up selling out or going poor; either way the project is dead or milked by the buyer and you either have money from the sale or no money at all. 99% chance of the latter.
