5 tips from Rachel Hollis before starting a business. What to do

• When you’re first starting out in business it’s so easy to get overwhelmed. There are so many things to do and never enough hours to do them. If you’re like me you have eighteen to-do lists going and they’ve got everything from “buy domain name” to “apply for Inc’s Top 40 Under 40.” When you’re a newbie in business you tend to give all the items, from daily necessities for doing business to big five year goals the same priority. It feels overwhelming because you’re trying to do too many things at one time. Slow down. Make a daily list. Make a weekly list. Make a monthly list. Now double check it. Is everything on those lists essential to help you start making money as soon as possible? If they’re not, let them go. Take one thing at a time.
   
• Plan your day around your energy level – We tend to sit down with a to-do list and start tackling as much as we can as fast as we can. But the older I get, the more I’ve come to understand that I’m much more efficient in certain areas at certain times of day. If I’m going to write on my new manuscript or have meetings? I need to do it in the morning when I’m most awake and alert. Emails, don’t require as much brain power so I tackle them in the afternoon. I wake up each morning and make my schedule and when I do I plan the workaround when I’ll be able to handle it best. 
   
• Figure out a daily routine that works for you – An awesome thing about starting your own business? There’s no one there to tell you what to do! But that, you might quickly discover, is a double-edged sword. If you’re not careful you won’t shower for four days straight and you’ll spend half your time researching “girly, stylish, office” on Pinterest instead of getting any real work done. When I first started working for myself I was adamant that I’d keep the same-ish hours as I had at the job I left. I got up every morning and showered, put on “real” clothes and pushed myself to be productive but still take a lunch/coffee break. Find a routine that works for you and stick to it as much as you can.
   
• Keep Learning! – You will never, ever figure all of this business stuff out. Don’t kid yourself for one second that the opposite is true. Every successful business professional I know is constantly learning, reading, growing in their field. So don’t kick yourself if you don’t have all the knowledge in six months or even a year. You are a student of your industry and you should be on a life long mission to excel in your class. Read books on your industry, read books on business and management and work life balance. Watch Ted Talks. Listen to podcasts. Check out YouTube videos from leaders in your field. The second you get set in your ways is the second a newer, fresher, more innovative company is going to come in and take your market share. 
   
• Think twice three times before you hire – When I first started I was anxious to get my first employee– that just made me feel especially professional if I had a “staff”. The truth is, I wasted so much money in the beginning of my business on unnecessary employee hours. Nowadays when someone asks, when should I hire? My response is always when you absolutely cannot go one more second without help and not before! Also, if you’re going to hire someone they should be able to help you make more money because you’re spending more money. So if you own a bakery and hiring another baker helps you bake more bread/ sell more bread then by all means, do it. But if you’re a wedding planner like I used to be and an assistant gets you coffee and helps you look up things on Pinterest that isn’t a wise investment.

msrachelhollis.com