August 29, 2017

When I first had the idea to write this post last week I asked Google, “How many days since February 3rd, 2017?” and at the time Google told me 198. “Perfect!” I thought, “I’m a little OCD and I like round, even numbers so I can call this blog ‘What I learned in my first 200 days as an entrepreneur!'” And then one of the things I learned in my first 200 days came up and now I’m writing this post 207 days after becoming an entrepreneur.

Making the decision to become an entrepreneur didn’t come easy. At the time, I had been 5 months into my position at The Job Shoppe after spending nearly 5 years at Douglas Marketing Group. While I learned a lot and appreciated the opportunities at both companies, I had always imagined starting my own business.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My Nonno, Joe Maria, started his own bakery after immigrating here from Italy with basically nothing. My sister Maria Monaco, after years of working for others, started her own Montessori day care. And my father, Jack Agosta had his own masonry business in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Drawing inspiration and advice from them, as well as a lot of thinking and over-thinking, I decided that 2017 would be the year I’d become an entrepreneur.

So what have I learned in my first 200 days, 207 days as an entrepreneur? A lot!

Relationships Are Everything

The importance of developing relationships is something I was well aware of even before deciding to become an entrepreneur. In fact, in my first business plan I noted that my business would be a “relationship-first” approach. What I’ve come to learn after the first 200 days is that relationships are even more important than I initially thought! I wouldn’t have survived these first 7 months if not for some of the relationships I’ve developed and the support I’ve received from partners like The University of Windsor – EPICentre and WEtech Alliance. This goes double for the clients who have referred me to other businesses in need of digital marketing services.

There’s No Such Thing As A 9AM-5PM Day

It didn’t take long for the idea of a consistent 9am-5pm work day to evaporate into thin air. As a sole proprietor, I have to do it all: the strategies, the day to day updates, the blogs, the invoicing, the everything! Because “the everything” falls on me, there are times where I end up working late nights or early mornings just to catch up. By no means am I complaining! I actually don’t mind the extra hours of work because I love what I do and in the end when I’m all caught up, the extra hours I put in allow for me to take the occasional extended lunch or pop by a clients’ office to say hello.

Clients Always Come First

Remember how this post was supposed to be written after my first 200 days and now it’s being written after my first 207 days? This is why. For me, clients always, always, always come first. If I have to delay my own blog post, social media or newsletter because a client request comes in, I’m completing the client request first.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

I’m very competitive by nature. Anyone who has seen me at one of my nephews hockey games knows how competitive I can get. This attitude has inevitably found its way into my work life as well but the same way I teach my nephews to brush off a loss, I’ve taught myself to brush off a loss after a potential client goes another way. Unless you’re the 1972 Miami Dolphins you’re going to lose a game or two but it’s how you take those loses and move forward that really matters when you’re an entrepreneur. Not every proposal is going to turn into a client so I’ve learned to ask questions, look for ways to improve and move on to the next proposal… because the next one is always right around the corner.