10 Things I’ve Learned in 10 Years

In the 10 years of running VISIONALITY, I feel like I’ve learned a lot…but also, still have so much more to learn. As we’re celebrating 10 years in October, I wanted to share what I’ve learned so far. The biggest thing to learn that has always transcended time though? Be a good human.

• Find your tribe
  • Owning a business is lonely. Some around you won’t understand the unique stress and challenges of running a business. The best way I’ve found to tolerate the loneliness is to cultivate supportive colleagues with whom I can be vulnerable and whose opinion I trust. You are not alone.

• Sometimes you just gotta leap
  • When you are the boss, analysis paralysis is REAL. You won’t always have all the answers. Trust your gut – she’s gotten you this far. Running a business (and life) is not a straight line of decisions and outcomes, but rather a continuing journey of decisions, consequences and course corrections. I tell my team all the time: I’m good at my job because I’ve made so many profound mistakes and I’m a quick learner. Lean into NOT getting it right. Welcome to the club. Make informed decisions, track your results and adjust.

• Flowers grow where you water.
  • Understand what generates profit and INVEST generously. Reread the statement above about people – are you nurturing them? Give your people the fertilizer they need to grow. Remove the weeds that steal their sunshine. Water as needed. Respect that all flowers are different, and treat them accordingly. Sometimes flowers need to be re-potted, or get different soil. As a business owner, you are in a unique position to create ideal conditions for your flowers to prosper.

• It doesn’t get easier
  • 10 years … by now I should have it all figured out, right? What’s wild is how every year brings a new set of challenges. Growing companies continues to be hard, scary and a lot of work. The feeling doesn’t change, but the cause of those feelings has gotten bigger with time! What is a no-brainer, easy decision for me today felt like life-or-death a handful of years ago. Respect this ongoing growth mindset. We get to make the life better for our clients and employees. It’s the hardest, best place to be.

• Claim your seat at the table
  • Nobody is going to make this easy for you. Claim your literal and symbolic seat at the table. If there isn’t room, ask someone to scooch over because you belong here. Act like a CEO everywhere you go – sit at the front of the room, speak up and remember that your perspective is valuable.

• Cheap, Fast or Good – choose two.
  • If something is cheap and fast, it likely won’t be good. If it’s good and fast, it certainly won’t be cheap. If it’s good and cheap, it won’t go fast. This is true both for your vendors and your own work. Know which two to apply to the situation in front of you, and don’t ALWAYS use the same two.

• Don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth
  • If you’re getting an immediate YES for every pitch, raise your prices. I’ll say it again for those in the back: RAISE YOUR PRICES. J Immediate acceptance feels great, but it means you’re likely not charging enough. I started this company because we want to SPECIALIZE in an area of the nonprofit market that is NOT getting served, and we have the experience and expertise to prove we’re good at it. You’re doing what you were built to do – change things and build the world back better than you found it.

• It’s okay that you are human.
  • Every day won’t be your best. Be kind with yourself. Build and then respect your own boundaries. Treat yourself the way you would your most loyal customer or most profitable employee. You are a critical component to the success of your business – act like you are; and empower your employees to do the same.

• DATA is your friend
  • Trust your gut and then verify with data. Track everything. Have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you monitor weekly (I’m serious! WEEKLY). Update your books weekly (I’m still serious!). Track your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) over time. Running a business and making it profitable is an ongoing exercise in “pulling levers” to optimize things. If you don’t have data, you don’t have any insight on which levers you should be pulling.

• Risk is subjective and your job is to mitigate it.
  • SO many people view entrepreneurship as deeply risky. I believe the opposite – I’m in full control of the decisions and have a deep understanding of the data (do you need to re-read above?) that enables me to make informed decisions. Invest heavily in other tools and professionals that mitigate your risk. Attorneys are “expensive” … however paying an attorney to create your standard contract is MANY times over cheaper than a lawsuit. Carrying comprehensive insurance is “expensive” … and it’s my safety net. Paying a bookkeeper to keep clean, up to date books and a CPA to file accurate taxes and offer financial advice is “expensive” … and without this data and advice … you know what I’m going to say: you don’t know what levers to pull, or possibly even what levers are available to you.