There's one thing I see people often overlook, and it's something I personally struggled with—recognizing that your greatest asset is your team. One book that really resonated with me is People Over Profit, which emphasizes the importance of treating your people right. When you prioritize and invest in your team and focus on improving the customer experience, profit naturally follows. In that book, they argue that people should always come before profit, because when profit becomes the top priority over people, you're setting yourself up for turnover. And when your team starts to leave, it negatively impacts the customer experience. This leads to both employee and customer churn, which creates a vicious cycle that’s hard to break.

One key rule of thumb is to prioritize activities that directly drive revenue, rather than getting caught up in distractions. What I mean is that many new entrepreneurs often get bogged down by things like designing the perfect website, picking the right logo, deciding on brand colors, or obsessing over the details of their LLC formation. While these things are important eventually, they can easily become a way to avoid the real work that actually moves the needle—like talking to potential customers, making sales, and focusing on the actions that will truly grow the business.

I always say, if you're going to do something, commit fully—go all in. I've seen too many people start a startup with one foot in and one foot out, and that makes everything harder. It creates confusion and feedback that isn’t really reflective of the situation because you’re not fully invested. You have to be ready to take risks—real risks—because that's the only way you'll find out if it’s going to work. If you’re not all in, you can’t ask anyone else to be. You can’t ask others to make sacrifices if you’re not willing to do the same. But, it’s also important to know when to switch gears and shift out of that mode at some point. That’s a tough thing to navigate.

If you’re venturing into a small business or launching your own startup, mastering the art of focus is essential. When you truly concentrate, you avoid spreading yourself too thin and gain clarity on what you need to prioritize. A strong focus allows you to identify where you can make an impact and helps you recognize the importance of seeking out partnerships to fill any gaps in your expertise. In short, prioritize learning to focus, and always maintain that focus.

The most important thing to remember is not to enter a startup with the sole goal of making a lot of money. Early on, I made that mistake, thinking that having an equity stake in a company would lead to significant wealth. While it's true that you can earn money in various ways within startups, if your primary motivation is to get rich, you might end up feeling disappointed. The reality is that more startups fail than succeed, and it’s a challenging environment.

One major mistake I made early on was not investing enough time or money into solid business bookkeeping. I mixed my personal and business finances for a while, which created quite a mess, and I underestimated how complex it could get. Now, having a fractional CFO has made a huge difference. Looking back, I wish I had prioritized accounting from the start, even if it felt financially tight. Strong bookkeeping and accurate records for expenses and revenue can really improve your position and help avoid potential trouble with the IRS. Thankfully, I didn't face any issues, but it was a close call.

It's easy to get caught up in whatever you're involved in right now. It feels like it's everything—your whole life and career wrapped up in it, which is great. But remember, at some point, it will come to an end. That could be in two years, ten years, or even twenty, but most likely it’ll be somewhere between two and ten. When it's over, you might realize that the most valuable takeaway from the experience isn’t the money you made or the accolades you received, but the relationships you built along the way. You could leave feeling like you failed while being wealthy, or feel like you failed and be broke. We often try to measure success or failure by tangible outcomes, but the true worth often lies in the connections we form.

Leverage the expertise of advisors—they’re invaluable. Even after spending 20 years in the corporate world, I sought out advisors for my company. One in particular, who has since passed, often reminded me, “Only do what only you can do.” That’s a lesson worth exploring further!