It has been a year.
A year officially in business. A year of paying clients. A year as a Business Coach!
August marks my official first year in business. I got started a few months prior to August 2021 but August marks when my first paying client signed on to work with me.
After being laid off in the pandemic (not my first layoff ever), I knew it was time to pursue my dream of having my own business. It took me some time to figure out what that business could actually look like, and once I found the coaching industry I had to figure out how to actually be a coach.
Filled with fear, doubt, motivation and ambition I jumped into the deep end of entrepreneurship and I’m still swimming a year later!
The only photo of Jolyn and I together; Photo Courtesy of Ashley Cambron Photography
Where It Started
My first client and I are now friends but we barely knew each other when she first asked about my coaching services. She had been watching my journey of becoming a coach on Instagram and we had a few minor DM conversations and I hadn’t quite learned about her fantastically sarcastic sense of humor just yet. She asked how I could help her and I think I confidently explained my program to her and how I could help her create her business (because she didn’t quite have one yet at the time). But inside I was full on cringe, feeling like such an imposter and just crossing my fingers that she would say yes.
I remember her exact response when I told her my pricing was, “I don’t hate that.” And I remember exuberantly saying out loud, SHE DOESN’T HATE THAT! Up until that point, I had gotten no’s, maybe later’s or ghosted after sharing my pricing (which was low at the time, mind you!). She placed her trust in me and we got to work building her business. She renewed her contract with me twice, working together for nine months, we ended up meeting in person at a business retreat (a first for us both), and now I consider her a business bestie for sure.
I am incredibly grateful to Jolyn, of Loss Matters (and always will be!), because she started it all for me. She had confidence (or at least “she didn’t hate it”) in me and my coaching abilities when I was first mustering up the courage to sell. I knew I could help her build a business. But selling her on the idea, that’s where I was falling short at the time. She saw passed my lack of sales skills. And for that, I say, thank you.
Related: Mistakes I Made in my First Year of Business
Photo Courtesy of Ashley Cambron Photography
How It Went
More clients followed after Jolyn. But were clients banging down my door wanting to work with me? No! Was it a struggle to build my client list? Yes! Did I make mistakes? Many!
I would love to say that my first year in business was absolute bliss! That I invested in myself and immediately hit $10K months, paid off debts and had a bank account filled with money. But you know, I’m authentic AF and that’s not my truth.
I invested heavily into my business in 2021 and 2022, and I have not made those overall total investments back yet. My expenses outweighed my revenue in 2021 and 2022 so far. But I don’t regret a single program, coach, platform, or system that I’ve purchased. Every single one, moved me to the next step. Whether it was a coach who taught me how to coach. A group program that expanded my network and put me in front of ideal clients, coaches who taught me sales, marketing and branding, or systems that were needed to make my business function. All of the purchases got me to where I am today. And baby, I’m just getting started.
I went from zero revenue, to some revenue in 2021, to recurring revenue in 2022. Now is it recurring revenue that I can sustain a life on? If I want to live in a box on the street, yes, haha. Thankfully savings, side jobs, and credit cards have helped to pull the extra weight needed to pay bills. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Business is not for the faint of heart. I have had several meltdowns sitting on my couch sobbing as I look at my bank account, wondering if I will be able to pay all of my bills for the month. And then looking at my mounting credit card debt and sobbing even harder. It’s not easy!
But the money always comes! When I think I have to quit, or ask someone for a loan, money appears. Sometimes it appears in odd ways, but it comes. And changing my mindset around money was a huge hurdle I needed to overcome in my first year of business. I still have a long way to go with money mindset but I’ve also come a long way in a year, too!
I am SO incredibly proud and grateful for the revenue I have in my business. I was at zero a year and one month ago. I’m far from zero now! And it’s only been a year!
The relationships and connections I have built in this last year are worth more than money. The work I have done on myself personally and professionally, is worth more than money. Every client who has trusted in me over this past year is worth a million times more than money.
While yes, we all start a business to make money, it’s about so much more that!
The impact I have had on my clients and they have had on me, is immeasurable.
I have helped a client find her passion and expertise, and build a business…from an idea!
I have helped a client share her beautiful story online so she could connect with her ideal clients on a deeper level.
I have helped a client overcome the overthink spiral. I have helped a client overcome imposter syndrome. I have helped a client to believe in herself.
I have helped clients find their own clients and bring in their own revenue.
I have helped clients grow to become the business women that I (and others!) see inside of them, and they soon see inside of themselves too.
I help female entrepreneurs BE female entrepreneurs. Their true selves! And THAT has been my purpose in this first year of business.
Related: The Authenticity Is In the Why
Photo Courtesy of Ashley Cambron Photography
Where It’s Going
The revenue will come. The six-figure income will come. The clients banging down my door asking to work with me, will come. All in due time.
I don’t doubt my abilities as a business coach or an entrepreneur. I don’t cringe at my sales skills anymore. I know I’m very good at what I do for my clients and frankly, it’s just about making the world more aware of me and my services at this point!
My second year of business is filled with potential, and the opportunities are endless. I have the skills. I know where I’m going and I have a road map and the support and networks to get there. There will likely be struggles along the way, but ooooh baby those struggles will make for excellent stories to tell.
Watch out world, my second year in business has no limits!
Related: How a Puzzle Led Me to Starting My Coaching Business
