8 Big Lessons I Learned Running a Business For 8 Years
By Shabana Feroze
I started The Silver Kick Company in 2013. It was a one-woman show to begin with. As I got more clients and work, I grew the business. Today, we’ve worked with clients in all fields, from all over the world. Our team is international and is made up of some of the most skilled people in the field.
I’m insanely proud of how far TSKC has come. And I can’t believe it’s been 8 years! Woohoo!
To mark this anniversary, I thought I’d share some major things I learned in running a business all by myself. These are learnings I got after f***ing up time and again. After getting myself into tricky situations, having clients yell at me, getting overwhelmed and in general, feeling way out of my depth.
But hey, I’m here. I survived. And so can you. Whether you’re a start-up or in business for some time. These tips will help you keep your motivation up, and help you plan ahead. Or just help keep you sane when you need it the most.
So without further ado, let’s get into it.
8 Big Lessons I Learned Running a Business For 8 Years
- Believe in yourself
You’ll be eaten alive by stress, annoying clients and toxic staff if you don’t. Everything starts from you believing you can do this. This faith also comes in useful when you’re in a tricky situation. Remember — you’re much more capable than you think. You have the strength, resilience and resources all within you to make this work.
2. Don’t apologize for your prices
You’re providing a valuable product/ service. Charge a reasonable price. One that gives you a decent profit, because that’s why you’re here. And for sure, there are others in the market providing lesser quality or quantity, and charging more. So don’t apologize or feel ashamed when a person opens their eyes wide and exclaims, “That’s a lot!” when you mention your prices. See point 1.
3. Don’t fear your competition
There used to be a time where I used to look at what other agencies are doing and feel like shit thinking why I’m not doing the same. Over time, I learned that comparing only drains my energy and takes my eyes off the goal. Which is to give my clients and team the best experience working together.
So I stopped looking at what competitors were doing and started focusing only on what we’re doing. I respect all the players in the field. I know there’s enough business to go around for everyone. This kind of thinking made a huge difference. We overtook a lot of competitors. And built a reputation for being an agency that plays by its own rules.
I heard this in a course I’m currently doing- that you should want to demolish your competition, but you should also have a healthy respect for them. I love that.
4. Your company is the people working in it
Your business is your passion project. Your brainchild. Your baby. Be very choosy in who you allow to become a part of your team and represent your company. One bad staff member can drain your energy, drive away your clients and even affect your company’s rep.
So be very careful in getting the right people in your team. Consider hiring an HR professional on a freelance basis to interview people. HR professionals know how to read people and can give you a perspective on them that you won’t look for. Because you as the boss will look for hard skills, but an HR professional will assess them on emotional intelligence and soft skills. So do whatever you need to, to assess them as a good person before you let them in.
5. Use your intuition
I started relying on my gut instinct for almost everything- accepting client requests, working with a new person or supplier, taking an intern on. It’s not difficult to read people’s energy. I insist on meeting with clients and potential team members to make sure I like their vibe.
And if something doesn’t feel right, even if it means turning down a lot of profit, I’ll turn it down. Later on I’ll find out that I did the right thing.
Hone your intuition. Use it to make business decisions. Even if everyone else thinks you’re an idiot.
6. Do a great job with your current clients and more business will come
We focus on doing an amazing job for the clients we have, and because they’re happy, they refer us to others. It’s a simple process that happens naturally. We have a few ex-clients who still refer us to everyone in Bahrain. And international clients who refer us to other international clients, based in other countries.
This makes it very easy for us to work. We don’t worry about marketing or advertising ourselves. We focus on delivering incredible creative work, the rest takes care of itself.
7. Do all things with love
I had a client who used to message me at 7 am on the weekend. One such time, I replied back rudely. And I regret it. What I said could have been said with a lot of love. Or at the very least, politely.
Clients won’t understand your work, or the time and effort that goes into it. They’ll say things that really annoy you. Stop. Breathe. Refrain from saying or doing anything when you’re angry. Then when you’re calm, ask yourself- how can I approach this with love? Do this for everything else in your work — the results will be amazing.
8. Help where you can
We do a lot of voluntary work for non-profits that work for women’s and children’s causes. As a volunteer for Sahiyo, an anti-FGM/C organization, I realized they need all the help they can get. And since I’m a marketing specialist, I started helping them in everything related to marketing. Social media artworks, captions, newsletter design, content writing, and so on.
We continue to do the same even now, as a company, for more organizations around the world. It takes up time and effort from you and your team, I agree, but it goes an exponential way in helping these organizations change the world.
Summing Up
These are some of the lessons I learned along this journey. And obviously, there are loads more I learned that are more specific. Like having strong NDAs. Focusing on making a company website ASAP. And never letting an intern make your coffee. But those are for another time.
The most important lesson I learned, though, is to have fun in everything you do. If you’re having fun and feeling good, you’re on the right track. You’ll meet fascinating people and you’ll make impossible things happen. You’ll do tremendous work that you’ll be immensely proud of. And you’ll watch yourself blossom as an incredible badass who can run a business all by themselves.
About the Author
Shabana Feroze, Managing Director, Silver Kick Herself.
Shabana decided to start her own creative agency after becoming jaded with corporate marketing. She has marketed international brands. Such as Burger King, Mango, Papa John’s Pizza, DQ Grill & Chill, Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Nutella, and Costa Coffee. Shabana is a published author, an anti-FGM/C activist and a group fitness instructor who enjoys her MMA classes a little too much.
