5 Things to Know About Your First Year
as an Entrepreneur

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

Look, I’m going to go against the grain here and say starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur takes work.

Insert Rihana singing “work work work work work”

The reality is this is not for the faint of heart, which is ironic because what you need to make this thing work is a whole lot of heart.

In addition to having the belief, mindset and deep desire to make this thing work there are 5 things you need to know in your first year as an entrepreneur.

The first year of my business it took months, I’m talking 8 months for me to truly figure out what I was doing.

I took action, continuous action and was busy working on building this dream, but I had little to show for it.

So, I consider myself a freaking expert in helping women who struggle to get going because I’ve lived through it.

After 8 months of pushing uphill things started to shift for me and within three months I was making enough monthly income to replace my 9 to 5 and in a year I had made 6-figures cash in my business.

Do I think I could have hit those goals faster if I’d had known these things? YES

But, then I wouldn’t be able to share this with you today #lessons.

So here we go - 5 Things to Know About Your First Year as an Entrepreneur (what I wish I’d known).

1. YOUR WEBSITE

How do I say this in a way that doesn’t come across as a total butthead - no one is searching for your website.

Oh, I know you want it to be the case, but in the beginning, people don’t know you, yet so many entrepreneurs spend so much time on building their website right out of the gate when they should be focused on building brand awareness.

Your website is needed and will be one of the most valuable tools in your business, but spending months and months and sometimes thousands of dollars to build your website is a waste at the beginning.

Take the time to identify your niche, who you want to attract and your brand messages BEFORE building your website and be sure to have a marketing plan to actually drum up enough interest that has people visiting your website.

2. YOUR BRAND

Another one that takes so much time and so much money - yep, it’s branding.

I love branding, it is my jam, but so many entrepreneurs do it wrong the first year. They jump right into finding their colors, fonts and designing their logo BEFORE understanding their brand foundations. Yep, you guessed it - your niche, your audience and your brand messages.

PLUS, they overlook the power of emotional branding (more on that here) which at its core is WHY people buy. So rather than diving right into the visual branding what we should be focused on is what branding truly is - the deeper connection to your audience.

One of the best things you can do is create content for your audience to build brand awareness (yes, this is part of branding) and watch as your visuals fall into place.

3. POWER OF STORY

You’ve got one thing when you start and that’s your story! It’s also the one thing you have that will help you stand out from the crowd and competition.

You need to spend time uncovering your story and setting a strong foundation for story in your business.

Your audience is 22x more likely to remember story, which means it goes beyond just your brand story and also includes authentically tying story into every piece of content and marketing material you make.

4. SOCIAL MEDIA I CONFUSING

Yep, that’s right social media is a lot of information. It can be one of the coolest tools you use in the online space OR it can literally drive you crazy.

In the beginning, you want to be everywhere because that’s what you’re told right? Well, not really the best move when you’re just starting out.

Instead, I suggest you focus on one social media platform to start and get really good at that. In order to do this think of two things. #1 Where do you like to hang out and #2 Where is your audience spending time.

Boom - start there and stop overwhelming yourself trying to be everywhere!

5. MESSAGING IS MAGIC

If there is one thing I’ve learned as an entrepreneur and especially my first year in business is that messaging can make or break your success.

This goes back decades and is the foundation of successful advertising. You need to be crystal clear, do everything in your power to not confuse your audience and clearly communicate how it benefits your audience.

If there is one thing you set up at the start of your business it should be your brand messaging. What do you provide and how does it benefit your audience?

That’s the secret - making sure you’re clearly sharing how it benefits your audience.

If you’re always focused on this, it’s freaking magic.

I hope you take these five essential pieces and put them into action.

They can completely change the course of your business and your ability to reach profitability faster.

If you need support along the way, that’s where I come in.

My program Roadmap to Freedom is opening soon and it’s better than ever. This live 90-day program is for the new and aspiring female entrepreneur ready to simplify the process of building an online business that allows her to make money on her terms and create a life of abundant experiences and impact.

You can learn more at brandmerry.com/freedom.

P.S. Are we connected on Instagram? No? Well lady what’s happening here we’ve got to fix that. Come hang out with me on my favorite social media platform. Follow for inspiration and send me a DM to know we’re connected.