To be really honest, the advice I'd give my younger self is this, don't confuse motion with progress. In my early days, I was obsessed with looking busy, running from meeting to meeting, sketching out five new ideas a week, convincing myself that speed equaled success. But when I look back, most of that activity was just noise. The signal came the day a mentor pulled me aside and said, "If you can't point to the one thing that truly matters this week, you're not building a business, you're chasing a feeling." That line hit harder than any financial loss ever did. What I believe is that the real inflection point in my journey came when I learned to prioritize clarity over chaos. I remember shutting my laptop one afternoon, taking a walk, and admitting to myself that half the things I was working on weren't moving the company forward. That moment of honesty forced me to cut projects, delegate faster, and focus on the small handful of decisions that actually generated momentum. I am very sure that younger founders underestimate how powerful disciplined focus is. If I could whisper one insight back in time, it would be this, success comes from choosing what to ignore just as much as what to pursue.
If I could give my younger self one piece of advice about starting a business, it would be this: don't confuse slow progress with failure. Building WhatAreTheBest.com taught me that the hardest part of entrepreneurship isn't the work — it's managing your own doubt when the results don't show up right away. There were stretches where I felt genuinely depressed. I remember spending months building out thousands of category pages, fixing crawl issues, and rewriting comparison logic, only to see almost no movement in traffic. It felt like shouting into the void. But two moments pulled me out of that mindset. The first was the day I finally saw a major SaaS company engage with my outreach — a real backlink from real effort. It proved the system worked, even if slowly. The second was noticing how the site's architecture and quality had quietly compounding power; things I built months earlier suddenly clicked into place and drove opportunities I couldn't have predicted. Those tiny wins mattered more than I realized at the time. The lesson I wish I'd learned earlier is simple: "Breakthroughs rarely feel like breakthroughs when you're living them — they show up disguised as small, boring wins." If you stick through the slow parts and give compounding effort a chance to work, the business eventually reflects the persistence you put into it. Albert Richer Founder + Editor at WhatAreTheBest.com
I started a global branding and digital marketing firm 24 years ago. The most important advice I would give my younger self is to address underperforming team members quickly rather than letting them linger. I learned the hard way that keeping weak employees not only slowed our business growth but also consumed valuable time that should have been spent on finding customers. Once I made the difficult decision to let go of these team members, our company culture became significantly stronger. This single change freed me up to focus on what really mattered for the business. It would have been better for everyone to let them go as soon as the signs were there. They became more insecure and threatened as we grew which was not productive for the team. "A" team people like to be surrounded by other stars. It is true that you should hire slowly and fire quickly. I did not make that mistake again later on so learned it well the first time. I wish I had known it even earlier though but lesson learned for sure!
When I was in High School my mother used to ask what what I wanted to do with my life, who did I want to become. My answer was always "I just want to own my own business". I wasn't sure at that time what type of business I wanted to own, I just knew that being an employee wasn't for me, and neither was school. This drove my mother crazy because she knew that owing a business requires education too. She tried diligently to get me to take a business course at the local college. This was not appealing to me whatsoever. I brushed off every attempt she made, and in the end I won the battle, but later in life I learned that battle shouldn't have been fought in the first place, she was right. I made many attempts to start my own business that started when I was only 16 year old. I tried mobile small engine repair, importing Chinese products to resell, water garden installations, a cleaning service, and eventually a website development business. All of which had no business plan, just threw a hundred bucks at advertising and see where it went. Most times it went absolutely no where, or the results were weak at best. I remember a customer asking me how much he owed me to fix his snowblower in the middle of a snowstorm. My answer was "whatever you feel is fair" - he gave me $20 for what I now know is a $200 job. By the time I got into the cleaning service business I learned that I had to have set prices and not let the customer tell me how much they would pay me. The cleaning business was a little more successful. I learned over the course of many years that while I was learning how to run a business, the education I was getting was by making mistakes. This type of education is just as expensive as college, but it takes decades to learn this way. I passed my method of learning down to my kids unfortunately. Now they too are learning the hard way. I often remind them that "Education isn't free, doesn't matter how you get it, it will always cost you either way" After 4 decades, I am finally a Cum Laude graduate of the School of Hard Knocks. I have finally learned what it takes to be successful. I now own a successful and growing security company. Looking back at my life, I wish I listened to my mother. I wish I listened to reason and wasn't so stuck in my stubborn ways. But since I am where I am, I feel I learned in such a way that I will never forget my lessons, I just regret the pain and stress I put myself through.
