At 30 years old, Jana recently closed a significant chapter in her entrepreneurial journey – selling her first one-person consulting business. Reflecting on the 501 days it took to reach this point, she shared with me the path she took from inception to selling her business, along with plans to build her next part-time business venture.
Embrace Imperfection and Just Start
For two years, Jana was stuck in the “I-want-to-start-a-business” mindset, endlessly consuming information without taking any real action. She was waiting for the flawless recipe that would show her exactly what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Finally, she realized this perfect plan would never materialize, and the only way to get started was simply to start. She challenged herself to make incremental progress, to allow herself to pivot as needed, to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and to believe that if she continued to move forward, then the next step would always appear.
Looking back, she says it’s not how you start, but rather that you simply start. If you’re afraid, it’s okay, as long as you keep moving.
Consistent Action Beats Reading More How-to Books
Jana says Henry Ford was right, “If you believe you can do it, then you can do it. If you believe you can’t, well, you’re right about that, too.”
She found that her own beliefs in herself and her business were strengthened through consistent action. Instead of getting lost in reading more books or posts on how to begin, the key is to show up every day and move your business forward by at least 1%.
Consistency compounds over time, reinforcing the belief that you are, indeed, an entrepreneur. Every day of showing up is a testament to your commitment.
Follow Your Obsessions
Jana says to discover what truly captivates you, what makes you unique, and then lean into it, even if you think it’s strange. Embrace the quirks that define you because these can be your unique offerings to others.
What may seem too different from mainstream can often be turned into a scalable business model. Your passions, no matter how unusual, can fuel a successful business if leveraged correctly.
Leverage Your Weaknesses and Shortcomings
Recognize and harness your weaknesses and shortcomings and turn them into assets. Jana was building a business in an industry dominated by old white men, while she is a young African American woman. Jana has a psychological quirk that most people would want to hide, but instead she spoke about it openly and used it to her advantage in the business.
Sometimes the things you think are holding you back are your greatest strengths. But you’ve got to realize that and figure out how to use them to your advantage, setting you apart from everyone else in your niche.
Zero in on Your Unique Voice
Jana discovered that combining your obsessions with your unique assets creates an unfair advantage in your niche. You have no competition because no one can replicate you, and there’s immense power in that. When you are true to yourself and build a business around your genuine interests, weaknesses and strengths, you automatically stand out, making the concept of competition irrelevant.
Prioritize Long-Term Relationships
In business, relationships are everything. Jana cultivated meaningful connections and avoided toxic ones. She became adept at judging character and trusting her intuition.
If you can’t envision a long-term working relationship with someone, don’t engage with them. Building a network of reliable and trustworthy connections is a fundamental aspect of sustainable success.
Let Go of Expectations
Jana didn’t start out thinking she would sell her business in 501 days, or even perhaps ever.
She began by learning what kind of help people wanted, needed and were willing to pay for.
Then she worked like crazy to deliver it. She focused on servicing her customers first, building her business second, and long term goals weren’t even on her mind at the time.
By focusing on servicing her first customers, she found it easy to get testimonials and referrals. This made building her business easy, too.
But she didn’t rely just on referrals. She created a great deal of content that drove people to her podcast and her website, and some of those people became clients, too.
The point is, she focused on what needed to be done each day and let the long term picture take care of itself. This isn’t what most experts would tell you to do, but it certainly worked for her.
What’s Her Next Move?
Digital products. She’s sold her business for six figures plus a consulting contract that runs for three years. During these three years she will continue to occasionally work in the business and mainly consult with the new owner on working ON the business.
Her time commitment for this is 10 to 20 hours per week, leaving her plenty of time to begin creating digital products. Now that she’s built a business servicing customers, she looks forward to building a second business where she does the work one time and gets paid over and over for it.
Notice she didn’t start with digital products. Getting the experience of helping real people to achieve real results has given her a tremendously firm foundation on which to create and sell digital products from now on.
And because she’ll still be consulting, she’ll get even more experience in the niche that she can continue to parlay into new products.
Here’s What She Told Me to Tell You
There are a few lessons she learned early on that might help you in your own online journey.
First, know in advance that your journey is going to be marked by imperfections and mistakes. That’s okay because it’s simply part of the process.
Second, if you can become obsessed with helping people in your niche, then there’s no way you can fail.
Third, leverage your unique strengths and weaknesses to build a business that has no competition.
And finally, by focusing on consistent action, cultivating meaningful relationships, and staying true to your authentic self, you can build a business that succeeds beyond your wildest dreams.