Category: Owning a Business

What I Learned My First Year as a Business Owner

Dana PhelpsBlog, Owning a Business, Raleigh PR Agency, The Clairemont Team10 Comments on What I Learned My First Year as a Business Owner

What started as a blog post about the lessons I’ve learned in my first year in business turned into a Triangle Business Journal guest column that ran in Friday’s issue. This should perhaps also be called, “Good question, Chuck Norman!” Thanks to all of our friends who support us on what has already been a wonderfully amazing journey! Below is the full article, with added hyperlinks for relevant info.

Confessions of a new business owner

Earlier this month, I sent a text message to a few friends on my one-year anniversary of resigning from an amazing job to risk that starting my own communications firm could be even more amazing. Sure, there were other firsts that followed – filing my company’s paperwork with the state, getting my City of Raleigh business license, signing a lease for office space – but none as significant or terrifying as resignation day. It meant there was no turning back.

Responses to my text message included “congrats” and “mazel tov” and “how does it feel?” One response, however, stopped me in my tracks. There was absolutely no way I could respond quickly to, “What have you learned?” After a bit of reflection, here is my answer:

1. Starting a business is not just one risk. It seemed like simply making the decision to start a business was the risk. I envisioned it like this: resign, open a business, exhale and let the bliss begin. Now I know that being a business owner is about taking risks every single day, and that’s actually what makes it so satisfying. Once the doors are open, you have to take risks to go after clients, hire team members and invest in professional development and networking opportunities. Moving ahead is all about risk-taking.

2. Ask for help. Like most entrepreneurs, I started a business to do what I love. Sometimes, running the business can get in the way. You need help! Find people you can trust, and admit your weaknesses. QuickBooks is mine. At first, I was determined to conquer it, and I made decent progress. Then I realized I had spent two hours in QuickBooks that I should have spent on a new business proposal. I knew I needed to reprioritize. Now I neatly organize my paperwork so that someone else can update our QuickBooks files, and I can focus on what I do best — serving clients and building a business.

3. Network smartly. Networking is about meeting people to meet more people to meet more people. Right? But what happens if that first person doesn’t really understand what you do or what you are seeking? I learned a one-question strategy for smarter networking while lunching with Sherry Essig, a business life coach and owner of Raleigh-based Flow Dynamix. As the check arrived after a lovely conversation, Sherry got a serious look in her eye and asked, “What does a good lead look like for you?” What a simple AND important question! And yet I had never asked nor been asked this question in my 18 years of professional networking. Try it. I bet you will always be asked the same question in return.

4. Having hurt feelings is okay. Dwelling on them is not. It’s confession time. I’m so personally vested in my work, that I occasionally get my feelings hurt. As I was considering becoming a business owner, I told myself that I simply couldn’t have feelings anymore. This was unrealistic and unnecessary. I care about what people think and say about me. (Goodness, isn’t that a trait of most PR people?) At the same time, I’m in a competitive industry, and sometimes things are said that simply aren’t accurate. I’ve had to learn that it is okay to feel hurt initially, but I have to move on and stay focused on my goals.

5. Stay true… to your values, yourself, your hopes and dreams, your mission and your promises to your team. As well as every reason you wanted to start a business and every thought that followed, “If I had my own business…” If you haven’t read The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, buy a copy today. I took author Mike Michalowicz’s advice and carefully crafted immutable laws for Clairemont Communications. They have guided me through launching my business, hiring (and unfortunately firing) team members and recently having the courage to politely tell a prospect “no thanks” because working with him would have meant being untrue to our value system and nearly every reason that made me want to start a communications agency in the first place.

6. Celebrate & enjoy. Another confession. Throughout most of my career, I’ve been an approval-junkie. Hey, don’t we all want a pat on the back? If you want to fully embrace the lesson of taking pride in a job done well and being completely satisfied with that and that alone, start a business! At the same time, as a business owner, I believe in stopping to take time to celebrate our big wins as well as everyday accomplishments and freely handing out pats on the back to team members. What’s the sense in taking all the risks if you aren’t going to celebrate your successes and enjoy each and every minute of it?