If I could give my younger self one piece of advice about starting and running a business, it would be this: you do not have to have everything figured out on day one. When I first stepped into entrepreneurship, I felt enormous pressure to know all the answers and to carry every responsibility myself. I thought that was what strong leadership looked like. What I eventually learned is that clarity comes with time, and you build a business the same way you build anything meaningful. One decision at a time, one improvement at a time, one challenge at a time. I wish I had known earlier that you do not need to be the smartest or the most experienced person in the room. You need to be willing to learn, willing to listen, and willing to surround yourself with people who complement your strengths. The turning point in my own journey was realising that leadership is not about carrying the whole business on your back. It is about creating clarity for your team, trusting them to do their work, and setting up systems that allow the company to grow beyond you. If I had understood that earlier, I would have worried less, delegated more, and built with a lot more confidence. The insight is simple. You will figure it out. But you will figure it out faster when you are not trying to do it alone.
If I could offer my younger self one piece of wisdom about starting and running a business, it would be this: clarity before speed. Early in my journey, I was fixated on moving fast, capturing every opportunity, and trying to scale rapidly, thinking momentum would get me there—the irony is that without a clear value proposition, defined ideal client, and systems that could support growth, speed only amplified problems and inefficiencies. The biggest learning or insight I wish I had known is that intentionality compounds faster than hustle. When you intentionally take the time to define your offer/work behavior, map your processes, and understand the specific problems you're solving, you're not slowing down; you're building an intentional base for growth that trickles down to how you shape growth and scaling from an intentional angle. When I made the pivot from chasing "all the opportunities" to seeking the right opportunities using a defined framework, everything I did became more meaningful, reduced stress, and I was able to grow business not only faster, but with more smart consistency.
One piece of advice I'd give my younger self is this: trust the process, but build the systems early. When I first started my pet care business, I poured everything into the hands-on work — grooming, training sessions, enrichment activities, building bonds with every dog who walked through the door. And while that passion is still the heart of what I do, I wish I had understood sooner that strong systems and structure are what allow that passion to scale without burning yourself out. Clear processes for client communication, scheduling, safety protocols, staff training, and even how you document a dog's behavior each visit — these are the things that give you consistency and allow you to grow without compromising the quality of care. They free you to focus on what you do best: nurturing dogs, guiding owners, and creating a truly personal experience. I'd remind my younger self that building a business isn't just about working hard — it's about working intentionally. Create the foundation early, let systems carry the weight, and you'll have the space to grow, innovate, and enjoy the journey far more.
Hi, I'm Jeanette Brown, a late-life founder in my early 60s. If I could hand one note to my younger self before she opened her laptop, it would say: choose one sentence to stand on and plan your repair before you launch. The thing is that I spent years trying to be everything "communication," mistaking effort for clarity and perfection for safety. The day I wrote five words, repair before results, my work got simpler, my offers got smaller, and my courage got bigger. Decide what you promise, ship the tiniest version, and prewrite what you'll do when it wobbles: who you'll call, what you'll change first, when you'll try again tomorrow. Then keep your word to yourself and to your calendar. I'd also tell her that your nervous system is a business asset, not an obstacle. Protect two real focus blocks, one urgent lane with a response window, and a hard stop at night so you can love your life while you build it. No one hires you for your burnout — they hire you for your steadiness. The clients who stay won't remember how glossy your first website looked, they'll remember that when something went wrong, you repaired fast and you were kind. That's the kind of success worth growing into. Thanks for considering my pitch! Cheers, Jeanette Brown Founder of Jeanettebrown.net
For many years, I believed the more clients and projects you have, the more you are growing as a business. However, I have come to realize that to achieve sustainable growth, first you must build your 'business machine' with clearly defined processes. Make sure you have the 'right people' in the 'right roles', and have the discipline to turn down any opportunities that do not align with your business vision. Looking back, I wish I had spent more time in the beginning defining what type of business I wanted to create, what value we would provide, who the best clients were for us, and then continued to protect that focus. You can generate revenue quickly, but it takes years to build a business's reputation, culture, and trust. If I were to start again, the first thing I would ask myself before making a major decision would be "Does this decision support the type of business I want to be running in 10 years?" Seeing things through a long-term lens will change everything.
