This month marks nine years since I took the leap to become a wellness entrepreneur. Those years were full of lessons learned the hard way, and I now have TONS of tips to help fellow wellness entrepreneurs in their business.
I will never forget the day I decided to leave my safe, corporate job to build my own holistic health practice. I had no idea what that really meant or how it would look, but I did know one thing—there was no way I was ever going to work for someone else again.
I think it’s safe to say that becoming an entrepreneur without any knowledge or experience is quite the rollercoaster ride! I can’t possibly sum up all of the incredible, and not-so-incredible, experiences I’ve had along the way, but I do have some tips that will help you on your journey to becoming a wellness entrepreneur.
Let’s count them down because countdowns are fun.
8 business tips for wellness entrepreneurs
Business Tip #8: Done is better than perfect.
When I first started my wellness business, I put out poorly-written blog posts (some of which still get the highest traffic on my site), created recipes that were actually pretty gross (haha!), and my Instagram pictures were downright embarrassing.
My content was and still is far from perfect, but it has never once stopped my business from growing month after month, year after year.
Perfection doesn’t exist, especially when it comes to business and entrepreneurship. Try as much as you want, but you will inevitably have typos in your emails, broken links on your website, and Instagram posts that flop no matter how much time you spend trying to do everything right.
You can breathe a sigh of relief though because…guess what? No one cares!
Trying to do it all perfectly and waiting to put your work out there until it gets there is just procrastination in disguise. It’s coming from a fear of being judged or criticized, and it’s holding you and your business back in a massive way.
The time you’re spending looking for perfection in your work could instead be spent connecting with those people who have found your imperfect work valuable (which they will) and inviting them into your world. Much more productive use of time, right?
Business Tip #7: Spending money on your business is an investment in yourself
Real talk: my business put me into debt. But also, that debt was the best thing I ever did for my future because it was an investment in my dream, my plans, my vision, and my mission. And, it had a massive return rate.
Don’t get me wrong, spending money I didn’t have at the time was scary, and I hesitated to do it. But, in the end, I intuitively knew it was a requirement if I wanted to grow and took that leap of faith.
I was right.
Within a matter of months, I had not only paid off that initial debt but had made back 10X the investment.
What did I invest in, you ask? A business mentor, an assistant to help me manage my client paperwork, a functioning computer, podcast equipment (that I still use to this day!), and, probably the biggest kick-in-the-pants investment of all, an online business management platform that encouraged me to start turning my business ideas into reality (ie. courses, group coaching, e-books, etc.).
Step into that abundance mindset and see the investments you make in your business as stepping stones that will bring with it the wealth and success you deserve. It will happen, but not if you’re trying to do it all without spending a dime.
Business Tip #6: Create, create, create…even when no one is watching.
Remember those terrible blog posts, inedible recipes, and embarrassing Instagram posts I mentioned earlier. Yeah, no one saw that content. They’re still out there on the interwebs somewhere waiting for someone to notice them.
I remember hovering over the “publish” button of my first blog post with butterflies in my stomach. I was so nervous! But, I got up the courage to post it, and then nothing…and nothing…and still nothing. I think, to this day, my mom is the only one that ever read that first blog post.
But, I didn’t let that stop me.
Since that first scary blog post, I’ve written countless more, recorded over 350 podcast episodes, posted over 2500 Instagram posts, created dozens of freebies, and even have a few YouTube videos out there.
And, as I continued to create more and more content, more and more people started finding it, many of which became clients and customers. My business consistently grew as long as I stayed consistent with my content creation.
Especially at the beginning (and sometimes even years into it), people aren’t going to see your content. You’re not going to get a ton of “likes”, and you’re not going to have a lot of readers or listeners.
That means absolutely nothing about you, your content, your abilities, your message, or your business. It just means that you’re in the process of building a business, something every entrepreneur has to go through at some point.
Write when no one’s reading, talk when no one is listening, and post when no one’s responding, and pretty soon, people will be in the audience.
Write when no one’s reading, talk when no one is listening, and post when no one’s responding, and pretty soon, people will be in the audience.
Business Tip #5: Get excited when you fail.
I can’t even begin to count the number of “failures” I’ve had in my business in the past 8 years. I put that big, bad F word in quotes because I really don’t believe in the negative connotation that society today has put on the word failure.
I personally get excited when something I do in my business doesn’t work the way I expected or hoped. Why? Because every single time I’ve failed, I’ve learned something invaluable from it. The failures I’ve had in my business have been THE reason for my success. Without those lessons, I wouldn’t have found what worked.