CLICK HERE to download a PDF version of the article.

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Social Media in Recruiting and Hiring

Dana PhelpsBlog, Owning a Business, Public Relations, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , 1 Comment on Social Media in Recruiting and Hiring

In need of communications professionals with an understanding of social media, we posted our job descriptions on our blog and then tweeted and Facebooked it out to our contacts. To help spread the word, our contacts did the same.

 

When Clairemont launched, it was our goal to find the perfect blend of traditional communications and social media for our clients. We proudly do just that for our clients, with a high majority of the day-to-day work falling on the social side. That’s why I was impressed when one candidate creatively demonstrated that 1) she understood the importance of social media to Clairemont clients and 2) that she had a working knowledge of how to use it by sending me a thank you note in the form of a blog post. (It was the “Thanks, Dana” sign that did it form me!)

 

She then took the blog entry and posted it to my Facebook page. To continue using social media as part of the hiring process, I asked my Facebook friends (many of whom are other communications professionals) to like the post if they thought I should hire her. Twenty-five likes and 19 comments later, Continue reading “Social Media in Recruiting and Hiring”

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L is for Learning Part 2

Dana PhelpsBlog, Owning a Business, Public Relations, , , 1 Comment on L is for Learning Part 2

Yes, today the letter L is only about learning, and in this case, it is very special. As in special events. If you didn’t catch yesterday’s post, Clairemont’s TLC Interns (team, learning, career) were asked to identify favorite take-away tips from an assigned-reading Entrepreneur article. Today’s tip comes from Rachel:

Make your special event special.

Do something original and attention grabbing. This tip is important to keep in mind because doing something different and original grabs people’s attention. It makes them want to learn more, which will drive them to the business.

It’s easy to pass by a store with a GRAND OPENING! sign outside and not much else. When passersby can see that there is something special going on, they are more likely to come and check out what you are doing.

By making your business memorable and enjoyable to customers, they are more likely to return and let their friends and family know about it as well.

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L is for Learning

Dana PhelpsBlog, Owning a Business, Public Relations, Starting a business, ,

…and love and lollipops and lemon meringue and lightening bugs and lake houses and larkspur and lavender. But today’s L is for learning, and that is the focus of our next three posts!

 

As the L in Clairemont’s TLC Intern Program, our interns are assigned reading and other assignments independent of the work that goes on in our agency. They recently read Entrepreneur‘s Start-Up Guide from Entrepreneur Magazine, and were asked to write about their favorite tip from the public relations section. Today’s tip comes from Michelle who wrote:

 

Set a goal to meet five (or more) new people at each event.

 

“It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Although constantly over quoted, mastering this statement can be key in growing and keeping a successful business.

 

It is so easy to converse only with familiar people and friends at lunches or events, overlooking great opportunities that are always lurking. Therefore, without even realizing it, people miss many great connections!

 

This is exactly why I love this tip from this guide.Setting the goal to “meet five (or more) new people at each event,” in advance of arriving is a great way to create a business mindset before attending. Once focused, it will be much easier to meet new people and to not lose sight of such great opportunities and connections.

 

With this goal in mind, it is important to remember that making connections is not only beneficial, but it can be intriguingly fun. The key is to remember to actually do it!

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Happy 30th Anniversary Post-It!

Dana PhelpsBlog, Owning a Business, Public Relations, , , , 1 Comment on Happy 30th Anniversary Post-It!

When putting together Clairemont’s internship program, three areas of concentration emerged as we built the curriculum to focus on the professional growth of our interns: team, learning and career. That’s why we call it the TLC Intern Program, and today’s post is brought to you by the letter T!

 

As a team assignment, Clairemont’s TLC interns were asked to have fun with Post-Its in honor of the product’s 30th anniversary. (And Rachel even knew the answer to my question of, “In what movie did best friends pretend to be the inventors of the Post-It?” I was quite impressed.)

 

Despite the fact that this was one of the days the A/C was out in the office, I think the photos show they worked well together. More on our Flickr page. Enjoy!

 

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