As of December 2022, I have officially been an entrepreneur for 6 months. My name is Angela Yu and in July 2022, I made the decision to start my own law firm so I could use my legal skills to help other entrepreneurs build their own businesses. The past six months have been high highs, low lows and everything in between. Each day has felt like a year’s worth of growth and lessons. It’s been the most exhilarating, most terrifying, most chaotic, most creative, most rewarding, and most vulnerable adventure that I’m still on today.

I carved out some time to reflect on some of the biggest lessons entrepreneurship has taught me so far and that I’m still learning. 

Here’s some of what I’ve learned so far:  

1. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good.

This one is a big one for me, especially as a lawyer. I remember hearing this for the first time in business school while working on a school project. It’s easy to get stuck perfecting a plan, trying to capture every little nuance and detail. But, there is such a thing as “too perfect.” When I decided to open my own firm, I had so many ideas of the different offers I wanted to provide (template documents, workshops, subscription services, etc.). I didn’t want to offer traditional legal services. I started my own firm to forge my own path, after all! Turns out, I kept getting stuck in the conceptualization phase of these new offers (structure, pricing, etc.).

I knew I needed to just get started and create some momentum for myself and my business. I began by talking about my offers and pricing with friends to get feedback and also to become comfortable having those conversations that may feel awkward as a new entrepreneur. As I started meeting with more potential clients, it became more obvious what needed tweaking. Now, six months later, I’m able to work on these ideas again from a place of confidence and a better understanding of what my clients need. If I had stuck with my original plan, there’s a good chance I might still be “perfecting” my offers with no real clients today. 

In entrepreneurship, there is a point where you have to meet yourself where you are and execute. The execution may not be exactly what you had in mind, but it is often more important to start. In an ideal world, I would create a detailed plan that mapped out every step and possibility before I took any action, but entrepreneurship (and life)  doesn’t work that way. Entrepreneurship is not only coming up with ideas; it’s ideas plus action. 

2. Experiment, experiment, and experiment again.

When you read about successful people, you often find that their first job or first business isn’t what usually made them successful. Vera Wang lost out on a spot on the US Olympic ice skating team before she became a famous designer. Before Dyson became known for vacuum cleaners and coveted hair styling tools, he created no less than 5,126 prototypes. 

My first business was a content creation company for law firms. After doing that for a few months and realizing I didn’t enjoy it, I decided I wanted to try working as a lawyer for a technology company before eventually landing on starting my own firm. 

When I was creating my law firm, I was so intent on offering a different experience that I would create elaborate, beautiful PDFs that described the legal services I offer (I had seen graphic designers do the same for their clients and thought it might be a nice addition for my firm too). Guess what I learned? My clients didn’t really care if their legal services came packaged in a gorgeous PDF; they cared that I could do the legal work. I stopped including the PDFs, and focused instead on communicating that working with me would empower them as business owners. This is ultimately why many of my clients hired me. 

Entrepreneurship has an element of necessary evolution in it. I’m learning through this process that the vision I started with, most likely won’t be the vision I end with for my business. In moments where this can feel destabilizing, I try to think about some of my best travel adventures. I didn’t always end up exactly where I thought I would, and it was often these unplanned detours (like when I went to Ecuador to do some hiking and ended up scuba diving for my first time in the Galapagos) that became the most memorable part of my trip. Be unapologetic about taking detours, and remember that they are an integral part of the journey.

3. Feed the faith more than you feed the fear.

I think this is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned so far, and the one that I relearn most often. Starting your own business can be overwhelming. I started my law firm so that I could make my own choices, but the amount of choices quickly felt like a burden. Website design, marketing, and social media, etc. were all aspects of my business where I didn’t feel prepared to make a decision.

What if I made the wrong choices? What if I didn’t know what I was doing? What if starting my own firm was a mistake? I realized in that moment that those thoughts, unchecked, were feeding my fear. Each thought gave my fear more power than it had before. What if, instead, I chose to feed my faith? What if it all worked out better than I could have ever imagined? What if I was able to find fulfillment in my career on my own terms? In moments of doubt, I try to acknowledge that my fear is valid, and at the same time, remind myself of all the ways I can succeed and have succeeded in the past. One way I do this is to take a step back at where my business is now, including all the stressors of that moment, and remember that I started with nothing but an idea. There were no clients, no initial investments; just me. And from that, look how much I’ve created so far. 

The truth, is you don’t have to look far to find fear in starting your own business. But, you also have a choice in your mindset every day and in every moment. There are so many elements in life that are out of anyone’s control, but your mindset is yours to harness. Thinking about why I started and connecting with other entrepreneurs are just some of the ways I practice quieting my fear. Find a way to feed your faith, just a little more than your fear each day.

Having your own business requires you to constantly be learning. Each phase, especially each growth phase, demands a different version of yourself. What are some lessons that you’ve picked up on your own journey? For anyone who is on their own entrepreneurship journey—whether full-time, side hustle, remote or otherwise—I’m rooting for you.

If you’re interested in learning about how to start your business or side hustle with the right foundation, book a call with me here!