how to start a SUCCESSFUL small business in 2024 🌷📦 the ULTIMATE guide, advice, everything i learned
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares their journey of starting a small business, emphasizing the importance of consistency, having a clear vision, and balancing planning with action. They discuss the challenges of launching a shop with a small initial success and the lessons learned, such as setting realistic expectations, offering affordable shipping, and considering digital products. The video also touches on the benefits of a content calendar and the importance of detaching from the performance of one's work to foster continuous growth and creativity.
Takeaways
- 😀 Consistency is key in growing a social media following and developing a unique style.
- 🔍 Having a clear vision for your business goals helps maintain motivation even when progress is slow.
- 🛠 Over-planning can lead to inaction; it's important to balance planning with actual steps towards your goals.
- 🎨 Developing a unique style from consistent creation can attract a following and build a brand.
- 🤔 It may be beneficial to keep business ideas and goals private until they are executed to avoid external pressure.
- ⏰ Setting a hard deadline for launching a business can create urgency and drive progress.
- 📦 Practical considerations such as shipping options and product variety can impact the success of a business launch.
- 📈 Starting with a broad range of products can increase the potential order total and customer satisfaction.
- 📝 Streamlining packaging processes is crucial for scalability and efficiency as the business grows.
- 📊 Keeping expectations moderate and learning from each business iteration can lead to steady growth.
- 📈 Considering digital products can reduce operational overhead and allow for more flexible business management.
Q & A
What was the initial motivation for the speaker to start a small business?
-The speaker was inspired by watching others on YouTube who were packing hundreds of orders and wanted to start and grow their own small business.
Why did the speaker open a journaling account on Instagram during high school?
-The speaker opened the account for fun and to create content, without any intention to sell anything initially, but started gaining a following which made them take it more seriously.
What was a significant mistake the speaker made with their Instagram account?
-The speaker did not have a big picture idea for where the account was heading, which made it hard to stay motivated and continue posting despite having grown a substantial following.
What are the two main lessons the speaker learned from their early experiences with Instagram?
-The first lesson is the importance of consistency, which not only pleases the algorithm but also helps in developing a unique style. The second lesson is the necessity of having a clear vision for one's goals, even at the beginning.
Why did the speaker hesitate to share their shop idea with others before executing it?
-The speaker found that sharing their goals or plans with others before execution can create unnecessary pressure to perform well from the start, which can be demotivating.
What was the key moment that led to the actual launch of the speaker's shop?
-The key moment was when the speaker set a hard deadline for opening their shop, which forced them to take action and make tangible progress.
What was the speaker's experience with their shop launch in terms of sales?
-The speaker received around 30 orders and made around $600 in sales, which was a disappointment compared to their high expectations.
What practical lessons did the speaker learn from their shop launch experience?
-The speaker learned to keep expectations moderate, offer cheaper shipping options, start with as many products as possible to increase the highest possible order total, and consider the platform for hosting the shop.
Why did the speaker consider offering untracked shipping options for their shop?
-Untracked shipping options like letter mail can be much cheaper and more affordable for international orders, making the products more accessible to a global audience.
What is the speaker's current educational status and how does it affect their approach to their shop?
-The speaker is a sophomore studying computer science and art at Carnegie Mellon University. This busy academic schedule has led them to consider digital products and to focus more on YouTube for their shop's promotion.
What advice does the speaker have for maintaining consistency and avoiding burnout when running a small business?
-The speaker suggests using a content calendar to batch create posts and products in advance, and to detach emotionally from the performance of the work to avoid getting too attached to the outcomes.
Outlines
🚀 Starting a Small Business: Lessons from Personal Experience
The speaker reflects on their journey of starting a small business, emphasizing the importance of consistency in posting and developing a unique style. They also stress the need for a clear vision for the future of the business. The speaker shares early mistakes, such as not having a big picture idea, which led to a lack of motivation. They learned that consistency helps in developing skills and a unique voice, while a clear vision helps maintain motivation and progress towards goals.
🤔 The Paradox of Planning vs. Action in Business Growth
This paragraph discusses the speaker's realization that excessive planning without action can hinder business growth. They share their experience of planning for over a year without making tangible progress towards opening their shop. The key takeaway is the importance of balancing planning with action to avoid overthinking and to start learning from one's own experiences rather than relying solely on others' advice.
🎨 Designing Products and the Impact of Feedback
The speaker recounts their initial struggles with product design and the mixed reactions from friends, which affected their motivation. They learned the importance of not sharing goals or plans with others until they are executed, as this can prevent external pressure and the potential negative impact of unsolicited feedback. This insight is particularly relevant for creators who may be sensitive to early criticism.
