What I Learned from Opening a Business 😳

What I learned from opening a virtual assistant business can be summed up in one sentence:

You have to know yourself.

Like, really rip off the rose colored glasses and be honest about all of your weaknesses as well as your strengths. This is never a fun process, and no one ever fully succeeds and says, “I now know myself so thoroughly I will never take a misstep in my business ever again!” Besides being a little ridiculous and over the top, it’s impractical because if we’re paying attention, we’ll always be learning new things about ourselves. 

Just the other day, as I was learning more about the enneagram, I discovered WHY I made some of the major mistakes I did when I first opened my business to clients other than that first one that did my training. I’m an enneagram three (performer) with a two wing (helper). This is great for you all because I’m naturally very good at being able to read you well enough to know what it is that you really need and want (verses what you sometimes say you do) and then follow through on making it happen. 

This is really bad for you because my desire to succeed (performer) and help (helper) can become so strong that I begin to let things slip when they’re not the primary focus right now. And that’s the main thing I wish I’d known about myself back in 2017 when I had the Great Start Sale. I tried to help too many people at once, and as a result, no one got the best of me. Not me, not my family, not any of the dozens of clients I took on that January. And it’s my biggest regret about my business.

Since then, I’ve gotten much better at figuring out which clients I work best with (rather than every author ever), which I can truly help (rather than take on everything like a too-confident superwoman), and which jobs I enjoy the most (rather than everything I’m capable of doing). I definitely think I do a much better job estimating what a project will actually entail, and then planning that out better. I’ve grown a lot in the last four years, and most of it has been getting to know who I am on an ever deepening level.

And while I’m very actively working on getting to know myself better, and working on my goals, I also want to get to know you better, and help you accomplish your goals. 

So, what is your enneagram number? Your Myers-Briggs alignment? Your S.E.LF. or D.I.S.C letter? What have you learned over the years as an author about your own strengths and weaknesses?

What I learned? Know Thyself.