Hi, My name is Michael Nova. I am a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Nova Custom Label Printing (https://novacustomlabelprinting.com/). We are based in New York, with clients such as J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, BMW, American Express, CBS-TV, Calvin Klein, Honeywell, FOX sports, The New York Philharmonic, NYU, L'Oreal, The United Way, The US Government, and many, many more. I'm also founder of the Worldwide Community website, RiseUpEight.org, where people from all walks of life share stories of overcoming adversity. We all deal with adversity. It's how we overcome it that can define us. The one piece of advice that I would give to my younger self about starting and running a business is that you should expect to encounter adversity and setbacks in your journey. If you're not prepared, it can affect you so deeply that you can lose your business. Don't let this happen to you. Prepare yourself ahead of time for challenges that might occur. Most importantly prepare yourself mentally to overcome these obstacles so that you can remain calm and take on without panicking. So how can you prepare yourself for adversity and learn how to become resilient? You can do this by finding a mentor to advise you and help you navigate through whatever challenges might occur. It's even worth paying someone for a mentorship because it will save you so much time in learning that it will be more than worth the cost. You can find a mentor through the Small Business Administration or networking locally in your town. Being an entrepreneur means being able to withstand setbacks and stay on an even keel no matter what happens. Everything will go wrong, so you should expect that. Read stories of other entrepreneurs who came back from adversity and learned how to become resilient. Resilience is absolutely necessary for every entrepreneur. My journey featured coming back from the brink of blindness, near bankruptcy and a host of other challenges all at once. It taught me that the "impossible" is achievable. My unlikely recovery is what inspired me to share my story with the world in order to inspire others. I'd be more than happy to expand on this if you like. Please let me know. I'd also be happy to promote your article once it's published through our social media channels and mailing lists. Looking forward to your response. thank you, Michael Nova CEO https://NovaCustomLabelPrinting.com
One of the most valuable lessons I learned as a first-time entrepreneur was understanding when to walk away from a business that isn't working. Early in my career, I closed down multiple ventures after the financial data clearly showed the business models weren't viable. This taught me that shutting down a failing business is a strategic decision, not a personal failure. Many entrepreneurs hold on too long out of pride or fear, but recognizing when to pivot or close preserves your resources for future opportunities. The ability to adapt and make tough decisions based on data rather than emotion is critical for long-term success.
If I could give my younger self one piece of advise on getting started, it would be to concentrate on the next action you can actually take rather than getting overwhelmed by the broader picture. When I first started my own business, I ran into many difficulties. Issues would comes in large quantities and pile up more quickly than I could resolve them, leaving many chores and tasks unfinished. Learning to split tasks and focus on the current action in front of me was what really helped. In line with my long-term vision, I have established weekly micro-goals. Additionally, if you're working with a team, you can keep everyone motivated by combining these mini-goals with little prizes, progress reports, or group reflections.
