The biggest mistakes I made at my first start-up

Filing these lessons away for Start up Round 2

One year ago, I was slowly planning my transition from full-time researcher, to full-time baker (and if we want to be fancy, we could even throw in “entrepreneur”). I thought I had planned it out as well as I possibly could, given that I was baking before work, working a full day, and trying to fit in a little exercise for my sanity. I thought, as soon as I tell the universe that I’m ready to do it full-time, things would really take off.

Oh, and I didn’t think I needed a business plan.

I told myself to get some actual customers first, and then let things fall out naturally. Note to self: since that approach pretty much never works in my life (have you seen the state of my hair?), I should have known better.

So, I continued to fly by the seat of my pants, sure that this must be what every new entrepreneur does… until I got more customers, had no plan for expansion, no clear goal to work towards, and landed myself into the ever familiar burnout zone where I was working so much that I didn’t have time to think or breath.

I took a little time off at Christmas to collect my thoughts and was able to distill my main mistakes as follows:

• Pricing. Oh, how I tried to make that “minor” upfront detail go away. I didn’t take the time to properly price out my product. I didn’t factor in my labour, rent, insurance, and delivery fees. I basically priced my product at a very slight premium over my competition and “hoped” it would eventually even out as I expanded and eventually made it back through volume sales.
• Vision, long term goals. I started out on this path with one ideal ending in mind. Then I went ahead and took every opportunity that came my way because it felt better to make some money over no money. I forced myself to bake things that were completely out of my comfort zone because I told myself that it was a cost of doing business in the industry. I didn’t stick to my specialty. Eventually, I found my business taking off — but not in the direction I really wanted it to go in. And I wasn’t happy with it.
• Not asking for help. I am notorious for doing this. Perhaps partially because I can be a control freak, and have trouble trusting people. I’m afraid to ask for help, because it’s so hard to find the right help. But I reached my one-person capacity so long ago, and as a result have remained stagnant. Of course, it doesn’t help that my pricing didn’t properly account for getting help.

So, here I am, armed with information on all the things I’ve done wrong, but without a plan to get myself back on track. That’s the thing about being your own boss. You own your success —- and your failure.

It’s time to cut my losses. I need to learn from my mistakes and figure out how I will take that knowledge and apply it immediately with whatever I do next (which is TBD at the moment).

One year ago, I was excited. I had this gut feeling that I was walking in the right direction and I still truly believe that I’m getting there. I’ve been thinking a lot lately, about what I’ve given up to get to where I am today. In some ways, I’ve felt regret about how my life has changed; I’ve lost touch with friends, my family rarely sees me, and downtime is a privilege that I rarely get to enjoy. I think a lot about how much I’ve had to shift in my lifestyle — I can’t go out as much as I used to, I can’t buy things as often as I used to… but life is good.

Every decision I make is truly mine to make. Nothing is permanent and that’s the beauty of it all. I’ve realized that I could live on a lot less — and could even stand to “lose” more if I had to. I’ve learned to appreciate the time I do have with my loved ones. And if there’s something I’m truly unsatisfied with in my life, I’ve realized that I have the power to change it and shape it into something I like better. Not some day. Today.