I’ve been a full time entrepreneur for almost two years now (I make two years in September) and there are A LOT of things that I still struggle with. I’m learning and making things up as I go – and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

So if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur here are some of the things you will probably struggle with in your business

 

Time Management 

Because I take up so many heads in both my businesses I find it hard to allocate enough time to all the hats I wear. I get things done – don’t get me wrong – but not in the timeframe I want. A lot of my projects or tasks are delayed because I couldn’t get to it sooner.  Which means I’m spreading myself too thin and not doing everything I want to do at the level of quality I want it done.

But!

A lot of my time management problems would be saved if I delegated or hired someone else to do some if the things. (I’m working on this)

I want more time to market my business, get design projects out faster, work on other projects I’ve always wanted to do but can’t because of time. But imagine if I had people to tackle the different aspects of the business. Imagine all the things I/we’d achieve.

Money Management 

As a young creative whose livelihood is dependent on a creative business it gets really hard separating your personal finances from your business. Especially when you aren’t making that much.

I’ve had to learn to give myself a salary – no matter how much that looks like. I’m learning to keep record of every transaction. Keeping receipts, invoices, a cashbook. If you are starting out please know that this is very important.

Keep record of every sale and purchase. RECEIPTS!

I actually hate this side of business and wish I didn’t have to deal with that. But I do. My only choice now is to either learn and understand business finance or work smart enough to be able to hire someone to do it for me.

The latter. I’m going with the latter. Lol.

I know for a fact if I managed my money better – I’d be able to hire the help I need which in turn would allow for more business – more money.

Getting the right help

It’s hard finding people with the same vision as you. It’s actually easier to teach people about your vision then finding said people.

I’m at a point were I’m actually looking for people to join my creative studio team. Though I can’t offer them much at this point other than industry growth and extra cash I’m willing to go the extra mile for them if they will for me.

I have the belief that if I get the right people to help take my vision to the next step we’ll be able to grow the business big enough to feed us all.

Pricing my worth

To this day. I still struggle with this – though I have gotten better at it because I’ve had clients who pay me my worth and more than I thought I deserved. Which allowed me to say no to projects that did not bring me that.

There are still times where I feel I underquoted myself – from which I then decide that if I ever got a similar client I’d price accordingly. So I take it as a learning curve and opportunity to KNOW MY WORTH and then PRICE MY WORTH.

Selling myself and my business 

Not only can I not find time to market my businesses because of all the other things I need to do – I generally do not know how to sell myself.

Pitching an idea has never been my favourite thing to do.

However the more I go to these networking functions, or when I find myself in these spaces that require me to –  I try my best to talk about the vision for my businesses and how they contribute to the industry and how other people could get involved and so forth. I’ve gotten new clients and opportunities this way. So if you find yourself at these places make sure at least one new person knows about your business.

Also, I work my ass off to make sure my work speaks for me and most times it has.

I do however need to master my perfect pitch, I need to get my elevator pitch in order and I need to send out all those proposals of ideas I have in my head that I never find time to get to.


There’s so much I’ve learned as a young creative entrepreneur in a country like ours, where the industry hasn’t fully grown yet. As I head for two years, I only hope I can practise what I’ve learned and be of help to other creative entrepreneurs.


What are some of your struggles? 

Find me on Instagram and Twitter:  @bettysibeso

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