📅 The Power of Deadlines and Launching a Business
The speaker highlights the importance of setting a hard deadline for launching their shop, which helped them overcome procrastination and complete necessary tasks within a tight timeframe. They also discuss the disappointment of their launch not meeting their high expectations, leading to lessons on managing expectations, offering affordable shipping options, and starting with a variety of products to increase potential sales.
🛍️ Scaling a Business: Practical Tips for Growth
In this paragraph, the speaker shares practical advice for scaling a business, including the benefits of having a higher average order total, considering the platform for hosting the business, and streamlining packaging for efficiency. They also touch on the potential of digital products as a time-saving and inventory-free alternative to physical goods.
🗓️ Maintaining Consistency and Detaching from Outcomes
The speaker discusses the challenges of maintaining consistency in posting and designing products, especially after a disappointing shop update. They learned the value of a content calendar to avoid burnout and the importance of evaluating the primary platform for business growth. Additionally, they emphasize the need to detach from the performance of their work to prevent emotional extremes and to focus on continuous creation and improvement.
🎓 Balancing University Life with Business Pursuits
The speaker, now a university student, shares their current efforts to balance their education with their ongoing commitment to their shop. They express excitement about building a community on YouTube and sharing aspects of their life, including productivity and student experiences. The paragraph concludes with an invitation for viewers to subscribe and join the speaker on their journey.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Small Business
💡Consistency
💡Big Picture Idea
💡Planning vs. Action
💡Design
💡Deadline
💡Expectations
💡Shipping Options
💡Digital Products
💡Content Calendar
💡Primary Platform
Highlights
The importance of consistency in posting on social media to develop a unique style and voice.
The necessity of having a big picture idea for your goals, even in the early stages of starting a business.
Learning from the mistake of over-planning without taking action towards opening a shop.
The realization that action is more effective than overthinking for tangible progress.
The challenge of transitioning from journaling to designing products for a shop.
The mixed reactions to early designs and the impact on motivation.
Advice against sharing goals or plans with others before execution to avoid external pressure.
The strategy of growing an audience organically to reach a larger, diverse audience.
Setting a hard deadline to launch the shop to overcome procrastination and indecision.
The disappointment of a less successful launch than expected and the lessons learned.
Practical tips for offering cheaper shipping options to improve customer satisfaction.
The importance of starting with a variety of products to increase potential sales.
Considering the choice of platform for hosting the shop and its impact on sales and growth.
The need for streamlining packaging to balance aesthetics with efficiency for scalability.
Exploring the option of digital products to reduce inventory and shipping burdens.
Maintaining consistency in posting and designing through a content calendar.
Evaluating the primary platform early for better alignment with long-term goals.
Detaching personal emotions from the performance of work to focus on continuous improvement.
The speaker's current status as a university student balancing studies with running a shop.
The transition to using YouTube as a primary platform for sharing and growing the business.
Transcripts
foreign
[Music]
starting your own small business
if you're anything like me when I was
first trying to start my own small
business you're probably watching a lot
of videos on YouTube trying to figure
out how to actually get started and grow
your shop and getting super inspired by
watching others pack hundreds of orders
on their channels I remember when I was
first starting out I wished I could see
not only the logistical side of how
others got started but also the methods
people use to stay on track to actually
make progress towards their goals so in
this video I want to share with you my
journey and the most important lessons I
learned along the way to hopefully help
you get inspired and see how possible
starting and growing your small business
actually is I hope this helps please
keep in mind that I am not an expert and
I do not have the hugest most successful
shop so I would take my advice with a
grain of salt but because I have a few
years of experience running my shop I
hope that what I share can help you to
not make the same mistakes that I did
I would say that my journey really began
when I opened up a journaling account on
Instagram in high school
at this point I did not have any
intention to sell anything I was just
creating for fun but I started gaining a
following and took notice of that and
started to actually take it more
seriously but one mistake that I made at
this point was that I really didn't have
a big picture idea for where this
account was taking me so even though I
had grown a following to around 28 000
followers over two years it was really
hard for me to stay motivated to keep
posting because I couldn't see the
purpose of continuing to pour so much
effort into this account that I couldn't
really see as being part of my future so
from this I learned two main lessons the
first lesson is that consistency
actually works and I'm sure that you've
heard this many many times before but I
think that consistency works not only
for the reason that it pleases the
algorithm but mainly because each time
that you post consistently you're
exercising a skill of creating posting
and sharing your work which ultimately
leads you to develop your own unique
style and voice and and in my case that
style really helped me to build my
following and the second lesson that I
learned is that you really need to have
a big picture idea of where your goals
are taking you even if you're just
getting started because you like
creating I would still recommend that
you have a big picture idea or plan as