Next time you fail (which you inevitably will), get excited! You’re learning an amazing lesson that will only take you one step closer to your inevitable success.
Business Tip #4: Focus on connections over followers.
When I first started my business, social media wasn’t nearly as life-engulfing as it is now. There wasn’t this obsession with vanity metrics such as likes, comments, and followers. I saw these apps as opportunities to make a real connection with people. Different ways I could intimately connect and communicate with my dream clients and let them know I get them, see them, and can help them.
Now, I see so many entrepreneurs get hung up on these numbers and think they need to have a certain “following” before they can be successful. That couldn’t be more untrue!
Followers don’t create your business, connections do. Think about it, which would be better for your business? 100 potential dream clients that you authentically connected with regularly OR 10,000 followers that barely even know you?
Choose connections over fans or followers. Use social media platforms to help build those connections and detach from the vanity metrics. Your business will skyrocket as a result.
Business Tip #3: It’s going to be scary, do it anyway.
Alright, now I’m going to really be totally honest with you. I’m scared to death of entrepreneurship. Yep, this is meant to be in the present tense. I still get scared to do things in my business almost every day.
Which means I’m doing things absolutely RIGHT. Because if I weren’t scared, that would mean I wasn’t growing. I wasn’t trying new things, putting myself out there, and expanding into unknown territory. That’s what it takes to have a business. You can’t ever get stagnant or too comfortable with this gig.
What I will say is that I don’t even notice the fear anymore. Instead, it feels like scary excitement because I know it means great things are on their way.
So yes, I know quite well that none of this feels super comfortable to you right now. Stepping out of your comfort zone and putting yourself out into the world in a new way will have some fear attached to it. Please know that’s normal!
But, you’ve still got to do it. You’ve got to push through that fear, get yourself out there, and go for it! You have a passion and purpose that led you here. Let those positive, uplifting emotions lead the way through the fear and discomfort.
Business Tip #2: Don’t force it.
In 2016, I had a random intuitive nudge. I was going to take everything I had been saying over and over again to my 1:1 nutrition clients and put it into one spot on the internet so they could go through the content on their own time.
I knew absolutely nothing about creating online courses at the time but dove headfirst into this idea, spending a few months creating my first course. One year after launching that course, it had made over $100,000 in sales.
Again, no clue what I was doing or why I was doing it, just followed a nudge that felt like it was the right thing to do without second-guessing it. Ever since then, I have never, ever turned down a nudge from my intuition when it comes to a business idea, even when it meant pivoting multiple times in my business, turning down opportunities that looked good on paper, and working on projects that tested my patience and abilities.
The biggest and baddest tool you have as an entrepreneur is your own intuition.
Something I see trip new wellness entrepreneurs up the most is their inability to listen to and trust their own intuitive guidance. Instead, they look to outside influence to see what everyone else is doing, how they’re doing it, and what’s working.
They ask other people for advice and opinions, try to force or effort their way through what they “should” be doing, and never take the time to go inward to see what their own inner voice has to say.
Spend some time working to find that voice, and you will never again be confused about what direction to take in your business.
Business Tip #1: Successful entrepreneurs are made from the inside out.
This tip is absolutely, positively, my number one takeaway from 8 years of entrepreneurship. I’m so passionate about sharing this work with new business owners that it’s what I now spend my days teaching these lessons in my business mentorship program, Holistic Business Starter!
I learned this lesson the hard way. I spent 3.5 years in business massively struggling, unable to make ends meet because I wasn’t gaining traction. You might be wondering how that was possible when I just mentioned ALL the things I was doing right.
There was just this one tiny (actually really huge) thing…I was unknowingly blocking my own success.
My subconscious programming was still that of a scared, broke girl that didn’t know what she was talking about, couldn’t help anyone, and didn’t deserve success.
Without me even realizing it, I was still operating from this internal representation of myself because I hadn’t yet done the inner work required to be a successful entrepreneur.
Yes, there’s a lot of external “stuff” to do as an entrepreneur—setting up a website, printing business cards, creating content, etc.—but none of that matters if you haven’t prepared your internal world for this next-level version of yourself. You will still think, feel, and act like the old version of you.
This is the REAL work to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Please take a lesson from my experience and don’t wait until you are deep into your business and struggling to get started.
The first steps to this work? Check out my podcast for wellness business owners, Unstuck Entrepreneur. There, I will give you all the tools you need to do the inner work required to build your dream business and life from the inside out.
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