For those who know me, thanks for reading. For those who are new, welcome. I'm Sydney. I am a 24-year-old digital marketing agency owner about to hit my first year in business.

I’ve heard somewhere that your first two years in business are some of the most important, and because of that, I wanted to share something learned for each month in business so far. These last 11 months have been nothing short of amazing and inspiring, sprinkled with a dash of exhaustion and frustration.

While I thought I knew it all 11 months ago, I can assure you that is not the case. I was full of passion and determination ready to take on the digital marketing world with 7 years of freelancing experience under my belt but there are a few things I wish I would have known 11 months ago.

I hope these tips help others avoid and learn from the mistakes and unknowns that I went through. Now, I know that I in fact do not know it all, and it’s great because this is all a part of the journey forward.

1. Pricing is critical.

Before you even look for clients, you need to figure out your pricing. Do you have different levels? Custom packages? Add on fees? Whatever numbers you come up with, add 10% as a cushion. This will save you with inflation, especially in the current situation of this tumultuous economy. As a business owner, this is one of those not-so-fun but necessary things to implement in the early stages of your business.

At the same time, another piece that I realized I needed to focus on too late into the first year is the importance of having a pricing sheet. When I first started out, I would skew prices based on the client’s budget, and I lost so much money because of this and was attracting the wrong client base. Ever since implementing a pricing sheet, it’s the only way I can better market to my niche and have set costs which helps with budgeting and expenses.

2. You can't always please everyone.

While this piece of advice certainly isn't news, having a business and a team underneath you will force you to make decisions people will not enjoy. If you are not strong-willed, maybe rethink starting your own business. Especially in startup culture, everyone has their two cents to put in, and not everyone will agree with you.

But, chances are, if you’re reading this blog post, you have got it in you. It’s difficult to internalize, and our egos will vehemently deny not being able to please everyone. However, at the end of the day, you have to prioritize the overall health of your business. This fact doesn't make it any easier, but just know that business owners all over the world have had to grow a thick skin; those who didn't, well...they sunk!

3. Sometimes, it's you.

I like to think that my systems are in perfect order but when you constantly see the same problem from team members or clients instead of blaming them for the problem, look inward.

Again, it’s another ego blow to realize something isn't working when you’ve spent hours upon hours troubleshooting and making sure all systems were a go. However, these continuous roadblocks should be a sign to say something isn’t working here, and maybe it’s something I did! I promise you, while difficult, it will streamline any and all businesses!

4. Prioritize a work-life balance.

Burnout is real! Making progress and consistently showing growth in your first year is no easy task. It’s even more than a full-time job. It is easy to want to go a million miles with your business but if you don't prioritize other parts of your life you are actually doing your business a disservice.

Think about the analogy of putting on your mask before helping the person next to you on an airplane. The life part is putting your mask on first. You’re filling up with oxygen, so you are able to sufficiently help the person next to you receive their oxygen, aka, your business.

Your business will suffer if you yourself are not able to give it your full energy and being. Therefore, take a breather so you can do your job! Go for a walk, go out for lunch, facetime with your close friends. Whatever fills your tank back up will eventually reverberate and fill up your business’s tank. And - make sure your team knows to do the same!

5. Task management is no small feat.

The first thing I teach a new team member is batching and time management. If they aren't able to get the hang of this, we will never get anywhere. It didn’t necessarily come naturally to me, but once I was able to learn this skill, I knew that for my business to succeed, task management needed to be a priority.

In my digital marketing agency, The Inspiration Agency, we’re always moving at a fast pace. We have long-term and seemingly immediate-term projects that need our constant attention. However, if my team and I can properly manage our time in the day, we can do the job much better. Tasks done = happy clients, happy business, happy life.

6. Organization is key.

We keep EVERYTHING in shared folders on Canva and google drive. This allows one central space for my clients and my team to be up to date and to upload in one place. I don't like wasting time trying to find something, and I have quickly learned my employees and clients don’t get excited searching for things either!

Did you know that people lose, on average, 40% of their workday if they are unorganized? Losing focus is easy, but as a small business owner, this is just something that won’t work for the sustainability of my marketing agency. Not only do we have limited resources, but as a small team, we only have a small number of hours in a day. It is so critical to prioritize organization. Time really is money.

If you need some good ideas on how to get organized, check out this video on seven things organized people do that most people don’t!

7. If you're in the service industry, have minimum contracts.

When I first started, I didn't even have contracts for my clients to sign. I know, I know, silly mistake. We ran into a lot of issues because we weren’t attracting our ideal client, which is someone who needs long-term assistance from us.

Now, our clients are on a 3-month minimum period. This allows us enough time to get everything running successfully and for them to really see those numbers skyrocket. If you have a potential client asking you for something that you do not offer because you know it will affect the health of your small business, just say no. I promise you, your ideal client is out there, and you will sink if you have to keep onboarding new clients like a rotating door!

8. Be picky and trust your gut.

This goes for hiring and clients. The only times both a client and a hire didn't work, I had a strong gut feeling ahead of time problems would arise. I should have trusted my intuition.

However, I have no regrets about the decisions I made because the decisions (and subsequent mistakes) confirmed something I should’ve focused on and given value to. My intuition has never steered me wrong.

9. Under-promise, over-deliver.

In a sense, this is selling yourself short on purpose. While I do not in any sense mean you should be fibbing to clients, I do believe it’s strategic not to share all that you are possibly capable of. If you give grandiose images of what your business is capable of, and I’m sure that it’s capable of a whole lot, you essentially set yourself up for failure.

Selling yourself short doesn’t necessarily mean what we traditionally think here. While you can deliver all you’ve promised and probably more, is it a sustainable amount of work for you and your team? This plays into the last point as well, but I’ll talk about that in a second.

Not only are you prioritizing the sustainability of your team members, but you’re also more likely to make your client feel over the moon. We all want clients who are over the moon, right? When you go to clients giving them more than expected, they will be thrilled with all of your hard work. Trust me.

10. Sustainability is key for this crazy ride.

It is easy to want to sprint through your first year of business, but this will likely lead to its collapse. Growing at a stable pace allows for lower risk and peace of mind. One question I force myself to ask when I want to do something big is if the next steps I want to take are necessary right now.

11. Create your own business plan but be ready for it to change.

I’ve planned everything about my business to a tee. Does that mean everything goes according to plan? Absolutely not. At the inception of my digital marketing agency, I thought that I could simply plan away the problems.

Now, I know for certain that planning does help make things go much smoother, but it does not stop every hiccup from happening. I still create my plans but now use these deviations from the plan as an opportunity to grow and learn, rather than to panic that things aren’t going the way they should. “Should” is all relative.

Maybe this idea would be great a few months down the line, and my marketing agency needs attention in another area. Prioritizing the general health of your business through sustainable growth is key. This is one of the most important things I’ve learned so far.

I hope you soaked up some of the knowledge I’ve accrued in this past year of business. The point of this year was for me to have something very clear: The Inspiration Agency will always fall forward. Rounding the one-year mark is an extraordinary moment, but I hope to continue this growth.

A thriving business will experience its fair share of failures so long as those failures are used as learning moments. It takes a huge amount of effort to maintain constant progress with the goal of always moving forward. I am so excited to continue sharing this crazy ride with you. Who knows what our second year will bring?

11 Things I Learned in My First 11 Months of Business