to what you're going to do because
everybody changes and everybody's
interests change so if you don't have a
Clear Vision for why these are your
goals you will find it much more
difficult to continue working towards
your goals when things aren't going as
smoothly as you expected them to
the next key moment was when I actually
had the idea of starting my own shop
given that I already had a following on
Instagram it seemed possible for me to
open up a shop and start selling my own
designs so once that idea entered my
brain I got planning and I started
thinking about what I'd want to sell and
in this stage I really was planning and
thinking and planning and thinking
without any action and for over a year I
made zero actual tangible progress
towards opening up my shop now from this
I learned that ultimately there's only
so much planning that you can do and you
will learn a hundred times faster
starting out on your own journey and
learning along the way then trying to
learn everything from other people's
experiences on the internet and of
course this doesn't apply if you're not
the type of person to overthink
everything and never get started because
I do think that it's important to
balance the thinking with action and too
much of either one is probably not the
most efficient in the long run
continuing on the next key moment in my
journey was when I actually started
designing my own products I had finally
saved up enough money to fully commit to
buying an iPad Pro apple pencil and
procreate so I bought it and started
getting to work and I quickly learned
that I may have developed my own unique
style from creating my journal spreads
but creating sticker sheets in the art
prints was a completely new thing for me
so you could say that I was less than
satisfied with my work
still feeling inspired to improve my
designs though I went to school and I
remember that my group of friends asked
me if they could see the progress on my
design so far so I hesitantly showed
them and I just remember that their
reactions were pretty mixed some of them
were hyping me up a lot and some of them
were really quiet
I really don't blame them because we
were all just tired high school students
trying to get by but because I cared
about my shop a lot and was really
excited about it at the time the lack of
reaction from the quiet friends did
affect me
now what I learned from this experience
is something that really stuck with me
and it's basically to not share your
goals or plans with others before you
actually execute them and I know that
this can sound a little sad but I
learned that I work best this way
because there's no pressure to perform
well from the very beginning I do think
that this is why my journaling account
grew as quickly as it did because even
until I had thousands of followers no
one other than my sister knew about the
account and looking back it really was
easier for me to post when I was sharing
my work with people that I didn't know
and I think that this goes against some
of the advice that recommends people to
share their businesses when they're
starting out with the people that they
know in real life to get it off its feet
and bring some attention to it but
ultimately for me in my experience I
found that growing my audience and
following organically was the way that I
developed my own skills to reach a
bigger audience which is what I wanted
my shop to do I wanted it to reach
people outside of my own community
and of course this really depends on
your personality and how you work best
because telling other people about your
goals may keep you accountable or
motivate you even more but this was
really just a key Insight that I had
with myself and how I work best and it's
also the reason why I didn't tell anyone
else except my boyfriend that I was
starting this YouTube channel
the next key moment is probably the most
important thing that you could take away
from this video and it's basically when
I set a hard deadline for when I would
open my shop this hard deadline meant
that no matter how many products I had
created or finalized I would just
announce my shop and start selling I
basically set this hard deadline because
I was really tired of wanting to start
something so badly yet contradicting
Myself by not starting it for too long
and because the shop was something that
I really knew that I wanted to start I
decided that I should probably get it
done before College app season because I
was a high school senior at this point
from my one year of doing nothing so in
order to finish everything before
College app season that meant that I had
to open my shop in around six weeks and
within those six weeks I really got to
work immediately after I finished school
work and my other extracurriculars I
would just get started on designing
during these six weeks I really promised
myself that I would open no matter what
so this deadline actually scared me and
I was designing as I was researching
manufacturers and materials packaging
and equipment that I might need to start
my shop and this is when I learned the
importance of a deadline and by a
deadline I mean a deadline that actually
means something to you so if you haven't
already create your deadline create your
plan and just get to work because as you
will get it done if you have that time
pressure and that promise that you made
to yourself that that deadline is real
okay so the next key moment in my
journey was when I actually opened and
launched my shop I announced that I had
started a shop account on my main
journaling account and that day with
that one announcement I gained around
700 followers who were interested in my
products and after a few days of posting
and showcasing my designs on my shop
account it was finally launch day now I
was really expecting my launch to be
very successful like the many channels
that I see on YouTube packing hundreds
of orders so when my own launch happened
I was actually pretty disappointed I got
around 30 orders and made around 600 in
sales I was super excited of course and
grateful for all of the support and the
fact that I was sending my work all
around the world but it got me wondering
what I might have done wrong and as to
why my shop launch may have fallen short
of my expectations
looking back the number of orders I got
for all of the mistakes that I made is
