I Started My Own Business and Learned This Very Hard Lesson

Tips For Starting Your Own Business

It’s been a year since I launched Lisa Jean-Francois Consulting, and this last year has been THE YEAR of hard lessons.

When I decided to walk away from my full-time career in high education, I knew I wanted to work on building Lisa a La Mode, however, in the blogger world, my social media numbers could not afford me the paid opportunities needed to maintain my household. In other words, I was (and still am) a small blogger, therefore blogging alone was not going to pay the bills.  I had tried and failed at Muti level marketing, and I needed  to start a sustainable business with relatively low start-up costs.  Coaching seemed like a natural fit, so I  hired a business coach, and began marketing myself as a business coach as well.

Things were great (in the beginning). It was new and exciting and I was  learning so much. But then I found myself frequently depressed. I knew starting a new business was going to be hard, but the toll it began to take on my mental health was beginning to worry me. Then a friend asked me this simple question

Is coaching your passion?

And just like that things became really transparent. I was pouring money, time, and energy into a starting a business I wasn’t passionate about. I had been so scared to try my hand at being a professional blogger, that I dove into something I thought would be easy.

So I stopped coaching and redirected my energy into my blog, my work with Black Girl Long Hair as an Editor, and my youtube channel. As a result, I’ve quadrupled my blog traffic, almost doubled my youtube subscriber count, and landed a 6 month contract with a major hair brand.

Suspending my coaching business to focus on building my brand (in preparation for a product launch in 2017) has been the single best decision I’ve made since becoming a full-time entrepreneur.  I’ve taken a huge pay-cut to do this, but it feels so right I know that I’m on way towards finally reaching my goals. I still continue to consult and mentor other bloggers and business owners, but now I do it on my own terms.

What’s the Major Lesson?

You can’t take shortcuts when it comes to pursuing your passion. You can’t avoid risks. You can’t avoid being scared. If you are truly looking to live your purpose you can’t forget your purpose along the way.

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