The advice I'd give my younger self is this: structure beats enthusiasm. When I founded Transformance Advisors in 2003, I had passion for Lean and a belief that helping organizations improve was meaningful work. What I didn't fully appreciate was how critical it is to distill complex methodologies into simple, repeatable frameworks. It took years to arrive at our three-part structure: Projects, Continuous Improvement, and Program Management. If I could go back, I'd tell myself to focus earlier on creating that clarity. Clients don't buy complexity; they buy confidence that you can help them succeed. When you can explain your approach simply, you attract better clients, deliver faster results, and build a sustainable business rather than constantly reinventing your pitch.Beyond complexity, having a program is a compeitive advantage. Clients don't want to hear about eveything can be customized. THey what to hear that you have figured this out. The second insight I wish I'd embraced earlier is to be an early adopter of how you deliver, not just what you deliver. We eventually became pioneers in 24/7 online and hybrid learning while competitors stayed stuck with stale PowerPoint presentations on Zoom calls. That forward-thinking approach differentiated us and expanded our reach. But I could have moved faster. Too many entrepreneurs cling to familiar delivery methods because they are comfortable, even when the market is shifting. The content matters, but how people access it matters just as much. Finally, I'd tell my younger self to build for sustainability, not growth for its own sake. We've intentionally stayed lean with a small team, strategic partnerships, and steady revenue. That has allowed us to maintain quality, stay honest with clients, and weather challenges like recent retirements without crisis. Not every business needs to scale aggressively. Sometimes the smartest entrepreneurial move is building something that lasts, delivers consistent value, and doesn't require you to compromise your principles to keep the lights on.
I spent too many years believing that success meant saying yes to everything. Early in my leadership and entrepreneurial journey, I thought the more I carried, the more impact I would create. If I could speak to my younger self, I would tell him this: build the business around who you are, not around who you think you are supposed to be. It is east as a new founder to confuse activity with progress. It becomes a trap that steals clarity. I would tell my younger self to spend less time trying to meet every expectation and more time understanding the purpose behind the work. Clarity is where every successful business begins. When you know what you stand for and what you will not compromise, decisions become cleaner, relationships become healthier, and the business becomes sustainable. I would also introduce him to what I now call Strategic Pruning. Identify the efforts that matter. Release the ones that do not. Let go of work rooted in pressure, habit, or fear. Protect the space where creativity, curiosity, and thoughtful leadership can actually emerge. A business does not grow because you add more. It grows when you create room for the right work to rise. This discipline separates founders who burn out from those who build lasting impact. This clarity makes The Platinum Rule possible: treat people the way they want to be treated. When you remove noise and distractions, you have the bandwidth to listen with real attention, understand how others want to be supported, and lead with genuine respect. The Platinum Rule shifts leadership from transaction to connection, which is the foundation for trust, loyalty, and long term influence. I would also remind my younger self that vision and planning matter, but perfection is not required. Waiting for the perfect moment or perfect plan only delays growth and dims possibility. Take focused, deliberate, calculated action. Small steps taken with clarity will move you farther than big ideas waiting for the right time. When you act in alignment with your purpose, you magnify your potential for success and create momentum that compounds over time. If I had understood these truths earlier, I would have worked with less hurry and more intention. But learning them over time shaped the leader, founder, and person I have become. And I am grateful for that journey. The gift of experience taught me that success is not built by doing everything, but by choosing the right things and doing them with purpose, presence, and heart.
One piece of advice I would give to my younger self about starting and running a business is: don't give up when obstacles occur. There will be many ups and downs, but persistence is key to overcoming challenges and ultimately achieving success.
I would tell my younger self to stop waiting to feel ready before charging premium rates. In fact, I should have doubled pricing earlier, and lost sleep figuring it out later. Clients do not value your services more because you priced them low. They trust what feels like confidence. When I finally quoted $6,500 for a site audit I used to charge $800 for, I got a "Sounds good. Can you send an invoice tonight?" That shook me. Same deliverables. Same tools. Different price. Suddenly I had more budget, less scope creep, and no second-guessing from the buyer. All that to say, your price is not a math problem. It is a mirror. If you undervalue your work, others will too... and they will act like it. Most early businesses do not break from lack of effort. They break from weak positioning and paper-thin margins. The higher you charge, the more room you have to fix, flex, or fail forward. Just to clarify, no one regrets charging too much... they regret how long they waited.
