The Top 4 Lessons I Learned About Building A Business in 2015

If you've been reading my blog posts for awhile, you know WP+BFF is my side gig, and a major reason that I started WP+BFF is to eventually own my own business and be in control of my own time and schedule.

In January of 2015, I published my WordPress tutorials and launched the Free 5 Day Website Challenge. A lot has happened in the past 12 months, and want to share what I learned and what I could have done better, so you can take some of the lessons that I've learned and apply them to your own business!

Lesson 1 – List Building is Key
The first thing that I learned from building my business is the importance of list building. I took Natalie Lussier's 30 Day List Building Challenge. Nathalie gives you so many strategies for list building – but she breaks it down literally step-by-step. List building is one of the most important things you can do to build your business.

The most important thing I learned about list-building this year is how important to not stop those efforts. I started building my list and then I jumped right into building a premium product that my audience wasn't ready for. I think if I would have focused on list building for about six months and then asked those people what more they wanted from me then I would be farther along now.

Try a bunch of different stuff and see what works for you. I tried so many different things, so many different platforms, so many different tools, interacting in tons of different Facebook groups. You'll find that one thing that's going to be the right thing for you. I tried so many things that worked, didn't work, or I didn't have the right foundation built for them to work. But I know all the options that are available to me and have a better idea of what will get me traction in 2016.

So… I have all these ideas in my head and I want to do them all at once. I bet you can relate! If you hire a coach or a mentor, someone that can help you sort through your ideas, see where you're missing opportunities, see where you're putting the cart before the horse – that person can give you some amazing feedback.

They can also show you where you are getting in your own way and help you get past some of the fears that you might be having. I started working with Vicki Fitch in October of 2015.

There are so many times that I've called her saying, “So and so wants me to do this thing and I don't want to do it because the last time I did something like this the experience was bad.“

She'll say “Hold on. Slow down. Tell me what's going on with that.” She'll help me realize that is my fear talking, that I can control these situations, I can set boundaries, and that I should be confident that things are going to go well.

Hiring a mentor has been instrumental in building my business. After I hired her, my income shot up exponentially. I've never been more excited to do my accounting just to see the growth. I can't wait to see the difference from before to after I hired Vicki.

Everything doesn't have to be perfect before you put it out there. I don't have to have the best backdrop to do a webinar or a Periscope. I don't have to have it all set up perfectly. I can just jump on and talk for ten or fifteen minutes. It doesn't have to be a big huge production.

When you are paralyzed by perfection then you miss so many opportunities to interact and connect with people. I tell people this all the time about their website! It doesn't have to be perfect for you to take it live, but I need to take my own advice when I comes to other things like Periscope or webinars. And if you're not on Periscope – jump on the bandwagon now and follow me!

I've got some exciting stuff in the works for 2016 and I'm looking forward to interacting with you guys more and helping you grow your business with WordPress!