actually a lot now these lessons that I
learned are lessons that are more
practical but number one keep your
expectations moderate number two offer
some cheaper shipping options when I
launched my shop I only offered tracked
shipping so that meant for international
orders shipping would be eight dollars
and fifty cents and for us orders
shipping would be three dollars and
fifty cents and keep in mind that I was
selling flat sticker sheets and art
prints that cost much less than eight
dollars and fifty cents with flat paper
goods it's a really good idea to start
also offering untracked shipping options
such as letter mail that can be much
cheaper and more affordable for
international orders where letter mail
from the US is only two dollars and
letter mail being sent within the US is
less than one dollar the next lesson is
to start off with as many products as
you can so that the highest possible
order total is greater back when I
opened my shop I had two products where
the highest possible order total was
18.50 but now given that I held a lot of
shop updates and created many more
products the highest possible order
total is over a hundred dollars and just
from a practicality standpoint of if
you're selling physical products packing
orders does take a long time so if your
average order total is higher it's a lot
more rewarding for the amount of effort
that you're putting in
the next lesson is to really consider
which website to host on for me I
decided to start off with my own website
instead of etsy or any other selling
platform that already had an existing
Marketplace I thought that this would be
a good idea because I already had a
following and I really wanted to
establish my brand now that I'm in
University though and a lot busier I
wonder if Etsy would have been a better
idea because with Etsy you can continue
to bring in sales through the Etsy
search feature even if you're not
actively trying to grow and maintain
your social media accounts but this
really could just be the grass looking
greener on the other side because I
haven't used Etsy as a platform myself
and I have heard that Etsy does take a
large percentage of the revenue that you
make per order
now the next tip that I have is also a
practical one it is to streamline your
packaging I know that you want it to
look cute because I really really wanted
it to but balance that cuteness with
practicality if you want to grow and
scale your small business you can't be
putting in all of your time into packing
a few orders because what will you do
when you get hundreds of orders you
really can't neglect other areas of your
life just to pack orders because if
you're a student like me or have a job
or have other responsibilities you're
going to have other things that you need
to get to and packing all of your orders
in a really nice fancy custom way isn't
going to be the best use of your time
now the next tip that I have is to
consider digital products this is
something that I'm looking into more
this year because with digital products
you don't need to worry about keeping an
inventory or packing every order that
comes in so especially for me as a
student having a few digital products
could be a great way for me to continue
sharing my work while saving some time
moving on the next key moment in my
journey after my shop launch was when it
was time for my next shop update as I
was packing orders and dealing with that
inner disappointment it was harder for
me to post consistently and design other
products for my shop update
I think that this had to do with the
fear of disappointing other people I
thought that my next products for the
launch had to be better than my original
products and because of that pressure
that I put on myself it was really hard
to create anything the lessons that I
learned from working towards my first
shop update were to keep a Content
calendar to help you stay consistent
you're not going to be able to keep up
if you continue creating posts just
barely In Time by the time you need to
post them this is something that I had
been doing for two years with my
journaling account and with my shop
account I was creating posts right by
the time I needed to post them and of
course with this system you are going to
burn out and you're going to run out of
ideas so with the content calendar if
you can batch create all of your posts
and products by a certain date you don't
need to worry about them constantly and
you will ideally have posts and products
ready to go so by the time that you need
to post them the second lesson that I
learned is to evaluate your primary
platform early this is one of the things
that I wish I had done because I would
rather have YouTube be my primary
platform knowing what I know now rather
than Instagram this is because with
Instagram you have to continually post
and post and post every single week to
have your content recommended to other
people whereas with YouTube you can
create content once a week and it can
get recommended to people years down the
line so in that way it's much more
sustainable for my lifestyle currently
as a student and I also do think that
established YouTube channels have a more
dedicated Following over a more short
form content platform like Instagram or
tick tock the third lesson that I
learned from this is to try to detach
yourself from your work so whether it
performs well or bad don't get too happy
or too disappointed and of course take
the analytics into account but don't
dwell over them just learn from them and
move on to creating your next post or
product because ultimately that's what's
going to move you forward and lead to
progress
so a few shop updates later we're now at
where I am now so I'm a sophomore
studying computer science and art at
Carnegie Mellon University and I'm still
trying to devote more time to my shop
but like I said instead of on Instagram
through YouTube more consistently this
is my second video on YouTube so I feel
like I'm super new to the game but I'm
so excited to build a community here and
just share parts of my life and my
journey on my shop productivity and
University student things so if you're
interested in any of those things please
feel free to join my
to subscribe
and yeah
see you guys in the next video
thanks for watching
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