I'm Justin Brown, co-creator of The Vessel, a purpose-driven personal development site which taught me a lot about talking to my younger self. If I could talk to my younger self, I'd suggest to build a business your nervous system can carry. Not the loudest thing like I always used to do. Just the livable thing. Early on I chased launches and big numbers, especially on my previous platform ideapod.com. It looked exciting and felt awful. One bad week and I would say yes to work that didn't fit, stack late nights, and call it hustle. The fix was smaller and kinder than I expected. Define a simple monthly floor that covers people, tools, and taxes. Create two steady offers that fund that floor on boring terms. One page, one promise, one next step. Cover the floor first, then let the big ideas be upside. I would also tell myself to keep a 13-week cash forecast and send five-line receipts after important conversations. Those two habits remove 80 percent of the panic. You see cliffs early. You stop re-deciding the same thing. You make cleaner calls on what not to do. Most of all, protect the pace. If a plan only works when you are exhausted, it does not work. Choose the version that lets you take a real weekend and still be proud of what ships. Calm is not the enemy of growth. It is what makes growth stick.
The one piece of advice I'd give my younger self is this: Hire for excellence and delegate 100% of the task, not just the busy work. When I first started Honeycomb Air, I was so focused on saving money and controlling the quality that I tried to do everything myself—the repairs, the scheduling, the invoicing, the marketing. All that got me was exhaustion, and it actually slowed down our growth in San Antonio. I wish I had known earlier that being a great technician and being a great business owner are two completely different things. My biggest mistake was staying tethered to the tools for too long. If I'd spent the money sooner to hire the right person—someone better than me at scheduling, better at accounting—I would have freed myself up to focus on strategy, training, and sales. You can't lead the company while you're constantly stuck working in it. The key insight is that your payroll is an investment in your freedom and future growth, not an expense to be avoided. Stop thinking about the hourly cost of an employee and start thinking about the revenue that person will allow you to generate because they freed up your time. As soon as I truly embraced delegation and trusted a talented team, the business got scalable, and the quality of service for our customers actually went up because I could focus on leading, not just fixing.
I'd tell myself to stop waiting for the "perfect" formula before launching. I spent an entire decade testing self-tanners and another year perfecting my own formula in my apartment kitchen before launching 3VERYBODY in 2024. That perfectionism delayed real customer feedback by years. The breakthrough came when I finally put product in people's hands and watched them actually use it. One of our launch models had super sensitive skin--just like me--and her real-time reaction taught me more than 50 formula samples ever did. Now we have people with sensitive skin writing reviews that warm my heart, but I only got that data by shipping product. Here's what changed everything: I grew our community 300% year-over-year with zero paid ads by just being honest about the product. No retouched photos, no gimmicky shade names, no BS. When I redesigned the tanning mitt, I obsessed over that tapered edge for months with manufacturers--but customers told me the waterproof lining was actually the game-changer I hadn't even prioritized. Ship before you think you're ready. Your customers will tell you what matters way faster than you can guess it in your kitchen.
The lesson I think about the most is how crucial it is to base a business on focus rather than ambition. In the beginning, it is easy to accept every market, every opportunity, and every property that looks promising. You believe that volume creates momentum, which causes you to overextend yourself and manage too many things at once. It becomes evident over time that focusing your energy on the few things that consistently yield results is the key to gaining real traction. Five mediocre properties will perform worse than one well-chosen one. A single, reliable method will perform better than a dozen haphazard fixes. Experience becomes expertise through focus. Clarity turns into a competitive advantage, so this is important. Making decisions is much quicker and more accurate when you know exactly what kind of deal you are pursuing, what areas you are avoiding, and what results you are measuring. It eliminates noise from the company. It lessens emotional judgment. Additionally, it makes space for more in-depth consideration of the portfolio's long-term health. I would have accelerated my learning curve and returns if I had internalized this sooner.