Jeff Henry is the founder of Charles Henry Endeavors LLC and an expert in inclusion and business development.
Starting a business during the pandemic is the riskiest personal endeavor I ever embarked on, however, starting my own company was a life milestone I wanted to hit regardless of the current economic climate.
After countless hours of researching, taking coffee chats, and having late-night sound boarding sessions with close friends and mentors, I was able to turn the idea of my communications and external affairs consulting firm into a 6-figure business within the first 6 months of operation. Here are some of the key learnings that got me to where I am now.
Start with a “financial operations first” mindset.
The beauty of entrepreneurship is the flexibility to think and dream — but where I have seen many entrepreneurs struggle is in with their ability to frame the financial operating principles of their business. The biggest ideas in the world can’t take off well if there isn’t an operating foundation to back them up.
Remember – starting a business costs money – period. Whether you are a freelancer or a sole proprietor, there are costs to employing yourself. Fortunately, you can write many of these expenses off in your first year of operations and/or the relevant fees can be deducted from earnings as they come in.
Think about costs of operation like incorporating your company, your business checking and savings structure, tools for capturing expenses you can write off against your taxable income, health insurance costs, and general budgeting to run your business in the now while thinking about the capital you will need to grow it for the future.
The good news here is that there are many services that you can use for free as you are initially building your business, however, always keep in mind that they come with a catch — you end up plugged into their ecosystem significantly and it can be hard to switch providers.
Land your first paying customer, no matter how small.
Getting your first paying customer is an important milestone for your business not just from a financial perspective, but also mentally.
Your first customer will help you test the operating structure of your business. You will learn what it means to create invoices, accept payments, and process refunds if need be. Once you accept your first payment, you can work out the kinks of how to scale your services.
Getting your first customer will also boost the mental confidence you have in selling your services. There is a certain euphoria you get out of knowing that someone is willing to pay for your advice, goods, or services. As you continue to build your business, this will also become a cornerstone of your pitch to new customers and will help you benchmark your prices.
To get that first customer, leverage your network — friends, family, old co-workers. It’s not the size of the transaction that matters, rather, that it happens.
Ask for advice and learn how to process it.
The most important lesson that I learned when starting my business was to ask the people around me for advice.
As entrepreneurs, we get caught up in the idea of our vision and are unwilling to see some of the pitfalls of our ideas. We want to make $1M in revenue but often overlook what it takes to get to $100.
Build a trusted network of people that you can ask to listen to your ideas, and tell you when something is out of scope based on your current infrastructure. Separately, you need to hone your inner ear for feedback as all advice isn’t good advice. As an entrepreneur, you are generally the only one with a full picture of your business, so take advice willingly but learn how to filter out the unhelpful bits.
