Lessons from 5 Years in Business

This is more of a business lesson than a legal lesson, but since we are celebrating 5 years of Destination Legal this week, I thought I would share Lessons from 5 Years in Business…

5 things I got right AND 5 things I got wrong…

What I Got Right: 

1. Having a business coach most of the time → sometimes breaks can be good and taking a step back is helpful, but I have always come back to coaching and it always takes me to the next level.
2. A morning routine/mindset practice → this has been vital to my success and something I have tweaked.  When this is out of whack, my mind is out of whack and therefore my business is out of whack.
3. Hiring experts → people hire me because I went to law school and know lots of things they don’t … I hire accountants, web designers, copywriters, etc. for the same reason, these people save me lots of time & money.  There are no 7-figure business owners that don’t have a team of experts in their back pocket. 
4. Consistency → I have sent out a weekly newsletter and done weekly posting for most of the past 5 years, maybe not 100% but definitely more than 75%, staying out there is key.  Even if engagement is low, people are still listening to you being the expert you are with their eyes! 
5. Celebrating → I am really good at this one, just ask my husband.  After each new income level, launch, or great week … I’m great at this and I truly believe it’s important because YOU are your own boss and you need to cheer yourself on! 

 What I Got Wrong: 

1. Hiring based on ‘appearance’ → I made some big mistakes in hiring, whether it was a coach, funnel specialist or facebook ads expert, I got caught up in “who was HOT” or “who other big biz owners” were working with.  I didn’t pay enough attention to results, outcomes or my gut.  I learned this a few times over the hard way but now know way better.
2. Not hiring soon enough → a lot of biz owners make this mistake and I am not immune.  I’m a “Type-A” lawyer control freak and it’s hard for me to delegate. I admit it! But this has kept me small and meant that I sat on things (like an online course) for years until I had a team to help implement. I corrected this within the past year and now have a growing team and it feels so great to have that support!
3. Not tracking enough → whether it was sales, customers, likes, insert-metric-of-choice here I wasn’t doing it well.  While I should have a spreadsheet somewhere detailing how many trademarks we’ve sold, how many templates X person has bought, how many visitors we had last month, I don’t.  I have team members helping with this now, but it would have been easy to just set this up at the beginning and add to it each month.
4. Lack of systems → things like canned email responses, gmail templates and content management have saved so much time.  I didn’t really get going on these until years 3-4.  As we often hear, build your systems like you are already a 7-figure business owner! 
5. Not asking for testimonials → OMG this hurts my heart and we are just now working on an automated system to ask for testimonials.  I have so many customers and clients that say wonderful things about working with Destination Legal and I really only have organized maybe ⅓ of them.  I *wish* I had this set up years ago.

If you are new to business and wondering what you need to be legally RIGHT and not on the wrong side of things...head over HERE to grab your free checklist on the most important things you need legally to start your coaching business right!

Sarah Kornblet Waldbuesser, Esq.
Attorney for Coaches & Online Business Owners

After several years at a law firm and a few career jumps, she ended up falling in love with online business and loves helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams in a smart and protected way. She is also an adventurer, traveler, and food and wine lover. When not at her computer, she loves hanging with her family, having wine with friends, flying around the globe and connecting with other online business owners.